They both laughed.
"She certainly does not," Blue Bonnet admitted.
"Couldn't you ask to have the time extended?" Alec looked wistful. "Why, I haven't given you half the messages from the ranch yet."
"I might try. I'll see."
She came back in a few minutes with Miss North.
"Miss Ashe tells me that you have just come from her home in Texas," Miss North said. "I can quite appreciate how much you have to tell her of her friends. Perhaps you would stay and dine with us?"
Alec seemed a bit embarrassed. To dine among so many girls was not as alluring as it sounded.
"Oh, do, Alec—please!" Blue Bonnet insisted.
Blue Bonnet was invited to sit at Miss North's table for the occasion. The Seniors sat at Miss North's table, so Alec had Blue Bonnet next to him, and Annabel opposite—an embarrassment of riches.
The girls seemed overwhelmed with such unexpected good fortune. They acted as if they had suddenly been struck dumb. Miss North and Blue Bonnet took turns breaking the silence with trivial generalities.