“I’ll be careful, Daddy,” she promised.
Mr. Gay kissed his daughter good-bye, and Mary Louise and Mrs. Hilliard took the elevator to the second floor.
“There are ten rooms on each floor,” the manager explained. “The fourth floor belongs to the help, and I have my own little three-room apartment at the back.
“The third floor is reserved for our permanent guests. We have thirteen of them now—some two in a room, some alone.
“Our second floor is principally for transients, although sometimes guests prefer to live there permanently. One woman named Mrs. Macgregor, a wealthy widow, likes her room and bath so much that she has decided to keep it indefinitely. But most of the guests on the second floor come and go....
“And now, my dear, here is your room. I was going to take you into my own apartment at first, but I decided that would be too far away from everybody. Here you can mix more with the other guests. Of course, whenever you get lonely, you can come up with me. I have some nice books, if you care to read in the evening, and a radio. And perhaps you brought your knitting?”
“I forgot all about that,” replied Mary Louise. “But of course I do knit, and I can easily buy some wool and some needles.”
Mrs. Hilliard opened the door of the room that was to be Mary Louise’s and handed her the key.
“Now I’ll leave you to rest and unpack,” she said. “Perhaps you can come down early before dinner to meet some of the girls in the reception room. The younger ones usually play the radio and dance a little before dinner.”
“I’ll be there!” returned Mary Louise joyfully.