“It’s an awful hot afternoon,” said Nan, “but I suppose we can’t be any warmer there than here.”
So arraying themselves in fresh, cool white dresses, Nan and Patty started to make their call.
The Barlows’ summer place was called the Hurly-Burly, and as Nan and Patty both knew, the name described the house extremely well.
As Bob Barlow sometimes said, the motto of their home seemed to be, “No place for nothin’, and nothin’ in its place.”
But as the family had lived up to this principle for many years, it was not probable things would ever be any different with them, and it did not prevent their being a delightful family, while their vagaries often proved extremely entertaining.
But when Nan and Patty neared the house they saw no sign of anybody about.
The doors and windows were all open and the visitors walked in, looked in the various rooms, and even went upstairs, but found nobody anywhere.
“I’ll look in the kitchen,” said Patty; “surely old Hopalong, the cook, will be there. They can’t all be away, and the house all open like this.”
But the kitchen too, was deserted, and Nan said, “Well, let us sit on the front verandah a while; it must be that somebody will come home soon, and anyway I’m too warm and tired to walk right back in the broiling sun.”
So they sat on the verandah for half an hour, and then Patty said, “Let’s give one more look inside the house, and if we can’t find anybody let’s go home.”