As for Elinor, she was unable to understand Lefty’s sudden reversal of mind and heart, and a pained expression of keen disappointment overshadowed her lovely countenance as she noted the boy’s puzzling, indifferent attitude of plainly ignoring her.
Panama rushed forward to greet the girl with a broad smile of welcome, forgetting himself for the moment and clasping her in his arms, then blushing furiously as he realized the forward step he had made.
Elinor helped to relieve his embarrassment by ignoring his bold action and greeting him with a warm, “Hello,” while Lefty, still seated in the cockpit, experienced a mingled feeling of nervousness and slight jealousy, as he struggled to pretend that he was still unaware of her arrival.
“Gosh, Elinor!” Panama bellowed with jubilant enthusiasm, “it was mighty nice of you to get up so early just to say good-by to me!”
The pretty nurse’s lips parted in a warm and generous smile, at the same time, casting a hurried and nervous glance in Lefty’s direction, whose back was still turned toward her.
“I couldn’t see either of you boys go away without saying good-by,” she replied in a tone unmistakably loud enough so that Lefty could not help but hear. Then she glanced down and held out one of the neatly wrapped packages she had been carrying. “Here’s a little something for you so that you won’t forget me!”
Panama looked with longing and surprised eyes at the package and then at Elinor. He stumbled from one foot to the other, tried to speak but somehow couldn’t find the words, and then, with hesitance, lifted his hand and accepted the box.
“Gee, this is swell! Oh, boy—I didn’t think you’d remember me like this!” He turned about, grinning from ear to ear, and looked up at Lefty, shouting, “Hey, kid! Look what Santa Claus just brought me!”
Still making a sincere attempt to avoid any direct meeting with Elinor, the boy merely looked over his shoulder with his eyes trained just above the nurse’s head and smiled at Panama, quickly resuming his work again on the machine gun.
This latest action of Lefty’s left no doubt in Elinor’s mind that he was intentionally avoiding her, and the consciousness of his inexplainable attitude hurt her terribly. Her mind became a befuddled center of unanswerable and annoying questions that she struggled to fathom out, though finally giving up the task with regret just as Panama, in an embarrassed fashion, began to stutter incoherently, “I—well—er—ahem—er—if I could manage to write a couple of letters, will you—er—do you think you’ll find time to read ’em?”