Martinson, even if she had wanted to.

As for Paul Martinson, he had shown a liking for Billie that somehow made
Teddy uncomfortable. Teddy was very much surprised to find how
uncomfortable it did make him. Billie was a "good little chum and all
that, but that didn't say that another fellow couldn't speak to her." But
just the same he had acted so queerly two or three times lately that
Billie had bothered him exceedingly asking him what the matter with him
was and telling him to "cheer up, it wasn't somebody's funeral, you
know." Billie had been puzzled over his answer to that. He had muttered
something about "it's not anybody's funeral yet, maybe, but everything
had to start sometime."

When Billie had innocently told Laura about it she was still more puzzled
at the way Laura had acted. Instead of being sensible, she had suddenly
buried her face in the pillow--they had been sitting on Billie's bed,
exchanging confidences--and fairly shook with laughter.

"Well, what in the world----" Billie had begun rather resentfully, when
Laura had interrupted her with an hysterical: "For goodness sake, Billie,
I never thought you could be so dense. But you are. You're absolutely
crazy, and so is Teddy, and so is everybody!"

And after that Billie never confided any of Teddy's sayings to Laura
again.

On this particular afternoon it did not take the girls long to find out
that the boys had some good news to tell them.

"Come on down to the dock," Teddy said, taking hold of Billie's arm and
urging her down toward the lake as he spoke. "Maybe we can find some
canoes and rowboats that aren't working."

But when they reached the dock there was never a craft of any kind to be
seen except those far out upon the glistening water of the lake. Of
course the beautiful weather was responsible for this, for all the girls
who had not lessons to do or errands in town had made a bee line--as Ferd
Stowing expressed it--straight down to the lake.

"Oh, well, this will do," said Teddy, sitting down on the edge of the
little dock so that his feet could hang over and reaching up a hand for
Billie. "Come along, everybody. We can look at the water, anyway."

The girls and boys scrambled down obediently and there was great
excitement when Connie's foot slipped and she very nearly tumbled into
the lake. Paul Martinson steadied her, and she thanked him with a little
blush that made Laura look at her wickedly.

"How beautifully pink your complex