"Oh, yes we do," said I. "He can't kill us."
"Who knows?" said Karen. "He isn't just like other people."
"Pooh! When there are four of us together——" No, they didn't want to—so I suddenly threw the shop door wide open and then we had to go in. Mr. Nibb came towards us bowing and bowing. We pushed Munda forward again.
"Have you any white——" began Munda in a shaking voice. And then our courage suddenly gave way and Karen, Mina, and I sprang to the door as quick as lightning, slamming the door after us, and not stopping until we were at the farther corner of the street. And then we saw that Munda wasn't with us! Why in the world hadn't she come out? What was happening to her? We rushed back and listened outside the shop door. Not a sound was to be heard. Karen and Mina were both as white as chalk.
"It's all your fault," they whispered to me. "Who knows what danger Munda is in?"
At that I was so frightened that I didn't know what I was doing, and I threw the door open at once.
There sat Munda on a chair in the middle of the shop, holding a big apple, and Mr. Nibb stood with his legs crossed, leaning against the counter in a jaunty attitude and talking to her.
"Are there many dances in the town nowadays—young ladies?" asked Mr. Nibb, turning to us, as we, pale as death, entered the shop.
No answer.
"Or engagements among the young people perhaps," he continued—polite to the last degree.