"Well," Evelyn proceeded with a comical drawl, "let's be a club——"
"Oh, I'm clubbed black and blue now!" gasped Bert; "do try again, sweet child!"
"Let's be a club," Evelyn repeated severely, "and let us read, or study, or work, with all the might that is in us."
Meanwhile, the clouds had been clearing from Nan's brow, and now she called out delightedly:
"You are getting 'warm', as we used to say when we played 'hunt the thimble'; you are certainly traveling toward milder climes, Evelyn. Yes, let us do something in earnest—and I know what I'm going to do, too!'
"What? what?" sounded in chorus.
"I'm going—to—earn—my—own—living."
At each emphatic word, Nan bobbed her head in the most decisive manner. "I'm going to seek my fortune, and I'm going to try to lead a genuine existence."
The girls sat stunned, with wide open eyes, till Bert suddenly pounded on the floor with heavy applause, and Evelyn asked breathlessly:
"Why, Nan, has Father failed, or lost anything?"