Part 7 (2/2)
”Wot h'address, Miss?” broke in a harsh voice.
The cab had stopped on a street corner and the coachman was leering at them through the trap door above.
”What address?” repeated Billie, bewildered.
”Certainly, Miss. Them was the words I used. Wot h'address? A'n't it an ord'nary question for a cabbie to awsk his fare?”
The two girls looked at each other speechless with amazement.
”But, weren't you told?” demanded Nancy, when she could collect her thoughts. ”Didn't the lady in the other cab tell you?”
”Now, Miss, w'y need I be awskin' if I wuz told?”
”But why didn't you follow the other cab?” cried Billie.
”I wasn't told to, Miss. I wasn't told to do anythink but do as I was bid.”
”Where were you going, then?” demanded Nancy, who was a sprightly young person when it came to cabbies and stewardesses.
”Ah, ma'am, now you've awsked me somethink I cawn't tell you. Not havin'
no address, how can I?”
”Idiot!” exclaimed Nancy under her breath. What could they do with this incorrigible man?
”Can't you even remember the street, Nancy?” whispered Billie.
They wrinkled their brows and sat in deep thought for a moment. Their young minds were like travelers on a dark road stumbling blindly through a host of misty names.
At last Nancy exclaimed triumphantly:
”I've got it! Miss Rivers.”
”Do you happen to know of a Miss Rivers who has a lodging house, driver?” asked Billie, trying to appear calm and unafraid.
”No, Miss,” answered the cabbie with a queer laugh; ”Miss Rivers and I a'n't personally acquainted.”
”What are we going to do, Billie?” whispered Nancy.
”Let's look in a city directory and see if we can't find Miss Rivers'
Lodgings or Chambers or whatever it is,” suggested Billie. ”Drive us to a city directory, cabbie.”
Once more the hansom started on its way.
”The worst of it is, Nancy,” observed Billie, after an uneasy pause, ”the most terrible part of it is, I haven't any money. I had given what I had to Cousin Helen on the s.h.i.+p to be changed with hers into English money, and I never got it back. I thought it would be time when we reached our lodgings.”
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