Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the city room.djvu/164

 That Miss Abbott had not come on business was shown by the return of Thomas, bearing an enormous bouquet of sweet old-fashioned roses and a large white package tied with gold-colored thread.

"She sent you these things, Miss Herrick," he said, as he put them on the table beside the convalescent's chair. "I told her you said you did n't know her," he added expansively, "and she said she knew you did n't know her, but that she knew you. She said she came to your office in the 'Searchlight' building once, and that you were very kind to her, and she sent you these with her love, and hoped that you would soon be back at your desk again."

Miss Herrick looked at him helplessly. She had worked hard over Thomas during her three years of residence at the Hotel Edward, but his methods still left much to be desired. Her heart sank as she pictured the well-meaning stranger carrying away the memory of what must have seemed an ungracious reception. She threw herself back in her chair, and surveyed the roses with a strange mixture of feelings, in which regret