want my banana royal, Nick," cried Belle.

The other three girls gave their orders. The clerk looked from the
laughing Amy to the trembling Jessie. He was about to reiterate his
demand for payment.

And just then Heaven sent an angel! Two, in very truth! At least, so
it seemed to Jessie Norwood.

"Darry!" she almost squealed. "And Burd Alling! We--we thought you
were at Atlantic Highlands."

The two young fellows came hurrying into the shop. They had evidently
seen the girls from outside. Darry grabbed his sister and sat her
down at a table. He grinned widely, bowing to Belle and her crowd.

"Come on, Jessie!" he commanded. "No matter how many George Washington
sundaes you kids have eaten----"

"'Kids'! Indeed! I like that!" exploded Amy.

But her brother swept on, ignoring her objection: "No matter how many
you have eaten, there is always room for one more. You and Amy,
Jessie, must have another sundae on me."

"Darry!" exclaimed Jessie Norwood. "I thought you and Burd went to his
aunt's."

"And we came back. That is an awful place. There's an uncle, too--a
second crop uncle. And both uncle and auntie are vegetarians, or
something. Maybe it's their religion. Anyway, they eat like
horses--oats, and barley, and chopped straw. We were there for two
meals. Shall we ever catch up on our regular rations, Burd?"

"I've my doubts," said his friend. "Say, Nick, bring me a plate of the
fillingest thing there is on your bill of fare."

"In just a minute," replied the clerk, hopping around the other table
to have Belle Ringold and her friends repeat their orders.

Belle had immediately begun preening when Darry and Burd came in. That
the two college youths were so much older, and that they merely
considered Amy and Jessie "kids," made no difference to Belle. She
really thought that she was quite grown up and that college men should
be interested in her.

"We had just finished, boys," Jessie managed to say in a low tone. "We
had not even paid for our sundaes."

Darry and Burd just then caught sight of the punched check lying on
the table and they both reached for it. There was some little rivalry
over who should pay the score, but Darry won.

"Leave it to me," he said cheerfully. "Girls shouldn't be trusted with
money anyway."

"Oh! Oh!" gurgled Amy, choked with laughter again.

"What's the matter with you, Sis?" demanded her brother.

Jessie forbade her chum to tell, by a hard stare and a determined
shake