Tavia gazed at them with eyes that showed no wonder. She expected so many things of New York that each surprise seemed to have its own niche in her delighted sentiments.
“You see,” said Raffle, “Tillie goes out for a walk about noon time, then mother gets in sometimes at two, and sometimes later. A feller always has to wait for someone.”
“Does Tillie take—a baby out?” ventured Dorothy.
“Baby!” repeated the boy. “I’m the baby. She never takes me out,” at which assertion the two boys laughed merrily.
“She just takes a complexion walk,” Ned helped out.
Martha did not smile very sweetly when told to make two more places at the table, but she did not frown either. In a short time Ned, Raffle and Talent, with Tavia for company, and Dorothy assisting Martha, were left by Mrs. White to their own pleasure, while she excused herself and went off to write some notes. She remembered even then what Ned had said about boys liking to have things to themselves, and was not sorry of the excuse.
But Tavia held to her chair. She knew the strangers would say something interesting, and her “bump” of curiosity was not yet reduced.
“My big brother goes to the university,” Raffle said. “But he eats at the Grill. He never has to wait.”
“Your brother?” repeated Tavia, as if that was the very remark she had been waiting for.
“Now Tavia,” cautioned Ned.