About eleven o’clock Patty and Briar found themselves alone.
“Well,” said Patty suddenly, “I have made up my mind.”
“Yes,” said Briar, “I thought you had.”
“When Aunt Sophy comes back I am going to tell her everything.”
Briar went up to her sister, put her arms round her neck, and kissed her.
“I wonder what she will say,” said Briar.
“Say!” echoed Patty. “She will be hurt. Perhaps she’ll punish us; but that doesn’t matter, for in the end she is quite, quite certain to forgive us. I am going to tell her. I couldn’t go through another night like last night again.”
“Nor could I,” said Briar. “I stayed awake and thought of Paulie, and I seemed to see her face as it might look if she were really dead. I wish they’d all come back, for Paulie is better. And then we’d have just a dreadful ten minutes, and everything would be all right.”
“That’s it,” said Patty. “Everything would be all right.”