Norah reddened slightly.
“Well—I never had dinner in a big hotel like this before,” she said. “Melbourne hotels are a bit different to the Cunjee one, I guess. And I don’t want Dad and Jim to be ashamed of me.”
“I don’t think you need bother your head,” said the more travelled Jean. “You look nice, truly. And I shouldn’t think your father and Jim were very hard to please.”
“Oh, they never would say anything. But they might think—and be disappointed if I weren’t all right. You see, it never seemed to matter when I was only at Billabong. But after all this time at school they’ll naturally expect me to be different.”
“And do you think you are?” queried Jean, anxiously.
“I don’t think I am, a bit!” Norah answered. “That’s what’s worrying me. It won’t bother me when I get home, I expect, but this big place seems different.” She glanced round the hotel bedroom with a quaint air of anxiety. “I feel just exactly the same as if I’d never been at school at all.”
“Well, I believe that’s how your father’ll like you,” said Jean, sapiently.
“And——” Norah flushed more redly, and paused.
“What?”
“Will dinner be—difficult? You know I haven’t been anywhere like this,” said poor Norah. “Will there be lots of knives and forks and glasses I don’t know anything about? I don’t want to make an ass of myself, you know!”