“—And if you don’t, I’ll tell anyway,” Laura continued. “We met a tall handsome dark-haired man—”
“You didn’t either,” Bess interrupted.
“Well, then he was short and fat.”
“Laura Polk, you know very well that you didn’t meet any man at all. You either lingered too long over the chocolate soda that you have spilled on that plaid skirt or, and this is more likely, you relied on Amelia’s watch which is always slow.”
“If it isn’t old Sherlock Holmes himself! And what a disguise! Why, Sherlock, if it weren’t for your super intellect and your remarkable powers of observation, which no one could mistake, I’d swear on a stack of Bibles that you were Elizabeth Harley of Lakeview Hall, otherwise known to her intimates as Lunch-Box Lizz. Really, Sherlock, you amaze me,” Laura continued as she turned Bess slowly around. “Amazing, truly amazing.”
Bess laughed and blushed. “Lunch-Box Lizz” was an appellation that was hard to swallow, but she knew from of old that there was absolutely no use in trying to silence Laura.
“Anyway,” she retorted, as she winked at Rhoda, “You missed the fudge that Mrs. Cupp sent up to us.”
“If Mrs. Cupp sent you up fudge, then I’m a monkey,” Laura returned. Nevertheless, she proceeded to look around for the empty plate, muttering the while that if Bess was any kind of friend at all she’d have saved some of the loot.
Bess watched her for a few seconds. Then feeling anxious to get on with the business of the day, she laughed, “There’s no plate and no crumbs and no fudge, but you’re a monkey, anyway, Laura Polk.”
Laura laughed, as the other girls joined in. “Well, you see it’s like this,” she explained, “It’s been so long since I’ve had anything besides a chocolate soda, that I’m just starved for something good to eat. But, Bess, since I wouldn’t eat any old chocolate fudge even if you offered it to me on a great big silver platter, will you please break down and tell me what all the mystery is about.”