Grandmother’s voice reached them. She had been earnestly talking to her daughter and now walked restlessly up and down, glancing at the packed suitcases cluttered in one corner.
“Tanglewood, Minneapolis, now Aspen. Like Gypsies!”
She came over to Judy and lightly touched her hair. “Well, Judy, are you glad you’re going?”
“Of course I am.” The girl tossed it off lightly. “But even if I weren’t I couldn’t back out at this point ... not with all my commitments.”
Mrs. Ritchie peered at the girl with a puzzled look. “What commitments?”
“My engagements. I can’t just throw them overboard.”
The grandmother turned to Minna. “What is the girl talking about?”
Minna swallowed a smile and shrugged her shoulders. “You’d better ask her.”
“All right. What are these engagements you’ve mentioned?”
Judy refused to be hurried. “Well, mother is engaged to sing in the opera. Father is engaged to play in the orchestra and string quartet. And I’m engaged to....” She hesitated long enough to permit the suspense to build. Then with a leap, she flung her arms around her grandmother and shouted the rest of it. “I’m booked to act in a summer theater. A real, professional summer theater.”