The girls looked at each other; and, in spite of the dimness, each could read consternation on the faces of the others.
"We might walk," suggested Marian.
"It is too dark and too far," returned Rosalie. She turned to the conductor again. "Is there any one around who could go up to the club and telephone for us?"
"I would," said the man, "but I can't leave this here car."
Rosalie looked back over the way they had just come; it seemed very dark, and a long distance to the lights twinkling from the club house.
"There's a young man inside," said the conductor; "maybe he'd go to accommodate you."
Rosalie gathered up her skirts and entered the car. By the glow of the little stove that heated it, she saw the figure of a young man seated by the fire.
"Would you take a telephone message to Hilltop Club for me?" she asked. "I will give you twenty-five cents if you will." She had made a quick survey of the man, and had decided that his rather rough attire gave her an excuse for believing that he would not refuse the money. "You can say that you want to use the telephone for Miss Trent," she went on. "I would like you to call up Buckley's stables, and ask them to send us a carriage right away. We must get back to town, and this car may not go for an hour yet. There is only one other on this route, and they wait till this gets back before it starts. They run so few in winter time, you see."
The young man had arisen when she came in. "I shall be very glad to go for you, miss," he said.
Rosalie opened her purse and handed him a silver quarter.