The girls stared at her a minute as if she had roused them out of sleep.
“For goodness sake, what made you think of that now?” asked Laura a little peevishly. “I’m so tired I don’t want to form clubs or anything else. All I want is to get out somewhere where I can stretch my legs, get some supper, and go to bed. I’m dead.”
“You’re making lots of noise for a dead one,” chuckled Billie, and Laura made a face at her.
“But no one’s answered my question,” broke in Connie plaintively. “I thought you girls loved mysteries and things.”
“Well, who says we don’t?” cried Laura. “Just show me a good live mystery and I’ll forget I’m all tied up in knots and everything.”
“Just listen to her!” exclaimed Connie indignantly. “Do you mean to say you’ve forgotten that we have a mystery already?”
“Oh—that,” said Laura slowly, while a light began to dawn. “Yes, I did forget about it; we’ve been so busy getting ready and everything.”
“Well, I haven’t forgotten about it,” said Billie, sitting up suddenly, while her cheeks began to glow pink. “And the more I think about it, the funnier it seems to me.”
“What?” asked Vi.
“Oh, everything,” answered Billie, getting more excited as she spoke. “Hugo Billings in the first place. And then finding Miss Arbuckle’s album in the woods. And the children. Girls, I’m just sure they are mysteries—and real ones, too.”