“There she goes,” Nancy Brown had exclaimed as “The Comet,” Billie’s motor, whirled by; “too proud even to ask her old friends to take a spin.”
“Now, Nancy,” protested Elinor, “don’t be too hard on her. Remember, she has not seen any of us since we were children. Perhaps she’s forgotten all about us. Besides, I’ve been thinking that we ought to have done the first speaking. She was starting right for us when Belle Rogers stopped her.”
“Well, I tried twice to speak to her,” said Nancy, “and she wouldn’t look at me. I am afraid we shall never get a ride in that pretty motor car, and the only one I was ever in was the stationary automobile at the tintype place at the County Fair.”
The girls walked on silently for a few moments. The red motor car had turned a curve in the road and was out of sight and the place seemed very lonely and still. The afternoon shadows were beginning to lengthen as the sun moved slowly behind the pine woods, which formed a dark background against the flat, green meadows about West Haven.
“I can’t imagine why we should be wasting time about a friend who has forgotten us,” exclaimed Mary Price, “when Elinor has brought us out here to tell us some mysterious secret. Don’t you think it’s about time to begin, Elinor? It’s getting late and we’ve still a good ways to go.”
“I was just going to,” answered her friend, “but suppose we take the short cut across the fields, and I’ll tell you on the way. Two other people are in the secret, Charlie Clay and Ben Austen. They have promised to meet us at the old house. Of course, the whole thing may be of no importance.”
“But what is it?” interrupted Nancy. “You keep dodging around the bush.”
“Now, Nancy,” answered Elinor, who had a calm, placid disposition and never hurried about anything, “don’t put your most peculiar characteristic off on me. You know very well that you are the one who loves to keep a mystery until we are all of us nearly bursting with curiosity.”
“Don’t quarrel, children,” interrupted Mary. “Remember that members of the Blue Bird Society are bound over not to quarrel.”
“We aren’t quarreling; we’re just discussing. But do go on, Elinor. I can’t stand the suspense much longer.”