[CHAPTER XII]
COUSIN BECKY TELLS A SECRET
"Where can the child be?"
Mr. Marsh glanced around the room in bewilderment as he put the question; then, a smile of intense amusement broke across his countenance as there came in answer a series of sharp knocks from the interior of the clock case. The boys burst out laughing and rushed forward to release the prisoner, who stood revealed, a moment later, with crimson cheeks, and eyes which shone through a mist of tears.
"Why didn't you come before?" she demanded, looking reproachfully at her brother and her cousin. "You should have looked for me till you found me, you cruel, cruel, boys!"
"Oh, I say, Polly, you needn't round on us like that," remonstrated Edgar. "We've done nothing. Couldn't you get out?"
"No. Do you think I should have stayed here so long if I could have helped it? I couldn't open the door from the inside, and—and oh, I thought I should be suffocated! Help me out, one of you, please; I'm so stiff I can scarcely move."
Mr. Marsh put the boys aside and lifted the little girl out of the clock case. He was very kind, brushed the dust from her frock, and said he hoped she had not been very frightened. Polly looked at him somewhat shyly—she had never seen much of her uncle—and her lips quivered. She felt shaky and unnerved; but she was not going to acknowledge how alarmed she had been, so she made answer evasively—
"There was nothing to be frightened at really, only—only I thought there might be spiders and earwigs there, and it seemed such a long, long time to wait."
"Well, I'm glad we've found you at last," remarked Roger, "for it's getting late."