“I am dreadfully anxious to meet Aunt Emma,” Amy was saying when she felt a slight touch on her arm and turned sharply about.
A tall, slender girl was standing there, and on her face was a dead white pallor that amazed and shocked the robust girls.
She was holding toward them a five-dollar bill and Amy, the irrepressible, laughed suddenly as her gaze fell upon it.
“Thanks, so much,” she murmured; “but I don’t happen to need it just now.”
“Oh, Amy, hush!” cried Jessie, as she saw the mouth of the strange girl set in a thin straight line and her eyes grow hostile.
“I wanted to ask you if you would change this for me,” said the stranger in a colorless voice that matched the pallor of her face. “But if you don’t care to——”
She turned away, but Jessie caught her quickly by the sleeve.
“Oh, wait a minute, please,” she said. “I am sure I can change the bill for you.”
She fumbled in her bag, but Amy, instantly regretting her flippant speech, found the money first in her own small bag and handed it with an apologetic smile to the girl.
“I’m sorry I was rude,” she said. “I didn’t understand.”