Suddenly Gill’s chin went up and her color returned.
“You don’t think I am cruel really, do you, Bettina, more so than the other girls? I only shot the game because I heard Aunt Patricia say Mrs. Burton required it and there was no chance to buy fresh provisions until the end of the week. However, I don’t believe I shall ever hunt again. Perhaps in any case I had best not spend the winter at Half Moon Lake; after all, I may be happier at home! There are in my character certain faults the Sunrise Camp Fire has not yet found out. We were too busy in France to think of ourselves or of each other.”
Bettina smiled.
“Why, Gill, what a depressed mood you are in! It is most unlike you. Small wonder you do not like our poet if already he has had this influence upon you! By the way, he is having a beautiful time at this moment with Tante and mother and I don’t believe will ever trouble any of us. It strikes me that he feels entirely superior to girls and requires an older audience to appreciate him. Farewell, of course I’ll bring you your supper. Chitty is not suffering in the least and things will adjust themselves in the morning when the poet shall have disappeared and been forgotten.”
“There is no hope of his disappearing,” Gill returned disconsolately. “One does not so readily dispose of one’s evil genius.”
However, she joined with Bettina’s laughter at her expense.
CHAPTER III
Old Friends
“Well, thank goodness our youthful guest has departed at last. I was fearful that he would stay so long we could not have our hour together before bedtime. It is a magical night; do you suppose it would do you any harm, Polly, if for a little while we go outdoors? Then perhaps we shall be safe from interruption. I am afraid I am selfish enough to want you to myself now and then, dear, as I used to in the old days.”
“Nonsense, it was I who wanted you, and too often failed to secure you. You were the favorite then as you have been ever since. This evening, for instance, you so charmed the young poet that he completely ignored the girls. In fact, you flattered him as no one of the Camp Fire girls would have condescended to flatter. However, you doubtless have prepared your own punishment, for I am convinced he will expect you to read his poetry.
“Suppose we do slip out of doors for half an hour. I will put on this old fur coat as a protection against the cold, and the night is divinely clear.”