uld prefer to cool off in the shade after that climb
up the hill. I'm perishing. If you knew what sight you are you'd come in
out of the sun, wouldn't she, Hazel?"

Hazel Holland regarded Margery solemnly.

"You are a sight yourself, Buster. Your face is as red as a beet. I wish
you might see yourself in a looking glass."

Buster tossed her head disdainfully. "I'm not a sight," she declared.

"I'll leave it to Tommy if your face isn't positively crimson." But Tommy
was too fully absorbed in her present occupation to give heed to the
remark. "I'm sorry Harriet isn't here," continued Hazel, seeing that Tommy
had not heard her.

"Why isn't she here?" asked Margery.

"Harriet is helping her mother," replied Hazel. "She always has something
to do at home. She is a much better girl than either you or I, Buster.
Harriet is always thinking of others instead of herself."

"Well, she's older. She is sixteen and I am only fourteen. By the time I'm
her age I will settle down, too," declared Margery wisely.

"Wearing spectacles and darning socks," smiled Hazel.

Margery shook her head vehemently.

"Wouldn't it be awful!" she queried.

"Oh, I am not so sure of that," replied Hazel. "I like to keep house.
Every girl ought to know all about housekeeping. Do you know how to cook?"

"No. I don't want to know either, not even plain cooking," retorted
Margery. "Plain cooking may be all right for plain people, but----"

"Buster!" rebuked Hazel. "I am amazed to hear you talk that way. That is
like Crazy Jane. You don't want to be called another 'Crazy Jane,' do
you? You will be if you persist in saying such silly things."

"Why don't you lecture Tommy?" demanded Margery, her eyes snapping
threateningly. "Tommy doesn't know a biscuit from an apple dumpling until
she gets it in her mouth."

"Tommy, please come in out of the heat," begged Hazel. "What are you doing
out there?"

"Telling my fortune," answered Tommy without raising her head from her
task. Hazel observed that Tommy was pulling a daisy apart. A heap of
daisies that she had pulled up by the roots, lay in her lap, regardless of
the dirt that was accumulating on her stiffly starched white dress. One by
one Tommy pulled the daisy petals from the flower, muttering rhythmically
to herself.

"Consulting the Oracle," sniffed Buster. "Did you ever hear of anything so
silly?"

"We all do silly things," answered Hazel wisely.

"I go, I thtay; I go, I thtay; I go, I thta