"What did the Colonel do?" queried Polly wonderingly' but the rest claimed her, and the answer had to wait.
"You've lost your locket!" cried Stella Pope. "Did you know it?"
"It is n't los exactly," Polly explained, instinctively shielding the guilty lad as much as possible in her brief narration of facts.
"Aw, what a kid!" sniffed Johnny Ryan.
"The horrid boy!" worried Mabel Camp. "What if they don't ever find it!"
"Where's yer hair ribbon?" asked Frederica, feeling responsible for the safety of that bit of dainty blue, since she had aided in its first use.
Again Polly stood in defense.
"My cousin Maude wore it to school, and she had n't come home when I left."
"What made yer let her?" mourned Frederica. "Bet yer I would n't!"
"Come, Polly, and change your dress," interposed Miss Lucy, guessing somewhat of the truth from the little girl's reddening cheeks and hesitating voice.