“I don’t know yet. But we have to go to find out just what was stolen, if for nothing else. She may know by this time.”
“Then why not let the boys drive us up?” asked Jane, with a yawn.
“You know why. We can’t let them into the secret: they’d tell everybody. And I bet, if the thing got out, Miss Grant would be so mad she’d have Elsie arrested then and there. No, there’s nothing for us to do but walk.... So please go get your shower.”
Wearily Jane struggled to her feet.
“O.K. But I warn you, I may drop in my tracks, and then you’ll have to carry me.”
“I’ll take a chance.”
Mary Louise met another protest from her mother, who tried to insist that her daughter lie down for a little rest before supper. But here again persuasion won.
“Really, I’m not tired, Mother,” she explained. “It’s only that I’m hot and dirty. And we have something very important to do—I wish I could tell you all about it, but I can’t now.”
Her mother seemed satisfied. She had learned by this time that she could trust Mary Louise.
“All right, dear,” she said. “Call Jane over, and you may all have some lemonade. Freckles said he had to have a cold drink.”