“Oh, don’t take a joke so seriously, Howard. Marshall is ridiculous about himself, although he is a fine enough chap in some ways. I only took up that proposition of his because I thought it would be a good thing for him to lose. He needs to be taken down by a Peggy or two.”
Although the two men were walking away, it was still possible for Ralph Marshall to overhear what they were saying. He felt fairly uncomfortable.
He had spoken at first without any particular realization of the significance of his words and without any direct intention of involving himself in a wager, which certainly appeared objectionable upon the face of it. Then, as often happens, the situation had gotten beyond him.
He wished now that he had never mentioned Peggy. It was bad form for men to discuss a girl with other men, and certainly it was a good deal worse form to have made so absurd a bet concerning one. It was Benton’s own fault. He should not have taken him up so quickly; he should have understood that he had spoken without thinking.
Nevertheless Ralph was not sure that he would not still like to prove to Terry that he could make good.
CHAPTER VII
A Study in Temperaments
“But, Vera, you must not continue waiting on Billy in this fashion; he is ever so much better and perfectly able to look after himself.”
Mrs. Webster had just walked across from where she had been sitting with her sister sewing, to a particularly beautiful spot where Vera Lageloff and Billy Webster had been spending the afternoon together. It had been cool during the morning but, with the coming of the afternoon, the sun had shone clearly and warmly.
Vera and Billy had chosen a place near the foot of the hill, down which ran the stream of water that supplied the camp, and near the tiny lake which the Camp Fire girls had conventionally named their wishing well.
Here, in spite of the warm weather, they had built a small camp fire, for there was a quantity of wood from the pine trees nearby.