"But who will buy it?"
"I don't know."
There was a long consultation among the girls, and at last Billie managed to write the letter.
"There," she said, when she had given it to the store boy to post, "now I feel better. The confession part of it is off my mind, anyway. If I can only pay for the old statue—or buy another one like it—I'll be happy—or nearly happy."
She added the "nearly happy" as the thought came to her that even with the broken statue paid for and off her mind she had still another ordeal before her. In a couple of weeks their vacation would be up at Cherry Corners, and soon after that she would have to see Violet and Laura and the boys, except poor Chet, go off to boarding school, while she and her brother would be left behind.
Oh, well, she would not think of that just yet. They could at least enjoy the time they were to spend at Cherry Corners.
And they did enjoy it! There was never a minute of the day for which something interesting was not planned.
Then one night, when they had almost forgotten that the house was supposed to be haunted, they had an experience that brought back all their old fears of the place—"and then some," as Teddy said.
Billie sat up in bed suddenly with the familiar chilly feeling up and down her spine and her hair showing a tendency to pull away from her prickly scalp.
The piano was sounding—all the way from treble to bass! And it was the middle of the night with everybody in bed!