“Oh, dear, dear!” she was sputtering to the driver. “I must meet that one-forty train.” All the time she was speaking she was hurrying toward the taxi.
“But Ma’am——”
Then she saw Mimi——
“Why—” And Mrs. Cole’s eyebrows arched up like a cat’s back and her whole face was one big question mark.
“I am Mimi Hammond,” Mimi announced calmly. She adored being very cool and collected when other people were confused. It gave her the most grown-up, fourteen year old feeling.
“I was going to meet you, child! Dear, dear, what a day—everything upside down. I just this minute found your father’s wire. Are you all right? Here driver, take the bags to the last entrance down. That is the Preparatory entrance. Come with me, Mickey—I mean—what did you say your name was?”
“Mimi.”
She’ll have to stop eventually to get her breath, Mimi thought. She bit her lips to keep from giggling. In that minute she did three things: she liked Mrs. Cole, felt sorry for her and knew by Mrs. Cole’s apologetic manner that she had the upper hand of her. As she followed Mrs. Cole down the corridor to room 207, she was convinced that Mrs. Cole’s job was too big for her. “She’s not a bit like Miss Jane or our camp director. I bet they keep her because they hate to fire her,” Mimi was thinking.
“I’ll put you in here for the time being—er—er—Mimi.” She had the name at last.
“Thank you.”