"'Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?' Miss Thorley asked."
"I got lost." Mary Rose blushed with shame. "I thought I was so smart I could come right home but I turned the wrong corner. I was away over on the other side of Waloo when a kind lady found me and put me on a street car and gave me a nickel and told the conductor to keep his eye on me. But I forgot to tell her it was East Twenty-sixth Street and she sent me west. And then Jimmie found me."
"Good for you, James!" Mr. Jerry reached over to slap Jimmie on the back. "How did you do that?"
"I was just looking round," Jimmie answered vaguely. "I couldn't sit down and do nothing with Mary Rose lost. I had to look till she was found and I was lucky and ran across her. Gee, Mary Rose, but you did give me a scare! I was afraid you'd been kidnapped!"
"You know, Mary Rose, I told you always to come straight home from school," called Aunt Kate from the kitchen.
"I know," in a shamed voice. "And I always did until today, and today—why, I didn't. But I found Jenny Lind and I've made lots of new friends. Mr. Strahan," she peered around at Bob Strahan, "how did that story of Anna's curls get into the newspaper? Did you write it?"
Bob Strahan blushed until he was redder than any tomato that ever ripened. "Yes, Mary Rose, I did," he acknowledged. "I thought it was a dandy little story of a brave girl and that it would be good for people to read."
"Of course, you didn't know that it would hurt Anna Paulovitch's feelings. She says she can't ever hold up her head again but I told her she hadn't done anything to be ashamed of and I'd stand by her."