“Do you mean that big place on Fifth Avenue?” inquired Gretel, her eyes opening wide in astonishment. “Mr. Pendleton took Mrs. Marsh and Ada there once, and Ada said the dinner cost fifteen dollars. Oh, do you really think we ought to go there?”
Mr. Douane laughed again, and assured her that he thought they might venture to be extravagant for once, so when they had made the tour of Van Cortlandt and The Bronx, the chauffeur was directed to take them back to the city, and at about seven o’clock the car drew up before the big Fifth Avenue restaurant.
“I’ve passed here a great many times, but I never thought I should be going in,” whispered Gretel to her brother, as they went up the steps, and she was conscious of a delightful little thrill of anticipation.
Fifteen minutes later they were sitting at a small table in the brilliantly lighted restaurant, and Mr. Douane was giving one of the waiters an order which fairly took away Gretel’s breath; it was all delightful and beyond her wildest dreams, but she was a little anxious, notwithstanding.
“What’s the matter, Gretel?” Mr. Douane asked, regarding her troubled face curiously, as the waiter disappeared with the order. “Are you afraid you are not going to get enough to eat?”
“Oh, no, indeed!” cried Gretel, reddening; “it’s all perfectly wonderful, only—only, are you quite sure you can afford it? It sounded so very expensive.”
“Quite sure,” laughed her brother. “You are an economical little person, Gretel.”
“That’s just what Father used to say,” said Gretel, her face brightening, “but you see, I had to be rather economical, because Father was so very extravagant. He didn’t care a bit about things for himself, but he wanted them to give to his friends. He used to tell me that if I didn’t warn him about not spending all his money, he wouldn’t have any at all left. He said Mother used to keep his money for him, but after she died there wasn’t anybody else to do it, and that was why he was always so poor.”
A shade of sadness passed over Percy Douane’s pleasant face.
“Poor Mother,” he said, with a sigh, and Gretel suddenly remembered that her mother was also his, and felt more intimate with this new brother of hers than she would have believed possible a few hours earlier.