“Who’s in the sleigh with Lil?” demanded Jess.
“As I live!” cried her chum, in a somewhat horrified tone. “It—it is that Pizotti—that man!”
“Can you beat her?” said Jess, shaking her head.
“How foolish!” added Laura. “He is not a good man. He has known her so short a time—and to go sleigh-riding with her. Lil will be talked about, sure enough.”
“Well, I don’t know as we need to worry about her,” said Jess, shrugging her shoulders.
But Laura Belding could not put her schoolmate’s indiscreet actions out of her mind so easily. She wondered if Mrs. Pendleton knew of Lily’s familiarity with the foreign-looking Pizotti. The man might know his business as a stage director; but he certainly was neither of the age, nor the condition in life, to be cultivated as a friend by any young girl.
Lily Pendleton was so foolishly romantic, and so crazy about theatrical matters, that to be noticed by any person connected with the stage, or theatrical affairs, quite turned her head. And then, she still talked a great deal about her own play, “The Duchess of Dawnleigh.” She was sure it had not been given a proper reading—especially by Mr. Monterey. Perhaps, for reasons best known to himself, this stranger, Mr. Pizotti, had promised the foolish girl that he would help her get “The Duchess of Dawnleigh” produced.
CHAPTER XIX—THE FIRST DRESS REHEARSAL
Laura Belding was a particularly frank, outspoken girl, and when she met Lily Pendleton that Saturday night at the rehearsal of Jess’s play, she came out “flat-footed,” as her chum would have said, with the question:
“Who was that in the sleigh with you to-day, Lil?”