"Shut up!" cried Sid again. "Haven't I got a right to?"
"Oh, of course!" agreed Tom quickly. "It's a sign of regeneration, old man. I'm glad to see it! What color are her eyes?"
"Blue," answered Sid promptly, before he thought.
"Did you get her photograph?" asked Tom, clinging to Phil, so strenuous was his mirth.
"Say, I'll punch your head if you don't quit!" threatened Sid, and then, as he saw Wallops, the messenger, coming toward him, with a letter, there came to Sid's face a new look--one of fear, his chums thought.
He read the note quickly, and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he turned, and hastened after the three girls.
"Here, what's up?" demanded Tom, for Sid had acted strangely.
"I can't go to the theatricals to-night, after all," was the surprising answer. "I must apologize to Miss Harrison. Will you take her, Tom?"
"Of course," was the answer, and then, as Sid hastened to make his excuses to the girl who, but a few minutes before, he had asked to accompany him, his two chums looked at each other, and shook their heads. The mystery about Sid was deepening.
Sidney Henderson fairly broke into a run in order to catch up to the three girls. They heard him coming, and turned around, while Tom and Phil, some distance off, were spectators of the scene.
"I say!" burst out poor Sid pantingly, as he came to a halt, "I'm awfully sorry, Miss Harrison, but--er--I can't take you to the theatricals to-night, after all. I've just received bad news."
"Bad news? Oh, I'm so sorry!" and the blue eyes of the pretty girl, that had been merry and dancing, as she chatted with Ruth and Madge, took on a tender glance.
"Oh, it isn't that any one is sick, or--er--anything like that," Sid hastened to add, for he saw that she had misunderstood him. "It's just that I have received a message--I have got to go away--I--er--I can't explain, but some one is in trouble, and I--I'm awfully sorry," he blurted out, feeling that he was making a pretty bad mess of it. "I've arranged for Tom Parsons to take you to the theatricals, Miss Harrison."
"You've arranged for Mr. Parsons to take me?" There was no mistaking the anger in her tones. Her blue eyes seemed to flash, and she drew herself up proudly. Madge and Ruth, who had shown some pity and anxiety at Sid's first words, looked at him curiously.