“Small loss to them, and great gain to us,” smiled Dick.  “We have provisions enough in our wagon to offer all the luncheon that your party can possibly care to eat.”

“No, no!  We’ve encroached upon your hospitality too often in the past,” replied Dr. Bentley, with a shake of his head.  “We won’t be delayed long.  Just how long, Reade, do you think it is going to take us to fit on the new tire?”

“The car ought to be ready to run again in fifteen minutes,” Tom answered truthfully.

“And we can make Ashbury in another fifteen minutes,” Laura’s father continued.  “So we won’t rob the pantry of Dick & Co. to-day.”

Dick and three of his chums conducted Mrs. Bentley and the five high school girls in under the trees.  Of course the girls wanted to see the outfit, though it was now packed on the wagon.

“Are you going far, this trip?” Dick inquired.

“Ashbury will be the end of our run,” Mrs. Bentley answered.

“And of ours, too,” Dick nodded.  “We agreed to that this morning.”

“But we are to stay at Ashbury two or three days,” Laura added.  “Dad has been making arrangements for us at the hotel there, and he calls it a fine summer place.  We know some people who are stopping there now, so we are going to have a pleasant little time of it, I expect.  When do you reach Ashbury, Dick?”

“To-night,” Prescott answered.

“Mother,” Laura went on, “aren’t you going to invite the boys to luncheon at the hotel tomorrow?”

“I shall be delighted to do so, if they will accept,” replied Mrs. Bentley smiling.

“We’d cause a sensation in the hotel, wouldn’t we?” laughed Danny Grin, looking down ruefully at his dusty “hike clothes.”

“You have other clothing with you, haven’t you?” asked Susie Sharp.

“Nothing better than what we’re wearing now,” Greg replied.

“Come, just the same, anyway,” urged Mrs. Bentley.  “You boys are on a rough trip, and you’re not expected to have large wardrobes with you.  So I shall expect you all at the Ashbury Terraces by noon to-morrow.”

“And there’s to be a dance there to-morrow night,” Belle continued, a trifle mischievously.  “Of course, you will come to the dance.”

“Yes—–­if you invite us!” Dick took up the challenge thus unexpectedly.

“Then you’re surely invited,” laughed Susie Sharp.  “Aren’t they, Mrs. Bentley?”

“Yes; if they promise to come,” agreed the doctor’s wife.  “And, perhaps, they would rather dine than lunch with us, and then they can attend the dance after dinner.”

“That would be much better, thank you,” Dick replied gratefully.

But the other fellows eyed him askance, in wondering amazement.  What on earth could Dick mean by accepting for himself and chums a dinner and dance invitation when they had nothing to wear save their road-worn and travel-stained hiking clothes?