"I hate to have you dear people go but I suppose you will have to. But do just wait long enough for me to see if I can't find Jane somewhere. She is crazy to meet my family and will scold me to death if I let you get away."
"I am afraid we can't stay but a moment or two, dear," objected Mrs. Tolman. "It is growing late, you know, and we must get to the hotel before it is too dark."
"But I won't delay you a second, Mother—truly, I won't. I do want you to meet Jane. I'll ask the girls if they have seen her anywhere."
"If you get out into that mob they'll fall all over you and you'll never get back," growled Steve, who was beginning to feel hungry and was none too graciously inclined toward the prospective stranger.
"Oh, yes, I will," laughed Doris as she darted away.
In spite of this sanguine prediction, however, she did not return as promptly as she had promised, and Mr. Tolman began to fidget uneasily.
"We really ought to be starting on," he said at last. "Where is that child?"
"I knew she'd stop to admire everybody's new hat and talk over the whole summer," grumbled Steve scornfully.
"You are thinking of your dinner, son," his mother put in playfully.
"You bet I am! I'm hungry as a bear."