With a glance of angry contempt Leslie put the receiver to his ear and rang up “Dad;” only to hang it up again in disgust, as the answer came back: “Line’s busy!”
CHAPTER II
A SPILL BY THE WAY
The “line” remained busy for so long that the loungers in the hotel lobby grew amused at Leslie’s impatience while the two girls became very anxious.
“It was only an hour or so, Mr. Ford said, before Aunt Betty’s train would leave and I shall be too late to see her—to bid her good-by—and it’s for all summer—a whole long summer! I must go, I must find her, I shall—I will!” cried poor Dorothy, her own words increasing her fear of this calamity, and with a sudden burst of tears. For an instant she tried to keep them back, then careless who might see her crying, darted outward to the curbstone and to the hackman waiting there.
In so doing she collided with a gentleman entering, who staggered backward from the impact, then quietly put his hands upon the girl’s shoulders, to steady her also.
“Beg pardon, little miss! and hello! What’s wrong? Did I hurt you? Beg pardon twice, in that case!”
The tone was kindly and to Dorothy it was a case of “any port in a storm.”