"Where's Polly?" he demanded of his mother excitedly.
He found her out in the barn, hunting the lid of the vacuum bottle which Ward remembered leaving in the car.
"Polly, what do you think?" Artie cried unhappily, and then he told her of the meeting with Carrie.
Polly comforted him by saying that she was sure he would not have told Carrie if he could have helped it.
"But just the same, she and Mattie can't go on our picnic," Artie's sister declared firmly. "There isn't room enough in the boat and they'll spoil our fun. I must think up some way to make them stay at home."
Artie was sure his sister could be trusted to think up a way, and he felt better immediately.
"You didn't tell her what time we were going to leave, did you?" said Polly, when she had thought for a few moments.
No, luckily, that was one question Artie had not been asked.
"Then I know what we can do," returned Polly. "Come on and we'll find the rest and tell them."