“Hotel Haddon!”
“Gee! I never even heard of it. Is it slummy?”
“Not at all! Very decent. An old downtown hotel!” Mr. Cheatham beat a hasty retreat.
Josie dropped her flapperish expression as soon as Cheatham passed from her coach and then she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes with a sigh of relief. She wanted to think and to think fast. The porter passed down the aisle. Why not find out from him just where the Hotel Haddon was? Giving an adroit twist to the shade at the window, she pulled it out of place, which gave her an excuse to call on the porter for his services.
“Awfully sorry,” she said, slipping some silver in his hand after he had adjusted the shade. “Please tell me, do you know a Hotel Haddon in Cincinnati?”
“Yes, miss! Down-town place—uster be a fambly hotel but now it’s kinder taken over by theatre people. Travelin’ men use it some. I wouldn’t ’vise it for a lone young lady.”
Josie thanked him and listened attentively to the list of hotels he did advise for one in her situation.
“Now, there’s a real ladylike hotel right acrost the street from the Haddon if you’ve a mind to be down-town. It’s called the Alpha,” said the friendly porter.
When the train pulled in at Cincinnati Josie managed to make herself invisible behind the curtains of the ladies’ dressing room. She hardly expected Cheatham to look her up, but there was a chance of his doing it, and she wanted him to forget she was in Cincinnati if possible. When the train was about emptied, she darted out, seized a belated red cap and had him put her safely into a taxi.
“Hotel Alpha,” she called, and at that moment had the satisfaction of seeing Cheatham enter a bus bearing the inscription Hotel Haddon. Evidently he had told the truth about his stopping place, because he had no suspicion of her wanting to know for any reason but idle curiosity.