“And the cat smelled a mouse. So she came up here.” Rhoda dismissed the question.
“Oh, you two know what I mean,” Bess exclaimed impatiently. “I don’t like black cats, especially when they walk right in on a party I’m planning.”
“You think it casts a great big black spell over everything?” Laura supplied.
Bess shook her head. She was almost in tears.
“Oh, come, Bess,” Rhoda put her arm around the girl’s shoulder. “Don’t be like that. That black cat can’t do you or anybody else any harm. Don’t be superstitious.”
Bess smiled through her tears. “Guess I was more upset than I thought,” she half apologized. “If that door is closed,” she nodded toward the one the cat had entered, “let’s go on with what we were talking about.”
The party! The girls now all sat down close together in a circle on the floor. It was Bess who remembered in spite of her recent scare.
“Say, you two,” she said, addressing Laura and Amelia. “You had a secret, too. What was it?”
Both the girls looked guilty.
“You fooled me!” Bess was indignant.