"Did she BUST her feather fan?" questioned Harry Grafton.
"You're not nice to laugh when I'm telling a story," said Gwen, "and I guess you wouldn't have laughed if you'd BEEN there!"
"Why, what happened?" Lena asked, partly because she was curious and partly to be kind.
"I'll never know just what did truly happen, because just as she came toward me, I was so scared I fainted, and when I came to, the lady had vanished, but the big hole in the canvas showed JUST WHERE SHE'D STOOD!"
"Why Gwen Harcourt! You know that story's a fib story all the way through!" said Harry.
"'Tis NOT!" said Gwen, "and I guess I know!"
She sprang from the grass, and ran down the driveway.
"I guess when you see the big frame, and the picture with a big hole in it just the shape of the lady, that showed where she WAS, I guess you'll HAVE to b'lieve it," she said, and having said this to the boys that had teased her, she hurried down the avenue.
"Oh, what an awful story!" said Polly, "it made me feel like shivering, and I was glad the boys were with us."
"If Gwen Harcourt likes to tell such stories, she can," said Leslie, "but she needn't say they're true."