Mabel looked down. She couldn’t explain.
But Harold was equal to the occasion. “Because she thought she had a debt to pay; to make good something that was spoiled, and until she knew about that she thought she oughtn’t to call the money hers, you know.”
“Oh, I think that was right,” Marie exclaimed. She gave Mabel a little squeeze. “I’m so glad,” she said in a low tone. “You’re a dear, just a dear, Mabel, and I’ll never get mad with you and treat you so again. Truly, I wanted to be friends. I have missed you so much, all this time.”
It was not so easy for Ethel to give in, but, finally, she, too, showed her good will by opening a box of caramels she was carrying. She offered them to Mabel and Harold. “I know they are good,” she said, “for my aunt made them. Take a whole lot, Mabel.” And she gave her a generous supply.
However, glad as Mabel was that all was smooth sailing again, she did not feel quite happy with the girls, and so she and Harold wandered off to seek out their own amusements. After they had eaten all the ice-cream and cake of which they were capable, and had bought more candy and had had more lemonade than was good for them, they found a little corner on one of the piazzas, and here they decided to settle down, for awhile, and watch the people, who were now beginning to gather rapidly.
“I’m awfully tired,” said Mabel. “I just feel as if my feet didn’t belong to me. Harold, I was just thinking that your papa will perhaps know some of the Cuban orphans, if any of his friends get killed.”
Harold’s face took on a serious look as it always did when his father was mentioned. “I wish I knew about father,” he said, after a pause, “I haven’t heard for two weeks, and neither has Drake.”
“Oh,” Mabel wished that she had not said anything about Captain Evans’ friends and their orphans.
“You see,” Harold went on, “the last time we did hear he was still at camp, but he expected to be ordered to Cuba at any time, and I suppose he may be on his way there. Of course, I want him to be as brave as the others, but I get scared sometimes, for fear he will be killed.”
“Oh, then would you be a Cuban orphan?” Mabel asked, in an awe-stricken tone.