She was not laughing at present, however, but frowning and keeping resolutely at her task. Bettina sat near her, reading. Vera was on the other side, peeling potatoes. In some curious fashion the more unpleasant tasks in camp appeared always to fall to Vera. There are people in the world like this, so that one wonders if they select the tasks or if the tasks select them. Alice Ashton and Ellen Deal were merely sewing on an outdoor costume for Ellen while Sally was pretending to write a letter.
The cover had been firmly placed on her box of chocolates. She had produced a box from her pocket a short time before, but, as Camp Fire guardian, Mrs. Burton had really felt obliged to object.
Too much eating of sweets was against all Camp Fire regulations. Moreover, where had Sally acquired such an inexhaustible supply? Terry Benton had been seen to appear with a box which he must have ridden a great many miles to secure. There must have been something about Sally which immediately suggested sweets to her young men friends. Although Mrs. Burton was secretly amused that the serious-minded Dick and Esther Ashton should have so frivolous a daughter, Sally must be made to respect rules and preserve her health.
“Mrs. Burton, do you know what I am thinking of?” Gerry asked, with a soft inflection in her voice which was very attractive. “I wish we had a Camp Fire name for you, but I can’t think of any title lovely enough. Bettina,” she called across, “you are everlastingly reading. What name can we give to the most delightful and gifted person in the world?”
Gerry’s flattery was so transparent that Mrs. Burton laughed.
But Bettina was so absorbed that she did not understand, for she did not answer at once. And for the first time at Gerry’s words, Polly observed that Bettina was reading when the girls were supposed to be at some kind of work.
It was Peggy who replied with an unmistakable lifting of her eyebrows.
“Why not call Tante the Queen of Sheba, Gerry, and be done with it? I suppose, because we know so little about her, she has always seemed to me to be the most extraordinary of women. Then, she made Solomon answer all her questions, and I don’t believe even Tante could accomplish more than that.”
Naturally the girls laughed at Peggy’s speech and Mrs. Burton as well; nevertheless she did feel a little aggrieved. There had been a note of sarcasm in Peggy’s voice which she had never heard there before in any reference to her. Could the sarcasm have been intended for Gerry or for her?
Polly was a little worried at the two girls’ attitude toward each other, yet the fault did appear to be Peggy’s. Could Peggy be a little jealous at her interest in a strange girl, of whose history she knew nothing.