The girls all left off their khaki camping clothes and attired themselves in light summer frocks that morning. There was a reason for this unusual “hike” as Percy called it, and it pleased Nancy extremely, who took that opportunity to wear her best blue batiste and her prettiest hat. Billie wore no hat. It annoyed her when she drove the car, she said; but as a matter of fact she had lent her only hat to Phoebe.
From time to time, as the car went down the mountain road, Miss Campbell glanced admiringly at the mountain girl beside Billie in front.
“Dear, dear,” she exclaimed in a low voice, “what clothes will do for one. And how well the child wears them. She might have been accustomed to pretty things all her life.”
“She puts us all in the shade,” whispered Nancy.
If Billie had intended to create a sensation in the village, she succeeded beyond her wildest hopes. At first Phoebe was not recognized, but at the village store where everything was sold from groceries to Indian moccasins, a man loafing at the door exclaimed:
“By golly, that there’s Phoebe from up on the mountains!”
Phoebe blushed scarlet and then smiled.
“I suppose it will be a surprise to them,” she said.
They waited some time at the general store for purchases and letters, and by the time the “Comet” had borne them slowly onward to the small hotel, the news had spread down the street. At the water trough, they came to a full stop. They had no errands at the hotel, but Billie pretended to examine the “Comet’s” interior mechanism with careful interest. Pretty soon, nearly two dozen people had gathered at the trough. The innkeeper himself appeared, pale-eyed and sly; and Lupo made bold to show his face.
“Look at Crazy Frenchy’s gal diked out in all them duds,” one of the company exclaimed.