Promising to meet again for dinner, the boys left Mr. Douglass to finish breakfast leisurely, and set forth for the upper part of the grounds—the north end.
As they went along, Philip drew out a little note-book and pencil, intending to note down the bits of talk he should overhear from passers-by. He seldom caught more than a scrap, but some of the fragments were queer and suggestive. The first was the expression, “Perfectly magnificent!” Then came a heavy Western man, in a broad felt hat, eagerly telling two friends, “Why, if you was to spend only one second in front of each exhibit—” but they passed on. Then followed these:
THE CHILDREN’S BUILDING.
“Think I’ll wander around this way?”
“Ain’t that it, over there?”
“Get the Orficial Cat-a-logue here.”
Entering the Horticultural Building, intending only to walk through it, they heard these:
“You been here, John?”
“Wal, I was just a-lookin’ to see.”