“I’d like nothing better than reporting,” said Hannah. “I’ll interview the prominent strangers who come to town and get their views on things. Imagine me strutting around the hotel lobby, getting acquainted!” And Hannah assumed the swaggering manner which she fancied characteristic of reporters.
“The only prominent stranger in town is Frieda,” laughed Max. “You’ll have to get her opinion of American education or the tariff.”
“That’s easy. I know all Frieda’s opinions. If they are favorable, she gives them out plainly, and if they aren’t she keeps still, so it’s no work 249 to guess at them. I wish I could do like she does!” she added, with a sudden earnest tone in her voice.
“I’ll blue-pencil all your reportings, if you use such grammar as ‘like she does!’” said Alice sternly.
“Then I’ll get mad and resign as Jenkins did!” answered Hannah. “I guess I know the privileges of a reporter!”
“Do you think you could get the news?” asked Max. “I suppose I could manage alone, but I’d like to have the paper fuller and better than ever, and I thought if you girls would go in, we could have a lark out of it, and not tell the rest.”
“Indeed we can get news!” cried Catherine. “If you let us tell Mother and Father, they can give us news which will be perfectly legitimate, and Hannah and I have some calls to make. Frieda doesn’t want to go, and Alice wasn’t here when these girls called. They are some of the gossippy kind, and we’ll let them talk and report as much as seems fair. And the Three B’s meet here this week, and we can make a good society column thing of that.”
“Why not have Algernon give you library notes?” suggested Alice.
“He does, always, but he would be glad to do something extra, I’m sure,” said Max. “I don’t know but it would be a good plan to take him in on this. He’s in a position to gather news easily.”