She wanted the girls to stay and have some of her sponge cake—baked that afternoon—but they were in a fever of impatience to be gone. When they finally found themselves out in the lane that took them to the Hildreth house, Sarah was the first to speak.
"If she'd had a telephone we could have asked her what she wanted and then we wouldn't have gone," she declared.
"Yes we would," smiled Rosemary. "That wasn't much to do—or it wouldn't have been, if we weren't going to hear about the Gays. Miss Clinton didn't know that."
"I see Mr. Robinson!" chirped Shirley as they came in sight of the house.
CHAPTER XXIV
TRULY A SACRIFICE
"Did you buy the farm?" asked Sarah bluntly.
Richard and Warren and Jack and the circus agent sat on the top step and below them were ranged Rosemary, Shirley and Sarah. Mr. Hildreth had considerately gone into the kitchen to read.
"No," answered Mr. Robinson, "I didn't buy the place."