But Betty looked at Martha curiously. She couldn't quite understand her to-day. Several times Martha had started to say something to Betty, and then stopped, as if afraid the others would hear.
"What is it, Martha?" asked Betty, at last, dropping a little behind the others. "What are you trying to say?"
"Oh, nothing," said Martha, turning red and looking embarrassed. Then, as if with a sudden determined effort, she turned to the whole group and said:
"Will you--won't you--all come in and have ice-cream with me?"
It was a pleasant invitation, but Martha stammered so and seemed so nervous about it that Irene hesitated before replying. Betty hesitated, too, for she knew that Martha had little, if any, spending-money, and she wondered at this unexpected hospitality.
But Martha turned pleading eyes upon her.
"Make them come, Betty!" she said. "I'd be so glad if they would."
"Come on, girls," said Betty. "Indeed, Martha, we're very glad to accept your invitation; it's so warm and dusty."
Dorothy, though mystified at Martha's sudden rôle of Lady Bountiful, took her cue from Betty and said:
"Oh, how lovely! I'm just famishing for ice-cream."
The others accepted gracefully, too, and they all went into the latticed inclosure where ice-cream was sold. There were many little tables and chairs, and pushing two tables together, the girls all sat round, and Martha asked each one to choose her favorite flavor.
Martha looked very happy and a little excited; her cheeks were red and her eyes bright, and Betty thought she had never seen her look so pretty.
"Aren't we having a good time?" said Ethel Caswell, as they slowly ate the refreshing dainty.
"Yes, indeed," said Maude Miller. "It's my turn to treat next. Let's come down here again to-morrow morning, and I'll buy the ice-cream."
"All right," agreed the others, and Betty and Dorothy secretly resolved to find some pleasant way to do their share of the "treating." Martha beamed with pleasure to think she had been the one to start a round of merry times, and, as an additional touch to their present feast, she ordered some small cakes. Betty and Dorothy looked frankly astonished, for it was an expensive little place, and they wondered if Martha knew how much her "spread" would cost.