Polly smiled curiously, and half closed her eyes.
“Not now,” she answered truthfully.
A few minutes before three about thirty girls in sweaters and caps were waiting on the steps of the gym.
Louise Preston and Florence Guile, eagerly assisted by Lois and Betty, and helpfully, though a little less eagerly by Connie and Angela, were dividing the party into hares and hounds.
“All old girls to the right of the steps, all new girls to the left,” ordered Florence. “New girls are hares, old girls, hounds.”
“But doesn’t some one go with us?” questioned Flora Illington, timidly. She was one of the new girls for whom Mrs. Baird considered a paper chase necessary.
Florence turned to consult Louise, but it was Betty who answered:
“Certainly not,” she said decidedly. “You are entirely on your ‘own’; choose a leader, and run in any direction.”
“But we might get lost,” Flora persisted, almost tearfully looking for support to the rest of the hares.
“You can’t,” Betty assured her; “don’t cross any stone walls and you’ll be all right. The stone walls are the school boundaries, you can’t miss them. Besides, we’re sure to find you.”