“Yes, and the thief,” added Lucile Neal, eagerly.
Mary Louise most wisely held her peace. Instead of explaining she turned to Josie O’Gorman saying, “Goodness, don’t ask me to tell you when we have a regular unraveler of mysteries there to spin the yarn for us.”
“To be sure,” exclaimed Phoebe Phelps. “Josie, be careful to tell us every single word.”
So Josie, nothing loth, told her own version of the missing car, that version being just what Mary Louise wished it to be. So the recounting was highly satisfactory to all.
As they talked and exclaimed, Aunt Sally served one delicious course after another, and the happy, healthy girls enjoyed it all.
As they left the dining room and strolled out on to the wide veranda, resting in the wide and roomy swing or in the lounging cretonne chairs, Josie said, with regret in her voice: “Girls, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go back to Washington on the next train.”
“Oh, Josie,” wailed Mary Louise; “must you really leave on my beautiful birthday?” But realizing it was useless to try to dissuade her, she added: “Well, anyway, we’ll all pile into the car and take you to the station.”
“Yes, luckily we’ve got the car to pile into,” echoed Josie.
So with a great deal of laughter and much chatter the Liberty Girls adjourned to the garage.
After Mary Louise had safely deposited Josie on the train for Washington and her friends at their houses, she turned the car slowly toward her own home. Somehow she did not want to return just yet. Of a sudden her heart was strangely heavy.