There was an irate uncle of one of the girls, none other than Frank Haley, and Allen as the brother of the other girl, who also demanded satisfaction, and the mix-up in the courtroom was most realistic. "About the funniest thing I ever saw in my life," was Mr. Nelson's comment. "They are certainly doing remarkably well," answered Mrs. Billette, who chanced to sit near by. "If those youngsters keep on doing as well as that, they'll all want to go on the professional stage," remarked Mr. Ford. All during the ice cream and cake part of the entertainment the young performers were fêted and congratulated, till they began, as Roy expressed it, "to feel themselves some punkins." It was late before the last guest had departed, still laughingly bandying jests back and forth, and the Little Captain and the group of her particular chums and followers were left alone. Then-- "I wish it were beginning all over again," said Amy, leaning her head against a pillar of the porch and gazing dreamily up at the stars. "I never had such a good time in my life." "It seems to me I'm always saying that," sighed Betty, sinking into the hammock, and laughing up at Allen, as he stood before her. "It's wonderful when life is just a succession of good times." "Betty," he answered, sitting down beside her, and finding her hand under cover of the darkness, "that's my one ambition--to make life for you just a 'succession of good times.'" "But I guess that never happens to anybody," she said, trying to speak lightly. "And I don't know that just having good times is a very big ambition. No--I--didn't mean that, Allen," she added quickly, seeing she had hurt him. "You've always been altogether too good to me. I--I guess I don't deserve it." "There's nothing half good enough for you," said Allen fervently. "Betty," he added, after a slight pause, "I--I may have to go away pretty soon, and before I go I want you to know----" "Say, Allen, are you going home like a respectable citizen, or shall we have to use force?" It was Roy who accosted him, and Allen muttered something under his breath. "I'm going home when I get good and ready," he was beginning, when Betty herself jumped to her feet and held out a hand to him. "It _is_ getting late," she said, "and we're all going to meet to-morrow, anyway, so we won't even say good-bye. _Au revoir,_ everybody. It's been such a night!" As she stood on the porch waving her hand to them, Allen hesitated a moment, started forward, then ran back again. "There will come a night," he whispered, close in her ear, "when you won't get rid of me so easily." And Betty, left alone, smiled a new smile at the stars. CHAPTER XI A SLACKER? Two weeks went by after the great night, two weeks of ceaseless activity. The fame of Betty's lawn party had spread all over Deepdale, and countless smaller affairs on the same order had been given. As imitation is always the sincerest flattery, the girls were delighted.