“Hang up your wraps here in the closet, girls,” breezily directed Mrs. Lee, “and go into the living room to meet our guest.”
“Guest!” thought Betty as she gave her mother an inquiring look. Who in the world had come?
“It is one of the boys that your Father knows, Betty,” replied Mrs. Lee, speaking softly in reply to Betty’s unspoken question. “It seems he asked him to come for Thanksgiving dinner and forgot to tell me–so by all means make him welcome. I think he goes to one of the high schools and works in between times.”
Betty, wondering, and guessing at the cordiality which her mother must have used to cover up her ignorance and make the boy feel at home, followed her mother from the hall to see a tall, rather heavy boy rise and stand a little awkwardly to be introduced. Dark eyes, unsure of a welcome, met Betty’s. Why–why, it was the “Don!”
From the rather sober, polite girl who was ready to make a stranger welcome, Betty became a wide-awake, welcoming friend. Her mother, in a low but cordial voice, was mentioning a name that Betty had heard but never remembered, and then she was giving the girls’ names to the guest.
“Why, Mother, this is the hero of our championship game!” Betty was stretching her hand out with a smile. “Does Father know it? And where is Dick? He ought to be worshipping at your shrine!” Betty hardly knew what she was saying in her surprise. The other girls, following Betty’s example, shook hands with the tall lad, who seemed to lose a little of his shy attitude under this complimentary greeting. It was nothing so unusual, to be sure, for the Lees to have some lonesome body to share their Thanksgiving dinner, yet her father’s forgetfulness and the surprise of his acquaintance with the “Don” were two unexpected features of the situation. But trust Mother to handle it!
“Dick went off somewhere almost as soon as you went to church, Betty,” Mrs. Lee was saying. “I’m glad to know that he will find a friend in Mr. Balinsky. Please excuse us all for a few minutes. I’m going to ask the girls to help me take up our dinner. Mr. Lee will be in shortly and Amy Lou will keep you company, I suppose.”
Amy Louise, who had reached the point of showing one of her picture books to the “big boy,” soberly nodded assent. Doris was nowhere to be seen, but she was found cracking nuts for the top of the salad and announced to Betty, “We have everything ready now, I think.”
“Well, you certainly have been a help to Mother,” said Betty warmly, “and did you know that Ramon Balinsky is the ‘Don’?”
“Why Betty Lee! How wonderful! No, I never saw him close enough at school; and then you couldn’t tell, on the field, in his football clothes! My, won’t Dick be simply stunned? I’m going to see where he is and call him!”