“Can we eat ’em now?” demanded Betty.
“Better wait till we get home,” suggested Mrs. Merrill; “that won’t be more than five minutes and then there won’t be any danger of stumbling and running a stick into your throats.”
The two little girls didn’t loiter much after that. They skipped along briskly and soon were ahead of Mrs. Merrill and Alice and Frances.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Betty, as they turned into her own yard, “let’s put the cart up on the porch while I get my doll and then when we get through eating our apples we’ll be all ready to go walking.”
She picked up the front end and Mary Jane took the handle end and they set the cart up at the end of the porch and went into the house. Fortunately Mary Jane took Georgiannamore along with her into the house; if she hadn’t—but then, that’s getting ahead of the story.
The little girls had no more than gone inside before Mrs. Merrill, Alice and Frances turned the corner and strolled along toward the Holden house.
“Funny where those girls have gone,” said Frances, looking at the empty porch.
“They’ve hid our Taffy Apples somewhere, I just know they have!” said Alice. “Frances, we ought to be smart enough to find them so quickly they won’t try teasing again.”
“I don’t believe they’ve hidden the apples,” said Frances thoughtfully, “because Betty would be so hungry she wouldn’t bother with teasing till after she was through eating. Maybe they’ve gone into the house to get Betty’s doll and cart.”
“But why would they bother to take Mary Jane’s cart indoors if Betty was just going in for her doll?” asked Alice.