“Here we are!” Gertrude said as the bus arrived at the school and a flock of laughing girls trooped down the broad front steps to greet the newcomers.
Madame Deriby was pleased to meet these friends of the girls from Sunnyside and she told Adele that they might occupy the pretty room in the cupola for the night, and so thither they all flocked. When satchels, hats, and cloaks had been deposited therein, and Madge had paused a moment at the high window to admire the beautiful view, Adele and the other girls led their guests out into the garden, and there a joyous morning was passed gathering flowers and greenery which later they put into bowls and vases to be placed in every nook and corner.
When they all trooped down to the dining-room, the other pupils looked almost enviously at the laughing, merry group. They were unfolding their napkins when Adele suddenly exclaimed, “Girls! I never until this moment thought! What ever became of Everett?”
Betty Burd chuckled. “You all left him standing in the hall when you went up to the cupola room,” she said, “and honestly, girls, I thought he looked scared, being the only boy in the place, and so I went back to keep him company, but just then Arthur Ellsworth came bounding up the front steps. He explained that he had been delayed so he couldn’t get to the station, and then away the two boys went, so you see, he is being well cared for.”
“Jack and Bob are coming in on the next train,” Doris Drexel said.
“Donald Burnley, Dick Jensen, and all the Jolly Pirates will also be arriving then,” Adele remarked. “Arthur Ellsworth is to go over to the station in his tally-ho to meet them.”
“What fun they will have,” Betty Burd exclaimed, “blowing horns, like as not, all along the way.”
“They couldn’t have more fun than we’re having,” Adele said, when, dinner over, they were again in Apple-Blossom Alley planning to just rest during the afternoon.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THE CLOSING PARTY
At seven o’clock that evening Apple-Blossom Alley was the scene of much merriment, for the dwellers therein, dressed in their prettiest with flushed cheeks and eyes glowing like stars, darted from one room to another.