"
"Why, where are you going?" asked the other, in astonishment.
"Never mind, it's a little secret,--for the present. You just sit here
on the grass and wait,--there's a duck. Here's a book you can read."
Azalea offered Elise a small volume--it was a new humorous publication,
and one Elise had expressed a desire to read. She took it, saying, "All
right, Zaly, go ahead, but don't be too long."
Azalea left her, and Elise soon became absorbed in the book.
It was a full half hour before Azalea returned.
"Where _have_ you been?" asked Elise, looking up, and then glancing at
her watch. "It's half-past four!"
"I know it. That's not late. Come on, let's go home."
Azalea was smiling and in an excited mood, but she looked
tired,--almost exhausted, as well. She was flushed, and her hair was
rumpled, and her breath came quickly, as if she had been through some
violent exercise.
"What _have_ you been up to, Zaly?" Elise asked, curiously. "You look
all done up!"
"I went for a walk by myself. Sometimes I have moods--"
"Fiddlesticks! Don't try to make me think you had a longing for
self-communion or any foolishness of that sort! I know you, Azalea
Thorpe! You went off to meet somebody--"
"I did not! How you talk, Elise Farrington!"
"Yes, you did! Somebody that you don't want Patty and Bill to know
about. Oh, you don't fool me! I'm not a blind bat!"
"Well, you're way off! How could I possibly know anybody they don't
know?"
"You do, though.
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