They forced their way through a thicket of brambles beyond which they caught sight of a little girl standing forlornly, with torn frock and tear-stained face.
“What is the matter, little girl?” inquired Claudia coming up, but the only response she received was a shake of the head.
“Can’t you tell us, little girl?” Joanne was the next to question, but no answer came except another shake of the head.
“Do you suppose she is deaf?” Winnie ventured. She put her face close to the child’s and said in a loud voice: “Can’t you hear us?”
This had the effect of making the child shrink away terror stricken.
“She hears all right,” Claudia concluded. “Either she doesn’t want to speak or she doesn’t understand. She thinks you are scolding her.”
Joanne had been observing the child closely. “She looks like a foreigner,” she decided.
“Parlez vous Français?” said Claudia.
Still the puzzled look.
“Sprachen sie Deutsch?” this from Winnie, who made the other girls giggle, but brought only a hurt, wondering expression to the little girl’s face.