Miss Martin stared at Mary Ellen for a moment.
“I believe they did, Mary Ellen,” said she slowly. “I never heard of such a thing before, but I do believe they did.”
“The screen was out,” went on Mary Ellen, “and they are great big squirrels, and the slippers are little. He came right up on the window-sill now; you saw him yourself, Miss Martin. Oh, how can we find out? Can’t we find out?”
“Of course we can,” said Miss Martin, as pleased as could be at the thought. “At least we can try. Come, Mary Ellen, won’t it be a surprise if those squirrels are the thieves?” And she ran downstairs with Mary Ellen at her heels.
Five minutes later, when Mat placed the long ladder against the old maple and prepared to mount it, not a child was missing from the group at the foot of the tree. The news had spread like wildfire, and long legs and short legs had toiled desperately in those few moments for fear of missing some of the excitement.
All eyes were fixed on Mat as he paused on the ladder outside the squirrels’ hole, and slowly and impressively drew on his baseball glove. That had been his solution of the problem, when Miss Martin had feared that the squirrels would bite his hands.
In went the glove, and out it came with a chattering, scolding bunch of fur that Mat deposited at arm’s length upon a branch. Next came a trembling gray ball, also to be placed carefully out of the way, and then, for the third time, Mat thrust in his hand and slowly drew out the missing “brown betty,” scratched in places, filled with leaves, one button gone, but Lydia’s lost bronze slipper nevertheless.
The children shrieked and hopped up and down in their excitement as Mat dangled it in the air before their eyes. Lydia was smiling happily, but her face was not so bright as Mary Ellen’s.
“Try to put the squirrels back in their hole, Mat,” called Miss Martin; but with a flirt and a whisk the squirrels proved that they had other plans, and were out of sight in a twinkling among the green leaves.
Slowly Mat descended to earth, and handed the slipper to Miss Martin, who, in turn, put it in Mary Ellen’s hands.