"I'm not a cripple," Grace retorted, evidently in a belligerent mood.
"I've always been quite able to help myself."

"So we've noticed," murmured Mollie irrepressibly.

"Will you two please listen to reason?" queried Betty, in her primmest
tones.

"Yes, grandma," replied Mollie soberly--which was so ridiculous that even
Betty dimpled. "What have we done now?"

"Nothing. It's what you may do," Betty answered, adding, in an explanatory
tone: "You see, we are just about to enter the sacred precincts of the
drill ground, and it is fitting that we do so with an air of propriety and
sobriety."

"Goodness, is she insulting us?" cried Mollie, in mock indignation. "I'll
have you know, Miss Nelson, that I, for one, am not intoxicated and, what
is more, never expect to be."

"Goodness! that is a relief," sighed Grace, who had been hanging
breathlessly on her words. "I thought you were going to say 'I am not
drunk, but soon shall be,' or words to that effect--"

"But will you listen?" cried Betty despairingly. "I've got about as much
chance of saying anything sensible--"

"As the man in the moon," finished Grace innocently, then, meeting Betty's
outraged eye, added hastily: "Oh, wasn't that what you were going to say?"