Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance | Page 8

perfect fright!" cried Billie, her hands flying to her hair--hair, by the way, which was arranged in the very best manner to set off Billie's sparkling prettiness. "Laura," she turned accusing eyes upon her chum, "tell the truth. Did you know he was coming?"
"No," said Laura honestly, adding with a little chuckle: "But I sort of had an idea that he might happen along."
If ever a boy looked handsome, it was Teddy Jordon as he swung up the street to Billie's house. He was very tall, looking more like a lad of eighteen than the fifteen years he was. His fair hair waved back from a broad forehead, and his merry gray eyes sparkled with the joy of living.
"Hello!" he greeted the girls, as he took the porch steps two at a time and seated himself on the railing. "Laura has been telling me of your escapade, Billie Bradley, and I've come to find out what you mean by going about busting busts--that isn't good English, is it?"
"It doesn't sound just right," agreed Billie, dimpling adorably. "You speak as if I were bust--pardon me, breaking busts for a living. And it wasn't a bust, but a whole statue. No part way things for me!"
"There's Nellie Bane, I must speak to her," cried Laura, and before either of the others realized what she was up to, she was gone, leaving them alone.
Quite naturally Teddy came over and took the seat his sister had vacated.
"I say, Billie," he said, his handsome eyes regarding her frankly, "you know, I'm really awfully sorry about that business. It makes me mad that you should be troubled with it. You and I have always been pretty good friends, haven't we?" he finished unexpectedly.
Surprised, Billie answered warmly: "The very best of friends, Teddy. We ought to be," she added with a little laugh. "We've known each other pretty nearly forever."
"Then let me help," begged Teddy earnestly. "You know my allowance is away more than I need--"
But Billie stopped him, shaking her head decidedly.
"You're a perfect angel, Teddy, to want to do it," she said. "But I really couldn't let you. Don't you know I couldn't?"
"I don't see why," grumbled Teddy, for after all he was only a boy, and just now a disappointed one. "Laura says you're set on replacing the thing--"
"Of course I'll have to," Billie said.
"And if you are going around getting yourself sick with worry, what sort of good time do you think the rest of us are going to have?" he burst out indignantly, and for the life of her Billie could not help smiling.
For a moment Teddy seemed undecided whether to laugh or be angry, but ended, as he nearly always did, by laughing.
"But it really isn't very funny," he reminded her when they had finished.
"Goodness! you don't have to tell me that," said Billie ruefully. "This is the first good laugh I've had since I broke the old thing."
Teddy looked penitent.
"I'm sorry," he said, adding, with a sudden smile: "I'm glad to know I'm good for something, anyway. I can still make you laugh."
"You very foolish boy," said Billie, patting his hand affectionately. "As if that were all you were good for!"
"Well, if you feel that way, I don't see why you won't let me replace the statue," said Teddy, still nursing his disappointment. "Girls are funny, anyway."
"We know it," said Billie lightly. "But we can't help it. Listen, Teddy," and she leaned toward him confidentially. "I still have one hope left."
Then she told him about Uncle Bill and his fondness for her, and during the recital the boy brightened noticeably.
"Well, I hope the old boy comes up to the scratch," he commented disrespectfully, adding hurriedly as Laura said good-bye to Nellie Bane and started toward them: "And, Billie, if you change your mind about what I asked you let me know. Promise?"
Billie promised, and a few minutes later said good-bye to the brother and sister and watched them down the street with a very warm feeling somewhere in the region of her heart.
"Isn't it great to have friends?" she asked a robin that had perched itself on the edge of the porch and was looking at her knowingly. "And isn't Teddy the handsomest boy you ever saw?" to which the robin, knowing little rascal that he was, nodded not once but twice.
Chet came up on the porch a few minutes later and enticed Billie out for a game of tennis with him, hoping to get her mind off the broken statue. But while she was too full of life and health not to enjoy the swift, swinging game that Chet gave her, the thought of "The Girl Reading a Book" stayed constantly in the back of her mind.
That night after dinner Billie broke the news to her father, and her