The three went up the steps hand in hand.
"Isn't that the loveliest, biggest moon you ever saw?" exclaimed
Polly.
While they lingered to look at it a car flashed up the road and turned in at the entrance.
"Somebody going to the Flemings'," remarked Doodles carelessly.
"No, it's coming here!" returned Polly. The lights blazed toward them.
They waited, and a man stepped out.
"Mr. Randolph!" breathed Polly, as he emerged from the shadows.
"I feel somewhat like an intruder," said the president, as he grasped the hand of Doodles. "When Colonel Gresham invited me I told him my coming was impossible. Then things cleared up a little—and here I am!"
A visible stir succeeded Nelson Randolph's entrance. Mrs. Stickney and Colonel Gresham welcomed him most cordially, and Polly, as president of the Hiking Club, greeted him with a characteristic little speech.
Presently the unexpected guest was moving easily among the others, passing from group to group with hearty handshakes and happy words, at last coming face to face with Juanita Sterling.