“Except the last one.  You can see some of his ribs yet.”

“You can’t by June.”

“No, I guess not.  Say, Romie, oughtn’t she to be coming to see us by now?”

“Who?”

“Isabel—­what’s-her-name.  You know, up at Bernard’s.”

Happy-hearted comrade though she was, Juliet had a secret longing for feminine association, at rare intervals.  It would be pleasant she thought, to go skating sometimes with a girl or two instead of the usual crowd of boys.  She hated herself fiercely for disloyalty, but the idea recurred persistently.

“I’m not up on etiquette,” Romeo replied, casually, “but I should think, if she wanted to come, she could do it by now.  We made a polite call as far as I know.”

“We didn’t leave any cards.”

“Cards?  What kind of cards?”

“Why, little cards with our names on ’em.  People always leave ’em, in the books, when they make calls.”

Romeo went over to the slate again and made another memorandum.  “I’ll get ’em.  What’ll we have on ’em?”

“We always go together,” Juliet suggested, “so I think one will do.  Just put on it ‘The Crosby Twins,’ with our address.”

“No need of the address.  Everybody who knows us knows where we live.”

“Perhaps,” Juliet went on, meditatively, “she doesn’t like me.”

“If she doesn’t,” Romeo retorted, “I’ll know the reason why.  Do you remember what I did to the red-headed boy from the Ridge who said he wouldn’t skate with the crowd if there was a girl in it?”

Juliet nodded with satisfaction.  “But you know, Romie, you can’t hit a girl.”

“That’s so,” he admitted disconsolately.  “That fresh kid had to wear beefsteak over one eye for almost a week.”

Juliet laughed at the idea of Isabel with beefsteak bandaged over one eye.  “We won’t worry about things we can’t help,” she said, philosophically.  “We’ve done the proper thing and now it’s up to her.  If she doesn’t come before we get the automobile, she doesn’t get invited to go out in it.”

“You bet she doesn’t.”

The talk quickly turned to the unfailing subject of automobiles.  “The Yellow Peril” had been ordered and half paid for, but there was delay in delivery.  The brown clothes trimmed with tan leather had also been ordered, as well as the brown felt hats, exactly alike, with yellow ribbon bands.  They had the goggles and enjoyed glaring fiercely at each other through them, especially at meals.  Juliet had thought of making a veil of yellow chiffon, but Romeo had objected violently.  He thought they should look as much alike as possible, so she had yielded.

They had decided to make a wide track through the yard and around the barn to practise on.  Suitable space for the, automobile had already been set aside in the barn and safely fenced in beyond the reach of canine interference.  Romeo had not seen the necessity of the fence until Juliet had pointed out that some of the dogs would want to sleep on the leather cushions.  “It would make it smell so doggy,” she had said, “that we’d have to call it ‘The Yellow Dog’ instead of ‘The Yellow Peril.’”