Part 1 (2/2)
”I'm just seeing if I'm heavy enough to close the lid of my trunk,”
was the answer. ”No, I'm not,” she exclaimed, as she hopped on and hopped off again.
”Look out!” called Belle. ”You nearly stepped on my veil-box, Bess.”
”Sorry, Sis, but you shouldn't leave it on the floor.”
The plump one stood looking at the bulging trunk, and then drew a long breath.
”Girls!” she cried, ”I'm losing weight.”
”How do you know?” asked her sister promptly.
”Couldn't close my trunk lid. That's the way I can always tell.
Problem: Given a trunk, which requires a force of one hundred and thirty-five pounds to close down the lid, and a girl of one hundred and fifteen, how many chocolates must the said girl eat before she is heavy enough to close the lid? Answer--one pound, and here's for a starter,” saying which pretty, plump Bess rummaged in a pile of her belongings until she found what she was after. Then, sinking down in a heap of silk petticoats she began munching bonbons with a contented air.
”Bess Robinson!” gasped Cora. ”You're never going to do that; are you?”
”Do what?” came with an innocent air.
”Sit there and eat chocolates until you're heavy enough to close down the lid of your trunk.”
”I might as well. I can't check it open that way, and I can't close it at my present weight. I need everything I've squeezed into it; and so what else can I do?”
”If we could only get someone to help us,” said Marita, innocently, seeming to take Bess literally. ”One of the boys----”
She was interrupted by the laughter of the others, for Marita was a newcomer in Chelton, and though Cora and her chums had taken her up, attracted by her nice ways, Marita did not yet appreciate her new friends.
”Don't mind what Bess says, my dear,” spoke Cora, as she saw that Marita was a little hurt at the laughter. ”As for the boys, please don't suggest such a thing. If they came in now, we'd never get through packing. I hope----”
”All hope abandon, ye who enter here!” declaimed a voice in the doorway, and the faces of two young men peered in.
”Too late!” exclaimed Cora, as she saw her brother Jack and his chum, Walter Pennington. ”The boys are here! Any more of you, Jack?” she asked, as she crowded some feminine finery out of sight behind her back.
”No. Why?”
”Because I'm going to give general orders for you to depart at once, and I want to include everyone. Begone!”
”Heartless one!” murmured Walter, sliding into the room under Jack's arm. ”Just when we came to help you, too!”
”Here!” called Bess, from her position, Turkish fas.h.i.+on, amid a billowy pile of garments, ”Help me up first, Wallie, my dear, and then sit on my trunk.”
”Why, is that the throne seat?” he asked, as he extended his hand, and pretended to find it extremely difficult to lift Bess to her feet.
”No, but the lid needs closing, and I can't do it. Sit on it, that's a good fellow,” and she extended to him a chocolate from the tips of her fingers, which fingers Walter pretended to bite.
”Now you really must go,” said Cora, seriously, when Walter had managed to close the trunk. ”Come, Jack, we have to get through by five o'clock,” and she glanced at her brother, who was in earnest conversation with Marita in her corner.
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