Belles on their Toes

idea!"
    "And," said Ernestine, "roll down those legs."
    Jack still wanted Anne to take him out over his head, but she didn't hear him.
    "I blush for you," Anne told Martha. "What will Mother say?"
    "What have I done now?" Martha asked. "What's this all about?"
    "You know perfectly well," said Anne, "so don't try to act so innocent."
    "If you mean that sheik of yours, you don't have to worry. He's a wet smack who always wants to help you up on the raft. I'm wise to him."
    "Let's leave Morton out of the conversation," said Anne.
    "I never saw anybody so jealous," Martha complained. "Why I wouldn't touch your ten-foot beanpole with a pole."
    "He's not my ten-foot beanpole," said Anne. "And I'm not talking about him. I'm talking about that bathing suit."
    "You said it was all right to wear it."
    "I said it was all right to wear all of it. Not just the under half."
    "You didn't think I was going to wear the outer part too, did you?"
    "Of course we did," Ernestine said. "You know perfectly well we did."
    "So that's what you meant when you said I'd look ridiculous." Martha started to laugh. "I can see myself in that black tent, can't you? I don't wonder you thought everyone would stare at me. Why I couldn't swim a stroke in that sea anchor—you should have known that."
    "Martha," said Ernestine. "Listen, Martha. It's not decent. You shouldn't walk out of your boudoir in that thing. Here, take this towel, dear."
    "We could bury her with sand until everyone goes home," Fred suggested hopefully.
    "It shows every curve, "Anne said. "It leaves nothing to the imagination."
    "I'm getting tired of being bossed," Martha hollered. "Always thinking about how you look, and never thinking about how you swim. Besides, there's nothing to imagine."
    Anne was patient. "You know Dad's rules for girls in this family. Modesty, Martha. Modesty."
    "But nobody wears two-piece suits any more. You think you're flappers, but you don't realize that times have changed. I've got a right to live my own life."
    "You know the rules as well as we do," Anne continued. "Two-piece bathing suits. Skirts at least to the knees, black stockings, and a minimum of skin showing. What would Mother say?"
    "I'll bet," said Martha, "she'd say times have changed and that I could wear the same kind of suit other girls are wearing. And I'll bet, when she said it, you two would race each other downtown to get one-piece suits."
    "That shows," Anne announced, "how well you know Mother."
    "Yes, sir," Martha nodded, obviously deriving a good bit of satisfaction from the mental picture, "when she said it, it would be 'on your mark, get set, go.' "
    "But she wouldn't say it," Anne insisted. "She'd die if she saw you like that."
    "All right," Martha surrendered. "You're the boss, and I've got to do what you say. I'll wear the rest of it. But I'm going to take a hem of at least a foot in the bottom. And I positively draw the line at black stockings this summer."
    Martha got up and, disdaining the offer of towels, headed back toward the cottage. There was no doubt that Mother's suit never looked better.
    "I think," Ernestine told Anne, "that we could all do without black stockings. No one else wears them."
    Anne nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. As Martha says, times do change. Even Dad probably would admit that. Probably."
    "And you know she did look mighty cute in that one-piece job."
    "I suppose she did," said Anne. "In a childish sort of way, of course."
    "That's what I mean—in a childish sort of way. And it must be much easier to swim when you have just one piece."
    "I guess it is," Anne agreed. "Lord knows I don't like the idea of two-piece suits any better than she does—if as well. But you know I can't repeal any rules behind Mother's back and— Hey, wait a minute. Who's side are you on, anyway?"
    "Yours," Ernestine said, "I suppose. I wasn't going to take off the outer part of my suit, honest! Just the stockings."
    Anne shaded her eyes and looked out at the float -again. The tall thin figure was still there.
    "Will you take me out over my head now, Anne?" Jack asked. "Nobody ever takes me out over my head."
    "I guess so," said Anne, putting on her bandanna and shaking the sand from between the two layers of her outfit.
    She took Jack by the hand and Ernestine took Bob. They started slowly into the water.

6
BEATING THE RAP

    Tom complicated matters about a week later by being haled into police court. Without offering any excuses for Tom, it might be pointed out