“Where was Bettina?” Mrs. Burton asked more sharply, annoyed simply because Gerry had not replied to her question.
Then Gerry turned slowly around.
“She started with the other girls, but said she was tired and sat down to rest under one of the trees by the creek. On my way back I saw that Tewa had joined her there. I did not know you expected him at camp today. He has been here twice already this week to tell us Indian stories. I sometimes wonder how he manages to come so far.”
“Oh, that is no concern of ours,” Mrs. Burton returned lightly, “so long as you girls are interested in what he has to tell us. And Bettina seems to be more entertained than any one else.”
Gerry laughed a curious little laugh and then stopped abruptly.
She was sitting on the ground facing Polly, with her hands clasped gracefully over her knees and her head tilted back so that her blue eyes were upturned.
“I wonder if you will be cross with me, dear lady, if I say something to you?” she asked with a slight flush and tightening of her lips, which were rather thin.
Still Polly was not paying serious attention to her companion.
“Why should I be angry, Gerry? I have not been with you so far in our acquaintance, dear. You have been a more satisfactory Camp Fire girl than I believed you could be at the beginning. Besides, I made up my mind that if I was permitted to be a Camp Fire guardian, I must reform my own temper before I could influence the girls. So fire away, Gerry, and test me,” she ended lightly, slipping her letters back into the envelopes, but glancing at them again as she did so.
Yet Gerry did not speak at once.