When they landed in New York Carmelita half expected to find awaiting her a conciliatory cablegram from her father, having in her own message to him taken the precaution to provide him with the business address of Drake and Porter. Hardly were they free of the customs inspectors before she persuaded Dudley to call up and see if there was any news.
"Nothing doing, my uncle says," Dudley told her from the sweltering booth. She seemed a little disappointed. "Not worrying over money already, are you, dearest?" She wasn't. But the idea that she would henceforth be cut off from the unceasing flow of gold upon which her life so far had depended gave Carmelita a feeling of vague misgiving. She had had a little taste of what it meant on the trip across. Without a maid or female companion she had been forced to do so many of the annoying things that had formerly been done for her. But was she a baby, she asked herself? She had Dudley and that made up for it. She was not soft, helpless.
The Dudley Drakes registered at the Hotel
