“If you are so much interested in whether we take proper nourishment or not, you had better join us at dinner,” Dorothy said, laughing.
“It’s a bet!” declared the young Westerner, and lifting his broad-brimmed hat he left the girls upon the sidewalk outside the restaurant.
“Isn’t he the very nicest—but, oh, Doro! what shall I do?” exclaimed the miserable Tavia. “All my money——”
“Let’s go back and see if it’s been found.”
“Oh, not a chance!” gasped Tavia. “That horrid woman——”
“I scarcely believe that we can lay it to Mrs. Halbridge’s door in any particular,” said Dorothy, gravely. “You should not have left your bag on the counter.”
“She laid hers there! And, oh, Doro! it was full of money,” sighed her friend.
“Probably your bag had been taken before you even touched hers.”
“Oh, dear! why did it have to happen to me—and at just this time. When I need things so much. Not a thing to wear! And it’s going to be a cold, cold winter, too!”
Tavia would joke “if the heavens fell”—that was her nature. But that she was seriously embarrassed for funds Dorothy Dale knew right well.