“Not quite a day,” replied Marjorie. “Your aunt said it all happened about one o’clock last night.”
“Where have you been?” demanded Florence, too impatient to wait for the story.
“In the cellar at the tea-house!”
“But you haven’t!” cried two or three of the girls at once.
“We searched every corner of it, and so did the policemen!” explained Lily.
“Then I don’t know where I was,” said Anna, as if she resented the contradiction.
“Well, where did you come from tonight?” inquired Ethel.
“From the cellar, I tell you! I came up stairs and let myself out of the front door. I saw your sleepy old policemen smoking in the rose arbor, but they never noticed me come out of the house. That’s all the good they are!”
“I never did think much of them!” remarked Ethel.
“Tell us everything—please—from the beginning!” begged Marjorie, unable to repress the excitement she felt in finding Anna really alive.