“I don’t know what goes in or out; but I do know that my father wouldn’t let ladies pay for their dinners when he was along. A pretty kind of a gentleman that would be! And Judge Schuyler Breckenridge is a Perfect Gentleman, I want you to understand,” answered Molly, proudly.
“So is my Father John,” said Dorothy with equal decision; and for a few minutes there was silence while each loyal daughter reflected upon the astonishing merits of their respective fathers.
Afterward they interested themselves in watching the people near them; so that it was with some surprise they heard “Diamond,” the steward, announcing:
“New Yawk! Twenty-third street landin’! Fo’wa’d gangway fo’ Twen-ty—thir-d-st-r-e-et!!”
Then followed a little scurry as they sought Miss Greatorex to inquire if this were where they would leave the boat. However she said not; that they were to remain on board until the steamer landed at Desbrosses street, lower down the city. There she had been informed that Judge Breckenridge and Mrs. Hungerford would meet them. After dining together they would cross the city to the other East River and take the steamer for Yarmouth. It was all very simple and yet very exciting.
Both Miss Isobel and her pupils had “read up” on Nova Scotia and felt as if the short ocean trip would land them in a foreign country. Whether the entire vacation should be passed in that Province or they to travel further afield had not yet been decided.
However, New York was sufficiently exciting, even to Molly who had been there many times, and far more so to Dorothy, who had passed through it but once. They could scarcely keep their feet from dancing as they gathered with the rest of the downtown passengers to await the landing of the “Powell” and their going ashore.
“See! See! Papa! Darling Auntie Lu! There they are, there they are!” almost shrieked Molly, frantically waving her handkerchief to somebody on the wharf.
There were many answering wavings of handkerchiefs from expectant friends to those still on board, and Dorothy peered eagerly among them trying to decide which was the pair to whom her chum belonged. Turning her head to beg information on this point she suddenly perceived her “shiny old man.” He was on the edge of the crowding passengers, holding back and yet apparently in haste to get forward, by watching for little breaks in the ranks and dodging swiftly through them. His crutch was under his arm, he was not using it. His hat-brim had been lowered over his face, his coat collar pulled high about his ears and securely buttoned. There was none of that benign appearance about him now which had so won Dorothy’s sympathetic heart and if he were lame he admirably disguised the fact.
It was her chance! In another moment he would have left the boat and she would miss him. She would run up to him and ask him if he remembered about the purses—Quick, quick! He must have forgotten—