to the Eagle's Nest than
they heard a low whistle, and looking down saw Lewis gliding along on
his side of the wall with the stealthy tread of an Indian on an enemy's
trail. He was a thin boy, with a white face, and always looked over
his shoulder as if he expected some foe to be coming up behind him.

"Madge can't come. She had to go to Churchbury shopping. She told us
to tell you," said Betty, leaning down from her perch and speaking as
low as she could. The children at Beechgrove shouted so much when they
were at home, that it was always a great effort to them to lower their
voices. Lewis, on the contrary, had the art of carrying on a long
conversation all in whispers, it seemed natural to him.

"All right! Never mind. We can do just as well without her," was the
unexpected answer.

Betty looked puzzled. "Shall I give her any message from you about
Saturday?" Betty said, preparing to leave the Eagle's Nest.

"What are you in such a hurry to be off for?" cried Lewis, rather
louder than usual. "Aren't you going to stop and talk?"

"But Madge isn't here, and--"

"Oh, bother Madge!" interrupted Lewis. "You and John aren't her
slaves, are you? Can't we have a bit of fun by ourselves for once,
without having her interfering and trying to manage everything? I
often wonder you two stand it! I know I wouldn't!"

"But I thought you and Madge were such friends!" said Betty, much
bewildered by the strangeness of this declaration.

"She thinks you don't care to speak to us. Only to her, because she is
older," chimed in John.

"Well, that's just where she makes a mistake," said Lewis roughly. "I
can't abide girls who think they are so grand, and are always ordering
other people about! Why, to hear her talk of this Eagle's Nest one
would believe she made it all herself, and I daresay you and John
worked just as hard as she did."

Now until this moment it had never struck Betty and John as strange
that Madge should take the lead in everything. She was the oldest,
biggest, and strongest of the three; and if she usually had her own way
about everything, it had only seemed natural to the others that this
should be so. Besides, she took all the trouble of making plans for
them, and they really had much more fun under her guidance than they
would have had alone. So it was quite a new view to them that they
were oppressed, but when it had once been put into their heads they
began to think that perhaps they