Now what shall we do first?"
She looked all around the circle, but no one spoke. "Oh, dear me!" she
said, and her face fell.
"I'd rather write out conundrums than anything else," said Curtis Park,
seeing some answer was expected.
"Good!" Mrs. Sterling beamed on him. "Does any other boy have something to
propose?"
"Puzzles," said Frick decidedly. "I'd a great deal rather have puzzles;
conundrums are just horrid."
"Two things to choose from," and Mrs. Sterling laughed. Her spirits were
rising now, and all the doubts she was beginning to feel overwhelming her
as to the wisdom of inviting these boys in for the evening, fled at once.
"I think puzzles are just as horrid as conundrums," said Joel Pepper,
beginning already to feel the prickles run up and down his legs, from
sitting still so long, and wishing for nothing so much as a good scamper;
"they're both as horrid as they can be."
"Oh, Joel!" exclaimed Mrs. Sterling, quite crestfallen.
"Well, propose something yourself, then, Joe," said his next neighbor, with
a nudge.
"Oh, I can't," said Joel, quite horrified; "I don't know anything that we
can write down."
Jack leaned over and whispered in his ear.
"The very thing!" cried Joel, slapping his knee. And, "Tell it yourself,
Jack," in the next breath.
"Oh, no, no," protested Jack, shrinking as far back in his chair as he
could, and getting very red in the face.
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