“Were they properly tagged?”
“Why, I thought so,” Nan was completely baffled at the questions.
“Your cabin number?” He smiled at the girl now. “There’s been some confusion,” he said, “and one of the other passengers is quite excited about it. I’m trying to straighten out the difficulties.”
“648. I thought my baggage was in my cabin.” Nan was puzzled now.
“Of course it was,” Bess chimed in. “Your father and my father came down and checked on that to make sure before they got off the boat. I’m certain they said your baggage was there. Come let’s look.”
The two girls and the steward continued down the corridor to the cabins where the rest of the Lakeview crowd was already at work unpacking.
“Oh, here they are now.” Rhoda looked up as the two girls entered. “We were just wondering about you. The angriest looking red-headed man we’ve ever seen was just here demanding to see Miss Sherwood.”
“He was near-sighted and slightly hunch-backed,” Laura continued. “He lifted his shoulders, puckered his brows, and peered at Rhoda as though she was either hiding you in this cabin or lying when she said that she didn’t know where you were.”
“He looked slowly around,” Grace contributed, “as though you must surely be here. I thought for a moment that he was going to open the cabinet. But he hesitated and just stared at it. I’m sure he looked right through those doors and saw that you weren’t there.” She shuddered as she remembered the man’s expression.
“Yes, and when Rhoda advanced toward that doorway, easing him gently out, you know,” Amelia too looked frightened, “his face got so red that I thought he was going to die of apoplexy.”