Her chum came running across the grass that grew between the two houses and bounded up the steps. Briefly Mary Louise explained what she was doing.
“But I want to give Elsie something too,” Jane said. “She ought to have some kind of summer coat and a hat. Wait till I ask Mother.”
She returned in less than five minutes bringing a lovely white wool coat and a white felt hat to match it. Mary Louise tied up the bundle.
“Please ask Freckles to take care of Silky this morning, Mother,” she said. “I’m afraid that perhaps Miss Grant might not like him.”
The girls started off immediately through the streets of Riverside to the lonely road that led to Dark Cedars.
“I sort of wish we had Silky with us,” observed Jane as they approached the house. “He is a protection.”
Mary Louise laughed.
“But there isn’t anything to protect us from! Elsie said nothing ever happened in the daytime.”
A stifled sob coming from under the cedar trees caused the girls to stop abruptly and peer in among the low branches. There, half concealed by the thick growth, sat Elsie Grant, crying bitterly.
Mary Louise and Jane were beside her in a second.