rases again! Is that another lesson learned from
the poorhouse boy?"

"No, indeedy! I caught that from Alfaretta Babcock. She of the
_retrousse_ nose and simple speech. A royal sort of girl, too, is Alfy;
first of the alphabetical Babcock sisters. The second is--But come,
Mamma. We're in for it and I don't want to go to bed hungry, even if you
do. I'm afraid, Mother mine, that there's been too much 'de luxe' in
your life and I shall have to reconstruct you."

His mirthful face provoked her to laughter despite her real vexation and
fortunately, at that moment, Mrs. Hungerford entered the room and
advanced to Mrs. Stark with extended hand and the warmest of greetings.

"This is Monty's mother, I'm sure. I am Molly's Auntie Lu. We exist I
fancy, for our respective youngsters and mine discovered you through the
doorway of the dining-room and commissioned me to fetch you. We've had
seats reserved for you at our table in the corner and I apologize for
not hunting you up earlier. The truth is we were out driving until the
last moment and were greatly hurried ourselves. So, of course, we were
none of us here when the train came in and I did not know you had
arrived. Shall we go now? You will find that people grow desperately
hungry when they first come into this bracing air, and with the best
intentions in the world, the proprietor isn't always able to provide
enough for such clamorous appetites. My brother says that explains the
rather rude crowding to get 'first table,' and that our remedy lies in
doing a bit of crowding ourselves. I rather enjoy it, already, though we
only came here yesterday. Did you have a pleasant trip?"

"No, I did not. I was never on such a poor steamer before. Fortunately I
wasn't ill and it's not a long sail from Boston across. Is it really
true, as Montmorency tells me, that there is no better hotel than this?"
returned the other, rising to follow Auntie Lu.

[Illustration: "HELLO SNACKENBERG! HERE AM I! GIVE ME A RIDE?"
_Dorothy's Travels._]

Since Monty had said that he was hungry, of course, she would stay for
that one meal and let him get comfortable. Afterward--she would
follow her own judgment.

But she, also, was gently bred and born, and despite a lack of plain
common sense was an agreeable person in the main. She had responded to
Mrs. Hungerford's greeting with a correct society manner; and now, as
she followed toward the dining-room, she bestowed upon that lady's back
a keenly criti