Two good-looking, merry-faced young men looked admiringly at pretty Betty and made polite bows. Still full of merriment at the remembrance of her funny morning, Betty’s bright eyes were twinkling, and her cheeks rosy beneath her flower-trimmed hat.
“How do you do?” she said, smiling prettily at the boys, then turning to Dorothy, she said: “Yes, I was detained a little; I’ll tell you about it some other time. But I came just now, from the ferry, in a taxicab.”
“Yes, I saw you drive up,” said Dorothy; “I was looking out of the window. But I’ve been there flattening my nose against the pane for half an hour. Where were you, Betty?”
“Seeking my fortune,” said Betty, teasingly; “or, rather, seeking to bestow fortune.”
But her speech was not heard, because of a commotion behind her.
“That’s the one!” said a childish voice, and, to Betty’s horror, an employee of the hotel ushered a ragged small boy straight toward her. The boy held in his arms a large muddy, newspaper-covered bundle!
“I seen you drop it out o’ yer cab, ma’am, an’ I brung it to yer!”
His dirty little face gleamed with delight, and he held the awful-looking package out toward Betty.
She drew back, feeling that she could not take that box in charge again, and Fred Bates said sternly:
“What does this mean? Why are you annoying Miss McGuire?”