“What sort of things?” asked the other one, in a hushed voice.
“Well, wild things,” explained the elder, vaguely; “bears and animals like that, that grow in wild places.”
Van Bibber lit a fresh cigarette, and settled himself comfortably and unreservedly to listen.
“My, but I'd like to take a trip just once,” said the youngest, under her breath. Then she clasped her fingers together and looked up anxiously at the elder girl, who glanced at her with severe reproach.
“Why, Mame!” she said; “ain't you ashamed! Ain't you having a good time 'nuff without wishing for everything you set your eyes on?”
Van Bibber wondered at this—why humans should want to ride around on the swans in the first place, and why, if they had such a wild desire, they should not gratify it.
“Why, it costs more'n it costs to come all the way up town in an open car,” added the elder girl, as if in answer to his unspoken question.
The younger girl sighed at this, and nodded her head in submission, but blinked longingly at the big swans and the parti-colored awning and the red seats.
“I beg your pardon,” said Van Bibber, addressing himself uneasily to the eldest girl with long hair, “but if the little girl would like to go around in one of those things, and—and hasn't brought the change with her, you know, I'm sure I should be very glad if she'd allow me to send her around.”
“Oh! will you?” exclaimed the little girl, with a jump, and so sharply and in such a shrill voice that Van Bibber shuddered. But the elder girl objected.