Part 9 (2/2)
”Will you be able to manage?”
”Oh, I'll run up a bill and then let them try to collect!”
Penny gazed at the actress with frank amazement.
”You surely don't mean you would deliberately defraud the hotel?”
”Not so loud or the clerk will hear you,” Miss Miller warned. ”And don't use such an ugly word. If I land the part with Mr. Balantine, of course I'll pay. If not--the worst they can do is to throw me out.”
Penny said no more but her opinion of Miss Miller had descended several notches.
”What are you doing here?” the actress inquired, quickly changing the subject.
”Oh, I just came down to look over the hotel. It's very sw.a.n.ky, but I like Mrs. Downey's place better.”
Miss Miller turned to leave. ”I am going back there now to check out,”
she declared. ”Would you like to walk along?”
”No, thank you, I'll just stay here and rest for a few minutes.”
Penny had no real purpose in coming to the Fergus hotel. She merely had been curious to see what it was like. Even a casual inspection made it clear that Mrs. Downey's modest little lodge never could compete with such a luxurious establishment.
She studied the faces of the persons in the lobby. There seemed to be a strange a.s.sortment of people, including a large number of men and women who certainly had never been drawn to Pine Top by the skiing. Penny thought whimsically that it would be interesting to see some of the fat, pampered-looking ones take a tumble on the slippery slopes.
”But what is the attraction of this place, if not the skiing?” she puzzled. ”There is no other form of entertainment.”
Presently, a well-fed lady in rustling black silk, her hand heavy with diamond rings, paused beside Penny.
”I beg your pardon,” she said, ”can you tell me how to find the Green Room?”
”No, I can't,” replied Penny. ”I would need a map to get around in this hotel. You might ask at the desk.”
The woman fluttered over to the clerk and asked the same question.
”You have your card, Madam?” he inquired in a low tone.
”Oh, yes, to be sure. The manager presented it to me this morning.”
”Take the elevator to the second floor wing,” the man instructed. ”Room 22. Show your card to the doorman and you will be admitted.”
Penny waited until after the woman had gone away. Then she arose and sauntered across the lobby. She picked up a handful of hotel literature but there was no mention of any Green Room. Pausing by the elevator, she waited until the cage was deserted of pa.s.sengers before speaking to the attendant, a red headed boy of about seventeen.
”Where is the Green Room, please?”
”Second floor, Miss.”
”And what is it? A dining room?”
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