Dolly looked at Alicia, in bewilderment. Could she be referring to her intended elopement with Marly Turner?
"Good gracious! What do you mean?" and Janet laughed.
"Never mind," returned Alicia, airily, "don't ask me any questions. You know they call me 'that awful Alicia!' So be prepared for anything."
Dolly grew thoughtful. Only she and Geordie Knapp held the secret of Alicia's strange remarks, and she couldn't decide whether it was her duty to tell anyone of her knowledge or not. She made up her mind to tell Mrs. Berry, as soon as she went home, and then she had compunctions about that, for Dolly was very conscientious and she really didn't know what was right to do.
"I go to an awfully nice school," Corinne Bell said. "It's quite near my house and I can go alone every day. We have such interesting teachers, and such a jolly lot of girls. You'd love it, Alicia."
"Yes, I'd love it, but how could I go there? It isn't a boarding school, is it?"
"No; but couldn't you board somewhere in New York?"
"Alone! No, I should say not! You know I live out in the western wilds, at least the middle western wilds, and I think they're wilder than the far west. This little New York visit is all poor Alicia will see of the glittering metropolis for,—oh, well, it may be for years and it may be forever!"
"What do you do in vacation time?" asked Janet.
"Oh, Dad and I go to summery places. Couldn't come to New York then, you know. But when I get married, I'm going to live in New York, you can bet on that!"