[Illustration: "Dare you to come in swimmin'! Dare you to come in swimmin'!"]
"Margery," he began. It was Willie Jones. There was a plea and a protest in his voice.
Margery's sharp interrogation gave so little encouragement that Willie Jones desisted.
Freddy Larkin next essayed the part of spokesman for the boys. Freddy had curly hair and a lisp.
"Dare you to come in thwimmin'! Dare you to come in thwim----"
Willie Jones choked further utterance with a splash of water. But, though he silenced Freddy, the other three instantly took up the cry, "Dare you to come in swimmin'! Dare you to come in swimmin'!"
"Huh! You think I'm afraid, don't you? Well, I ain't!"
She pulled off her shoes, rolled down her white stockings, and then, standing up, very deliberately began unbuttoning the back of her dress.
For the boys this was a turn of events unexpected and most disconcerting. Not for a moment did they really want her to accept their dare. Why, whoever heard of a girl doing such a thing? The very thought scandalized them deeply. Indeed, they would stop her if they could, but it was utterly beyond their powers of expression to tell her that the dare was a mere joke, a pleasantry that had better be forgotten. Unable to explain this, they wriggled about uncomfortably in the water and hid their growing confusion in half-hearted jeers.
When the dress was discarded, every little boy there hoped in his soul that this might be all. The proprieties would not be utterly demolished if Margery would only treat as a bathing-suit her skimp little undervest and bloomers. But Margery would not. She calmly proceeded to undo the buttons which made these two garments one.
"Margery!" There was an almost agonized pleading in Willie Jones's voice.
"Willie Jones, will you shut up! Just because you live near us you needn't think you're my brother. 'Cause you ain't. Besides, girls can do the same as boys."
There was a last tug; those final garments which might have served as a bathing-suit slipped down over her feet, and Margery stepped forth, a skinny, defiant little Venus, challenging the world to look if it dare. It was a most embarrassing moment for the little boys. Their faces, bobbing about nervously on the surface of the water, blushed violently, and their jeers dwindled down to the merest quavers.