“I should think I might,” laughed Rodney. “They were all beginners, I guess.”
“They want us to play croquet,” announced Tad. “I said I would if you would. Want to?”
“Why yes, if there’s time. Won’t it be pretty late?”
“Not if you get a move on,” answered Tad. “We’ll go ahead. You hurry up and come over. Matty and I will stand you and May. I’m a fierce player, but it’s good fun.”
It was good fun, although there was only time before supper for two hard-fought games, both of which were won by Tad and Matty. It was Matty, however, who really won, for Tad was even weaker than Rodney with a croquet mallet. Matty, playing rover, came back and nursed Tad’s ball through the wickets, and while May later performed the same service for Rodney, the luck was against them and they had to accept defeat. On the way across to the cottage Tad observed:
“I didn’t know you knew the Binner twins. Where’d you run across them?” Rodney explained and Tad laughed at the picture of the girls seated atop the fence posts. “They’re funny kids. They’re good-hearted, though, and lots of fun. Rather pretty, too, eh?”
“I suppose so,” Rodney replied indifferently. “Have they a father? I never hear them speak of him.”
“No, he died a long time ago I think. And Mrs. Binner is a sort of an invalid, never goes out much, except to drive in a carriage. They say she’s awfully nice, but I’ve never seen her. The kids go to high school and are so smart that they jump a class every year, I guess.”
“They ought to be through pretty soon, then,” laughed Rodney. “If they’re as clever in school as they are at croquet I can understand it.”
“Say, can’t they play?” asked Tad admiringly. “Of course, it’s only a girl’s game, but—hang it, it makes a fellow sort of mad to have those kids beat him every time! And they can play a pretty decent game of tennis, too. There’s a neighborhood court over on Dunn Street. Some time we’ll take the twins and have a four-handed set. By the way, we didn’t get our game this morning. I forgot it, did you?”