“Of course they got somebody to fix it for them,” said Amy. “Anyway, Belle talked as though she knew all about radio.”
“So do a lot of people,” chuckled Jessie. “But sometimes it’s only talk. She knows how to use the detector and put on the earphones, and all that. But I believe that antenna is rigged wrong.”
At that moment there arose high words between mother and daughter on the porch. Mrs. Ringold suffered the same lack of self-control that her daughter so often displayed. The Roselawn girls now heard Mrs. Ringold say in a high-pitched voice:
“You told me you could run this—that you knew all about it. Why, I don’t get a sound out of it, and when you switch on the amplifier it is just the same. You seem, Belle, to know absolutely nothing about it.”
“I guess I know enough,” snapped the girl. “You’ve bought a broken set, that’s what is the matter.”
“Nothing of the kind. Unless you girls have broken it since it was set up here. I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to run this radio just as well as Jessie Norwood ran hers. You don’t have to go to school to learn how, do you?” added the woman scornfully.
Sally Moon looked very much disturbed as she came hastily away from the porch. She caught sight of Jessie and Amy standing near and came over to them.
“I don’t know what the matter is with it,” she said abruptly, but under her breath, to the Roselawn chums. “And Mrs. Ringold is so mad!”
“What’s she mad for?” Amy asked bluntly.
“Oh, everything is going wrong. You can see that, can’t you?” complained Sally. “Anyway,” she added, “Belle and her mother are always fighting.”