“Didn’t we sing it right the first time, Tess?” her little sister wanted to know. “Have we got to do it all over again?”
“Oh, go and do it over!” gasped Ruth. “It can’t be helped now. But I’ll never let you prepare for another entertainment without first finding out what sort of song you mean to sing. To think of it!”
“Don’t worry, Ruth,” chuckled Luke. “It’s great. Worth the five dollars I paid for my ticket. Those two chicks are certainly the hit of the evening.”
The incident served not only to make Tess and Dot popular, but the other Kenway girls were likewise much flattered by the first cabin passengers after the entertainment. Agnes began to preen herself a little. There were some very nice people aboard the Horridole, and even if Agnes considered herself shut out from knowing Miss Hastings of the Back Bay, there were others of social prominence whom it pleased the girl to become acquainted with.
So they arrived at St. Sergius and went ashore next day amid great gayety. The St. Sergius Arms—a white and green building of Spanish architecture—overlooked the city, which nestled at the foot of the island cliffs. Yet the hotel was not too far from the bathing beaches and the curio shops along the plaza.
The Kenway girls continued to be made much of by their new friends, and in a couple of days they were as much at home in this strange environment as any of the tourists. For St. Sergius was certainly a very different place from any town the Corner House girls had ever before visited.
“I can’t help thinking all the men I see going past are millers,” declared Agnes. “All in white, you know. Only their broad-brimmed hats do not look like the caps millers wear.”
“The girls don’t look like milleresses,” chuckled Neale. “All of them with some kind of veil twisted about their hair——”
“The reboza,” said Ruth.
“Maybe. Anyway, there are some of them awfully pretty,” added Neale.