Finally they mounted a dizzying spiral stairway into the upper air, and went home in the cool of the afternoon to tell Mrs. Wales and Miss Hale all about their adventures.
“Well!” said Mrs. Wales, when they had finished, “I’m very glad you’ve come. Mr. Wales has rested so long that he is boiling over with energy. Don’t let him tire you out.”
“I tire out a crowd of Harding College girls!” repeated Mr. Wales scornfully. “I guess there’s no danger of that.”
“We are pretty active, I’m afraid,” admitted Babe.
“And there’s so much to see,” added Babbie sweetly.
“Even if Katherine Kittredge did try to steal all our thunder,” concluded Bob. “I guess we shall need our extra week all right if we’re going to take in everything.”
“Betty,” said Eleanor that evening, as the girls sat in Betty’s rooms in the dark, indulging in good-night confidences, “I never saw such a thoughtful man as your father is. He doesn’t leave a thing undone for any one’s pleasure. Have you seen Miss Hale’s orange-blossoms?”
“No,” said Betty. “Did father send them to her?”
“Why, I suppose so,” answered Eleanor, “because certainly none of us did, and when I went in just now to see if her ice-water had come up all right, there was a great bunch of them on the table.”
“Probably he did send them then,” assented Betty carelessly. “He and mother are both awfully fond of Ethel, and of course they feel ever so much indebted to her for coming down here with us.”