"Come on," he said. "Drug store around the corner."
Cecilia followed. She could not keep up to him. Half the time she ran. The whole affair was humiliating.
"Thank the Lord no one saw me!" said the boy when they got inside the drug store. He looked at Cecilia. They both laughed.
"Sit down," he said. "I'm going to buy you a soda." Cecilia sat down. "Choclut," she ordered. He sat down opposite her, and put his arms on the sticky little table. He thought he looked on the prettiest child he'd ever seen.... She seemed entirely and only a child.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Cecilia Evangeline Agnes Madden," she answered.
"Well, Cecilia Evangeline," he said, "don't try to eat the bottom of the glass; I'm wealthy to-day. I'm going to buy you another soda!"
"Oh," answered Cecilia, "I really oughtn't." At a motion the clerk bent above her. "C-could I have a sundae?" asked Cecilia. The boy laughed and nodded.
"Peach," said Cecilia, "with a good deal of whipped cream on top, if you please!" She smiled frankly on K. Stuyvesant. "I'm having a fine time!" she said. Her sentimental dreams of him had vanished. He didn't talk a bit like the phantom, but he was nicer!
"What's your name, please?" she asked. She knew, but little Cecilia at fourteen was a woman.