“We were just coming to look for you!” exclaimed Nalbro. “Where in the world have you been?” and she and Hal halted on the side path up which came Luke and Ruth.
“We have been—picking cherry blossoms,” answered Ruth.
“Cherry blossoms!” echoed Hal.
“I think she has confused Japan and China,” remarked Luke, with a laugh.
“This is worse and more of it!” chimed in Agnes, who had come along with Neale. “What’s the big idea?” she asked slangily. Ruth disapproved of slang, but Agnes, backed by Neale, liked to use it.
“Hop Wong has been trying to stage a mystery,” explained Luke. “Here is the concrete evidence of it. I claim it’s a joke, but Ruth takes it seriously.”
“Let’s see!” demanded Neale, reaching for what Luke had taken for a laundry check.
“Suppose we go into the house where the light is better,” suggested Ruth. “And, Sammy, I don’t want to be impolite, but perhaps your mother wants you to go to bed.”
“Oh, no’m, she doesn’t!” quickly declared the boy. “I asked her an’ she said I could stay up late to-night on account of your party.”
“Well——” went on Ruth.