"It's just like my dream," she said naïvely. "I dreamed last night I had a ride in an airship, and I haven't been in an automobile since we came to Bellaire."
"When was that?" asked Madaline, who kept very close to Mary as if considering the stranger her own especial charge.
"About four months ago—in winter," Mary replied. "First we stopped in a city, then Janos brought us out here."
Cleo wanted to ask why Mary always gathered flowers and roots, but conscious that many personal questions were more necessary than these, she felt those less important must wait for another time.
"Oh, see!" suddenly exclaimed Mary. "There go Janos and Reda looking for me! Now we can all go in and be talking to granddaddy when they come back. Isn't that fortunate!"
Everyone thought so, for, in spite of all their scout courage, the girls were not especially anxious to run headlong into the arms of two foreigners, who would undoubtedly be angry. The prospect of meeting a benevolent old grandfather was much more comfortable to speculate upon.
"Turn in here," Mary told the driver, and her friends noticed a certain dignity in her command, usually found only among those accustomed to give orders. "There's grandie," she called. "See, he is coming to meet us. Drive slowly, he is not strong on his limbs."
The man they approached was not old, but very tall, stooped and distinguished looking. As the car drew up he threw back his shoulders and stood like some figure posed in defiance. "Granddaddy, here I am!" called Mary, attempting to climb out; "were you frightened about me?"
"Mary! Mary!" he exclaimed. "What does it mean?" and each word sounded like a low moan.
Plainly he was trying to figure out what had happened that the child should return with strangers. Likely he had feared an accident.