And then, as they turned a corner, the hotel itself appeared in sight. An enormous structure, not far from the lake, and set in a mass of brilliant salvias and other autumn flowers and surrounded by well-kept velvety greensward.
“What a peach of a hotel!” and Patty’s eyes danced with enthusiasm and admiration. “All for us, Little Billee?”
“All for we! Room enough?”
“I should say so! I’m going to have a suite,—maybe two suites.”
“Everybody can have all the rooms he wants, and then some. I believe there are about five hundred——”
“What?” cried Daisy Dow, “five hundred! I shall have a dozen at least. What fun!”
The cars rolled up to the main entrance. Doormen, porters, and hallboys appeared, and the laughing crowd trooped merrily up the steps.
“I never had such a lark!” declared Mona. “Oh, I’ve seen hotels as big,—even bigger,—but never had one all to myself, so to speak. Isn’t it just like Big Bill to get up this picnic!”
Marie Homer looked a little scared. The vastness of the place seemed to awe her.
“Chr’up, Marie,” laughed her cousin, Kit Cameron. “You don’t have to use any more rooms than you want. How shall we pick our quarters, Farnsworth?”