“Bert isn’t in his class. He didn’t come to school. He started with me and ran back to get his arithmetic, and I—I don’t know what has happened to him.”
Nan’s voice faltered and she was about to cry. Mr. Tarton noticed this and said kindly:
“Don’t worry. We’ll find Bert for you. Very likely when he got back home your mother sent him to the store. He may come a little late, but if he does, and has a good excuse, he will not be marked tardy.”
“Oh, my mother couldn’t send Bert to the store, because she and my father have gone away!” exclaimed Nan.
“Well, then some one at your house may have sent Bert to the store.”
“Yes, Mrs. Pry or Dinah might,” admitted Nan.
“We can soon find out,” went on the principal. “You have a telephone, haven’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I will call up and ask if Bert went anywhere. Wait a moment.”
The principal was about to call up the Bobbsey house when he happened to think of something.