And in another minute they had stopped in front of the shingled house and were tumbling over one another out of the stage.
Nan landed first, and no sooner had she touched the ground than, as if by magic, a swarm of men appeared, who gathered round her, outvying each other in impressive politeness, and offered her cards.
Bewildered at the suddenness of the onslaught, Nan glanced helplessly at Marjorie with a scared “What do they want?”
At this the swarm turned their attention to Marjorie and the cards were pointed at her, while the men stood respectfully silent.
The Duchess, though as ignorant as Nan of the nature of the bits of pasteboard thrust upon her, summoned all her dignity to her aid, and sternly demanded:
“What do you want?”
But the answers came from a dozen manly throats in such a jumble that no word was intelligible. Then, looking at two cards which had been fairly pushed into her hands, she read on one:
and on the other:
