“Whose father?” asked young Eastman. He looked admiringly and even lovingly at the girl, and yet in a slightly scornful and shamed fashion. He hated to think of what some of the men he knew would say about her meeting him at the station.
“Why, that poor little Charlotte Carroll's!” said Bessy. “Say,” she added, after a second's hesitation.
“What?” asked young Eastman.
“I've a good mind to ask her to ride. We're goin' her way. You don't mind?”
“Not a bit,” said young Eastman, but he did think uncomfortably of Ina's sister seeing him with Bessy Van Dorn.
Bessie promptly stopped. They had not yet made the turn from the station to the main road, and Charlotte was just behind them.
“Say,” she called out, “get in here. I'll take you home—just as soon as not.”
“Thank you,” replied Charlotte. “I have an errand. I am not going home just yet.”
“All right,” replied Bessy, touching her horse. “I'd just as soon have taken you as not, if you'd been going home.”
“Thank you,” Charlotte said, again.