“That does sound wonderful, Tavia. If it is only true!”
“Of course it’s true. Did you ever know me to tell a fib?” retorted Tavia, and wished in her heart that she was as certain as her words sounded.
Then came their arrival at Dugonne and the embarrassment and indecision of the two girls as to just how they were to get rid of their two acquaintances now that they had reached their destination.
“I imagine we won’t have to worry about it much,” Dorothy remarked shrewdly. “When they find that our destination is the Hardin ranch and that I am engaged to Garry Knapp whose property adjoins the Hardin ranch, they probably will keep their distance from us.”
“That’s all right after they learn,” assented Tavia. “What I was worrying about was the meantime.”
As it happened, they were spared the embarrassment of sending Blake and Gibbons about their business by the sudden and unexpected appearance at the station of an old friend of theirs, or rather, of Tavia’s.
The girls had descended to the platform hoping that, since Blake and Gibbons were almost at the other end of the train, they would be able to get away before the men came up to them.
Dorothy searched with eager eyes the faces of those who had gathered to meet the train, expecting confidently to see Garry.
Had she not wired him of her impending arrival and of the very time of her arrival? And of course Garry would be there, eagerly looking for her, as she was for him.
But Garry was not there. Dorothy realized this with incredulity. Garry was not there!