"Are you O.K., darling?" demanded Louise, kissing her chum again and again. "When we read about your long flight south, and then heard nothing of you for three days, we got worried. So we managed to hop off."
"You angels!" cried Linda. "Oh, I might have known you would! When everything looked blackest——"
"You mean about being lost in the Okefenokee Swamp?"
"Worse than that.... Let me call Aunt Emily, while you get a room, and I'll tell you the whole story after that.... But first tell me how long you can stay."
"Ted and I can only stay till tomorrow morning," replied Louise, "so long as you are all right. But Dot'll keep you company—she thought you might be lonely——"
"That isn't half of it!" interrupted Linda. "I was so lonely tonight that I couldn't eat. I just felt sick. Worse, far worse than my flight to France, because that was over quickly, and this just seemed to stretch out interminably."
"Now do call your Aunt," urged Dot. "She must be dying to hear from you—and we'll have you all evening. By the way, I'm rooming with you?"
"Nowhere else in the world!" exclaimed Linda, giving the girl an extra hug in her joy. "Room 420—and I'll be there in a minute!"