"Copernicus Droop!" she gasped. Then, remembering her adventure of the previous day, she went on coldly, without noticing the proffered hand: "Ye seem right glad to see me now, Mr. Droop."
Droop was taken aback at her manner and at the sarcastic emphasis laid upon the word "now."
"Why—why—of course," he stammered. "I thought you was lost."
"Lost!" she cried, indignantly. "Lost! Why, you know right well I chased you up one street and down the other all the mornin' yesterday. You tried to lose me, Mr. Droop—and now you find me again, you see. Oh, yes, you must be glad to see me!"
Droop was at first all astonishment at this accusation, but in a few moments he guessed the true state of the case. Without delay he explained the exchange of clothes, and had no difficulty in persuading Rebecca that it was Francis Bacon whom she had pursued by mistake.
"Poor young man!" Rebecca exclaimed, in a low voice of contrition. "Why, he must hev took me fer a lunatic!"
Then she suddenly recollected her young attendants, and turned so as to bring them on one hand and Droop on the other.
"Young ladies," she said, primly, "this here's Mr. Copernicus Droop, from America."
With one accord the six girls dropped their eyes and courtesied low.
"Mr. Droop," Rebecca continued, as she indicated one of the girls after the other with her forefinger, "make you acquainted with Miss Clarissa, Miss Margaret, Miss Maria, Miss Gertrude, Miss Evelina, and Miss Dorothy. They've got sech tangled-up last names, I declare I can't keep 'em in my head. Mr. Droop's the same rank I am," she concluded, addressing the girls.