In entire good humor Mrs. Burton presided while the men were kept busy passing back and forth innumerable cups of tea and plates of sandwiches.
The girls were fifty per cent more cheerful and consequently more agreeable. At the table nearest Mrs. Burton were Peggy, Sally Ashton and Gerry Williams.
All at once Mrs. Burton turned to her niece.
“What in the world has become of Bettina, dear?” she demanded. “I had not missed her until this moment. I am not a very successful old woman who lived in a shoe with so many children she couldn’t tell what to do, for I don’t even know when one of mine is lost.”
Peggy got up.
“Bettina is out on the back platform dreaming, I suppose. I told her to come in with me a quarter of an hour ago. I’ll go get her.”
However, after a little time, Peggy returned alone looking a little cross.
“Bettina has disappeared. I can’t find her,” she announced. “As I did not want to miss tea, I asked our porter to look.”
And no one thought of being worried about Bettina until the porter came to say that no young woman answering Bettina’s description could be found.