"I shall be most happy," returned Mr. Evans.
"There it is now," cried Janet. "I see two lights bobbing along toward us; they must be carriage lamps."
"I will go and hail it," said Mr. Evans, hastily beating a retreat.
Janet made her way to the other end of the car. "The carriage has come, girls," she said, "and Mr. Evans is going to see us safely home in it."
The big man grinned as Rosalie passed him. "We lost our bet, didn't we?" he said.
Rosalie rushed on without saying a word, and was glad that the darkness prevented any one's observing her hot cheeks.
Mr. Evans gravely handed the trio into the carriage, and then Janet presented him to her friends. Rosalie faltered out some sort of apology, and Mr. Evans, now less shy with three girls than with a single one or with a whole class, laughed.
"I knew you thought me a country bumpkin, and so I am," he said.
"But it was so dark," returned Rosalie.
"Quite a sufficient excuse for any sort of mistake," agreed the young man. "For all that, there have been times in my life when I might have been glad enough to take your quarter, though now—"