“No, just let’s walk out together, arm in arm. That will make it all right. Let’s never, never tell anyone what happened.”
“Very well, then. And you think I ought to go back?”
“I know it. You must go on Carin’s account and on mine—just prove we’re not so horrid as you thought us.”
The telephone rang again. They could hear Miss Zillah begging to be allowed to answer it and Miss Adnah refusing. So Annie Laurie took down the receiver.
“Yes, Mrs. Carson,” Azalea heard her say. “Yes, it’s Annie Laurie. Yes, Azalea is here. Forgive Carin? Yes, Mrs. Carson. I reckon it was my fault, too. Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t your fault, whosever it was, ma’am. We’ve been bad, that’s all. Everybody is bad sometimes, I suppose. I never was so horrid before, though, honestly. You say Carin never was, either. Well, I’m coming back now. Azalea and I were just starting. What is it? Oh, yes, we’ll not talk of it. Very well, Mrs. Carson. Good-bye.”
She turned to Azalea.
“Come,” she said, “if we go right along we’ll be able to finish our South Sea Island study hour.”
She put her head in the kitchen door. “Good-bye, aunts,” she said. “Try to forget about it all. I’m going back.”
“Annie Laurie,” came the austere voice of her Aunt Adnah, “how can you?”
Annie Laurie ran in and threw her arms around her aunt’s neck.