“Oh, please, please don’t make us stay at home,” begged Billie, turning an earnest, troubled face to Connie’s mother. “We may not be able to do anything to help, but we shall at least be there if we should be needed.”
“Muddie, dear, we couldn’t stay here, we just couldn’t,” added Connie, and with a little choked cry Mrs. Danvers turned away.
“You darling, darling kiddies,” she cried. “Run along then if you must. Only,” she stopped at the doorway to look earnestly back at them, “don’t go any farther than the lighthouse until Dad and I come. We’ll be along right away.”
The girls ran down the stairs, and Connie opened the front door with hands that fumbled nervously at the lock. As the door swung open the wind sprang at them like a living thing, taking their breath, making them stagger back into the hall.
“Th—that wind!” cried Laura, clenching her hands angrily. “I’d like to kill it! Come on, girls.”
Laura rushed out into the storm while the other girls followed, pulling the door shut behind them.