Part 7 (1/2)
”Well----”
”You--you are perfectly horrid!” her chum declared. ”She's a heroine!
Think of it! We ought to do something for her, Linda says.”
”We ought to let her alone,” Nan declared vigorously.
”I--I never knew you to speak so, Nan,” gasped Bess. ”This brave girl----”
”How do you know she's brave?” snapped Nan, who was really getting cross. ”She probably was scared half to death.”
”Why! she's a heroine,” declared Bess again.
”Well! how do we know how a heroine feels?” Nan asked, exasperated.
”Oh, Nan!”
”One thing I am sure of,” went on Nan Sherwood, rather wildly. ”She doesn't want a memorial--or a medal--or a purse----”
”Perhaps she's poor,” put in Bess, obstinately.
”She's not!”
”Why--do you know who she is?” gasped Bess.
Nan was silent. She saw she had gone too far. If Bess should suspect----
The door at the rear of the car banged open. The conductor, leading a committee of pa.s.sengers from the other coach, entered. He was smiling and the ladies and gentlemen with him were smiling, too. When their gaze fell upon Nan they marched directly toward her.
Nan got up. She looked all about for some means of escape. Behind her, coming down the aisle, were several other people headed by Professor Krenner. And with them came the haughty girl, Linda Riggs.
”Oh! what's the matter?” cried Bess, starting up, too.
Nan was speechless, and red with confusion. Professor Krenner was smiling, as though he rather enjoyed Nan Sherwood's position.
”Oh, Miss Harley!” Linda Riggs cried to her new acquaintance. ”They say that dear, brave girl is in this car.”
”Is she?” asked Bess, feebly. ”Oh, Nan! what do all these people want?”
”We want your friend, Miss Harley,” Professor Krenner said drily. ”I expect Linda did not know that. Nancy Sherwood, does she call herself?
Well, Nancy Sherwood is a very brave girl, and we have all come to tell her so.”
”Nan!” shrieked Bess, seeing a great light suddenly. ”It was _you_!
_You_ are the heroine!”
”She most certainly is the girl, Miss,” the conductor laughingly said.
”And she has been trying to hide her light under a bushel, has she?”