But when the girls all left the cars on Market Street and Jess finally separated from the others at the corner of Whiffle Street, she began to worry about Laura again. It seemed strange that her chum should have run right home.
There was the Belding house ahead. There were figures on the porch. Jess halted at the gate.
“Hullo!” exclaimed Chet Belding. “Where’s Laura, Jess?”
He and Lance came down the walk hastily. Jess leaned weakly on the gate, smitten now with the fear that something must have happened to her chum.
“Isn’t she here, Chet?” she asked.
“Of course not.”
“Didn’t she come home with you?” demanded Lance, hastily.
“No. Oh, oh! Something dreadful has happened. Tell me honest, boys—isn’t she here?”
“No, she’s not,” they both assured her, and Chet opened the gate.
“Tell us what’s happened,” he said. “But speak low. Mother’s gone to bed with a head-ache and father’s gone to the lodge. Why! Jess! you’re crying!”