"No—not so—so fast!" panted Grace. "I—I—oh!"
And then, just as Nellie was counting "Ninety-seven," she sank down in a heap, with her eyes closed and her face as white as a sheet.
For a moment the other girls looked on in blank wonder, not knowing what to make of it. Then Nan gave a scream.
"Oh, girls, she has fainted!"
"Perhaps she is dead!" burst out Nellie Parks. "And if she is, we killed her, for we turned the rope!"
"Oh, Nellie, please don't say that!" said Nan. She could scarcely speak the words.
"Shall I go and tell Mrs. Lavine?" asked another girl who stood near.
"No—yes," answered Nan. She was so bewildered she scarcely knew what to say. "Oh, isn't it awful!"
They gathered close around the fallen girl, but nobody dared to touch her. While they were there, and one had gone to tell Mrs. Lavine, a gentleman came up. It was Mr. Bobbsey, coming home from the lumber yard for lunch.
"What is the trouble?" he asked, and then saw Grace. "What happened to her?"