“Yes, I did,” said Winona. “And, anyway,” she added, brightening, “when we’ve done this hotel our consciences will be clear.”
“I only hope we don’t meet that horrid Mrs. Gardner,” said Louise.
So they marched up the steps, and tried to pick out the women they had sold to the day before, to explain to them. But Winona had scarcely begun, “You see, we really weren’t Italians at all,” when the people she was talking to began to laugh. Winona, bewildered and a little cross, looked around to see what they were laughing at. She saw Miss Lawrence behind her, laughing, too.
“It’s no use explaining, my dear,” said that lady. “I did it myself. Everybody knows that you and Louise Lane disposed of your goods under false pretenses by tying up your heads in red handkerchiefs and letting your customers draw their own conclusions. I don’t know but some of us want our money back! Never mind, children, it was very clever of you!” she added, seeing that Winona was not sure whether she was in earnest.
And the girls found themselves being questioned and laughed at and made much of by a group of women, who wanted to know all about the Camp Fire, and the things the girls made, and the ways they earned money, and what they did with it, till Winona and Louise were fairly tired with answering questions.
They invited everybody to come out to the camp, and set a day. They took some more orders, and then they carried Miss Lawrence off across the lake and down the river, to see Camp Karonya. When she arrived they handed her over to Nataly, as was polite, and she and Mrs. Bryan showed her over the camp.
She investigated everything with the same brisk, fairy godmother expression that she had had when she took Winona and Louise under her wing, stayed to luncheon, and then expressed a desire to be taken down to the Scouts’ camp, to see Billy. So two of the Blue Birds rowed her there.
After they had seen Miss Lawrence off, the girls became busy a little way down the river. Winona got there a little late and found that much had happened while she and Louise had gone off that morning. At first the idea of making the float had been to found it on the rowboats the Boy Scouts were willing to lend. But when a deputation, headed by Mr. Gedney, paddled down, bringing the boats in question, it became painfully clear that four canoes would not support enough planks to hold twenty life-size girls. Neither would rowboats. At least, Mrs. Bryan and Mr. Gedney agreed that they wouldn’t—most of the girls and all the boys were willing to take a chance.
When this turn of affairs arrived everyone felt very sad, and for a while it had looked as if Camp Karonya wasn’t going to have a float in the lake carnival.
But just then along came that resourceful old gentleman, Mr. Sloane, with fishing-rod and a can of bait.