Mrs. Strait looked pleased. “Seems like that thar Dover one ought to do as wall as any. Please to write it down so’s Pa kin see it an’ tother un along side of it.”
The girls left the store as soon as they could, fearing that they would have to laugh, and they did not want to hurt the mother’s feelings, and so, after purchasing some chocolate bars, they darted away without having learned where Gib was.
“Not that it matters,” Nann said when they were nearing the beach. “He won’t come over, probably, until tomorrow morning with Dick.”
“But Dick said he would arrive on Friday,” Dories reminded her friend.
“Yes, I know, but if he leaves Boston after school is out in the afternoon, he won’t get there until evening.”
“They might come over then,” Dories insisted. A few moments later, as they were nearing the cabin, she added: “There is no appetizing aroma to greet us today. Aunt Jane is probably still in bed.” Then, turning toward Nann, the younger girl said earnestly: “Truly, I feel so sorry for her. She seems heartbroken to think that Mother and Peter and I will not need to share her home. I believe she fretted about it all night; she looked so hollow-eyed and sick this morning.”
Dories was right. The old woman was still in bed, and when her niece went in to see what she wanted, Miss Moore said: “Will you girls mind so very much if we go home on Monday. I am not feeling at all well, and, if I am in Boston I can send for a doctor. Here I might die before one could reach me.”
“Of course we want to go whenever you wish,” Dories declared. She did not mention what her mother had written. There would be time enough later.
Out in the kitchen Dories talked it over with Nann. “You’ll be sorry to go before you solve the mystery of the old ruin, won’t you?” the younger girl asked.
Nann whirled about, eyes laughing, stove poker upheld. “I’ll prophesy that the mystery will all be solved before our train leaves on Monday morning,” she said merrily.