Edna nodded. "That's what papa did when I was lost. I wasn't really lost, only I was afraid of the cattle and I went up the steps so fast I fell and Mrs. Porter lived there; she was a friend of mine, you know." Dorothy had heard all about this adventure before, and their new friend did not press inquiries. She felt sure the children would be anxiously looked for and that it was best to get them to their hotel as soon as could be.
It gave the two little girls a great sense of security to enter the place from which they had departed that morning, and they were heartily glad to reach the building. They found out that their kind acquaintance was named Mrs. Cox, and that she was from Washington. She told the clerk, at the desk, that if Mrs. Ramsey or any of her party came in or telephoned inquiries, that they were to be told instantly the little girls were there.
[168] "I am always getting lost, it seems to me," said Edna plaintively, "and yet I am never really lost, or I wasn't before this time, only people will keep thinking I am. You know, Dorothy, I was perfectly safe at the bungalow when Louis thought I was lost, and I was perfectly safe at Mrs. Porter's when papa and mamma thought I was lost."
"And you are perfectly safe now when Mrs. Ramsey thinks you are lost," added Dorothy in a somewhat aggrieved tone. She felt a little conscience-stricken, knowing she was to blame in this instance, for it was she who insisted upon stopping to look in at the shop window.
They had not very long to wait, for from their place in the reception room, where Mrs. Cox told them it would be best to sit, they presently saw Ben hurrying along, a worried look on his face. The two children sprang out. "Here we are," they cried.
Ben rushed over and grabbed them both. "You young lunatics," he exclaimed, "don't you know better than to get yourselves lost in a city like Boston?"
"We didn't mean to, Ben," said Dorothy meekly.
"You didn't mean to," mimicked Ben in a mocking voice. "Well, you have scared us nearly to death, if that is any consolation to you."
"Where are Mrs. Ramsey and Jennie?" asked Edna, fearing one or the other might be in hysterics for Ben's manner was anything but reassuring.
[169] "They are in a cab trying to follow you up. Mrs. Ramsey said she would go over the ground we had just left when we missed you, and in the meantime I was to come here, if by any chance you had sense enough to come straight back to the hotel."