As the automobile turned down the driveway, it met another approaching. The occupants in it bowed politely to Miss Campbell and her party. They were old Mrs. Paxton-Steele, her granddaughter, Georgiana, and her grandson, Clarence. Edward l’Estrange was not with them.
CHAPTER XVIII.—IT’S AN ILL WIND.
Billie and Elinor strolled together that evening along the palm-bordered walk of the hotel.
They had grave matters to discuss and they had slipped away from their friends to be alone. Percy and Nancy waited eagerly on the piazza for the first strains of the orchestra, which meant that dancing would begin, and Mary and Charlie lingered on a bench talking of West Haven.
“It is a queer business, Elinor,” Billie was saying. “I do wish he had written.”
“He might have sent either you or Edward just a line,” exclaimed the other. “How can he think Edward is going to masquerade like this much longer? He is really working quite hard for a boy who has never done anything much in his life.”
“It will do him good,” insisted Billie. “He’s twice as manly as he was when we first met him.”
“But what is going to happen now? Is he to wait until Edward l’Estrange comes back?”
“He promised to.”
“But he didn’t expect him to go beyond St. Augustine, and he’s gone to New York.”