“We had a wee bit one day; but you can notice quite a difference, one of the girls said, between the climate here and where we used to live.”
“Doesn’t that sound awful, Janet?” asked Sue, “where she used to live!”
“But then you couldn’t visit me here, you know,” Betty hastened to say, and Janet smilingly replied “Sure enough.”
“Anyhow, you still own your house and the lot next to it, don’t you?” queried Sue.
“I guess so–don’t we, Father?” answered Betty, who did not pay much attention to business affairs, and Mr. Lee nodded assent as he drove rapidly along the boulevard, now homeward bound.
“Do you know, Betty,” said Janet a little later, when they were almost home, “I never was inside of an apartment house!”
“I never either,” laughed Betty, “till I came here; but we don’t live in a real apartment house. Ours is what they call a ‘St. Louis.’ And don’t you know when one of the girls called it that–her own place, I mean–I thought she said she lived in St. Louis! I didn’t like to ask her to explain how she lived in St. Louis and went to school here, so I kept still and afterwards heard somebody else speak of a St. Louis flat!”
“I’m going to keep still, too,” said Janet, with some firmness. “You shan’t be ashamed of your friends from the ‘country.’”
Mr. Lee spoke now, with a kind smile. “Betty isn’t one to be ashamed of two such nice girls, and moreover, girls, I think that you may vote for the country, or at least the lovely little village that is still home to us, when you see how every one except the wealthy must live in the city. I own to my wife that there are some conveniences and advantages. She rather likes it now. But it’s pretty crowded and unless you like that, the small town is better. Fortunately we live away from the street cars, a few squares, so you may be able to sleep at night.”
“Mercee,” exclaimed Janet. “But I shan’t mind not sleeping–I’m not sure I could anyway. Just to think of being here with you, Betty!” and Janet squeezed Betty’s arm in anticipation.