"Not we—you," said his cousin, malice in his eyes. "I want to ask Miss Darling some questions about telegrams and special messages by telephone."
Bob Jonstone withdrew himself with the utmost reluctance.
"We have a telephone that connects us with the telegraph office at Carrytown," Maud began, but Colonel Meredith interrupted almost rudely.
"We engaged our rooms for ten days only," he said, "but I want to keep them for the rest of the summer. Please don't tell me that they are promised to some one else."
"But they are," said she; "I'm very sorry."
"Can't you possibly keep us?"
She shook her fine head less in negation than reflection.
"I don't see how," she said finally, "unless some one gives out at the last minute. There are just so many rooms and just so many applicants."
"How long," he asked, "would it take to build a little house for my cousin and me?"
"If we got all the carpenters from Carrytown," said Maud, "it could be done very quickly. But——"