“That I have seen them somewhere before,” she finished, looking at them earnestly. “And now, as they lie there I’m almost sure of it.”
“Seen them before?” repeated Connie, forgetting in her astonishment to lower her voice, so that the little boy stirred restlessly. Billie drew them out into the hall.
“Come into our room,” she said; and they followed her in wondering silence.
“I wish you would say that all over again, Billie,” said Vi eagerly, when they had drawn their chairs up close to Billie. “You said you had seen them before?”
“No, I said I thought I had seen them before,” said Billie, frowning with the effort to remember. “It seems foolish, I know——”
“But, Billie, if you feel like that you must have some reason for it,” said Laura eagerly.
There followed a silence during which Billie frowned some more and the girls watched her eagerly. Then she disappointed them by suddenly jumping up and starting for the door.
“Well,” she said, “I can’t remember now. Maybe I will when I’ve stopped trying to. Come on, Connie, let’s help your mother with the dishes.”
But Billie did not find the answer for several days. Meanwhile they had received word from the boys that they had put into port the afternoon of the great storm and had not been able to go out again until a couple of days later. No news concerning the three waifs had come in.
The boys had received news of the wrecked ship, of course, and were tremendously excited about it.