“What a perfect scheme!” exclaimed Adele, as soon as greetings had been exchanged. “Who all are going?”
“Let us go to luncheon,” said Bill, “and then we can thrash out things. I reserved a table—ah, here we are,” as the head waiter recognised the big Westerner.
“I love to go round with Bill,” said Patty, “he always has everything ready, and no fuss about it.”
“He sure does,” said Jim Kenerley, in hearty appreciation. “But the way he scoots across the country and back, every other day or two, keeps him in trim. He lives on the jump.”
“I do,” agreed Farnsworth. “But some day I hope to arrange matters so I can stay in the same place twice running.”
Laughing at this sally, they took their places at the table, which Bill’s foresight had caused to be decorated with a low mound of white asters and maidenhair fern.
“How pretty!” cried Patty. “I hate a tall decoration,—this is just right to talk over. Now, let’s talk.”
And talk they did.
“I just flew off,” Patty declared, as she told Adele about it. “Nan’s going to pack a trunk and send it, when she knows we’re truly there. I think she feared the plan would fizzle out.”
“Indeed it won’t,” Bill assured them. “We’ve got the nucleus of our party here, and if we can’t get any more, we can go it alone.”