CHAPTER XV. THE PROFESSOR'S COURTSHIP.
"What a guy!"
The busy day at Macy's was over. Troops of young women passed through the doors, in street costume, and laughing and chatting, made their way up or down Sixth Avenue, or turned into Twenty-third street. Among them was Ruth Canby, and it was to her that her friend Maria Stevenson addressed the above exclamation.
Ruth turned to observe the figure indicated by her friend, and was almost speechless with surprise.
At the corner leaning against the lamppost was a figure she knew well. The rusty overcoat with its amplitude of cape, the brown crushed hat, the weather-beaten face, and the green goggles were unmistakable. It was Prof. Poppendorf. He was peering in his short-sighted way at the young women emerging from the great store with an inquiring gaze. Suddenly his eyes brightened. He had found the object of his search.
"Mees Ruth!" he exclaimed, stepping forward briskly, "I haf come to walk home with you."
Ruth looked confused and almost distressed. She would gladly have found some excuse to avoid the walk but could think of none.
"Maria!" she said, hurriedly, "it is an old friend of the family. I shall have to leave you."
Her friend looked at the rusty figure in amazement.