“First-rate,” agreed Hal.
“So say we all of us,” Dick seconded him. So out they all rushed across the street, leaving the house to silence though not to utter darkness.
Not long after this the wheels of the buggy crunched up the driveway. Mrs. Hollins and Babs alighted and Mr. Hollins drove off to the barn. “By the looks of things I should say that Dick and the rest had returned,” remarked Mrs. Hollins as she entered the lighted room. “I wonder where the little girls are. Perhaps Elizabeth has walked home with Hal and Betsy,” and, leisurely taking off her coat and hat, she sat down to unfasten Babs’s wraps.
Presently Mr. Hollins came in. “Where are the youngsters?” he asked.
“I’m sure I don’t know,” replied Mrs. Hollins. “The boys have evidently been here. I haven’t been upstairs, but I imagine that Elizabeth has walked home with Betsy and Hal; perhaps they all went off together, though Elizabeth promised to be here when I returned. Suppose you call up and see if she is at the Tysons’s.”
Mr. Hollins went to the ’phone, returning in a few minutes with the report that there was no response to the call. “They’re all away, I suppose,” he said. “I noticed that the house was quite dark as we came by. Perhaps the girls have gone to Bess Ferguson’s. I’ll try there.” The reply to his query was that neither of the girls was there and had not been since early in the day.
“I will go upstairs and hunt around,” said Mrs. Hollins; “perhaps they are in the house after all.” Leaving Babs with her father, Mrs. Hollins mounted the stairs and searched through all the rooms on the next floor, then she took a lamp and went up into the attic. Here were signs of the late presence of Elizabeth and her friend, Betsy. The big chair still lay where it had been overturned, the spinning-wheel loomed up dimly before the window, a bow and arrow of Bert’s lay on the floor, garments were strewn around. “Elizabeth will have to come up tomorrow and set things to rights,” murmured Mrs. Hollins, as she looked around with a half smile. Then she called softly, “Elizabeth, Elizabeth!” But there was no answer. After waiting a moment Mrs. Hollins went slowly downstairs to rejoin her husband. “I can’t find them anywhere,” she told him. “I’ve been all over the house. Where do you suppose they can be?”
“Here comes Bert,” said Mr. Hollins, “perhaps he can give us some light on the subject.”
Bert came whistling up on the porch and in a moment came in. “Hallo,” he said, “you’ve got back, haven’t you? Gee! but it was a fine game.”
“Have you seen anything of your sister Elizabeth?” inquired his mother.