one. She enjoyed most of the nonsense that girls between fifteen and
eighteen years of age usually enjoy. The strange young men, Tom Jennings
and Roland Scott, whom the White boys had taken to the woods on the
"evergreen hunt," called that very morning--came to make their "party
call," they said.

Dorothy and Tavia were busy with the Christmas wreaths when the strangers
happened in. Ned and Nat had gone to town, and it devolved upon the girls
to be "civil" to the new boys.

To be sure, Joe and Roger helped some, but Roger managed to say rather
embarrassing things about beaus, and Roland's love, that youth having
asked the little chap to take some "regards" to Norah.

Tom laughed, but Roland almost blushed. Dorothy and Tavia could scarcely
appreciate the joke, but managed to guess that the boys had been talking
about them.

Finally Tom came to the rescue by telling about the "ghost scream." Tavia
was much interested, but Dorothy laughed at the idea. She had any amount
of explanations to offer for the queer occurrence, but none of them was
accepted as being plausible.

Tom and Roland both declared they would go out again some day and look the
whole thing over carefully.

Then Dorothy told the visitors of the Christmas plans--at least, she
attempted to tell them, but was interrupted by the coming of Ned and Nat.
So the girls were excused and the boys left to their own resources.