"Where was it?" asked Avice.
"On the window in the parlour. I thought I saw it there this morning."
"Well, I should have said for certain that I carried it up stairs on Saturday night," said Avice. "However, it does not matter now it is found. Good-bye, children; be good till I see you again." Avice kissed them and went quickly away, for she had no time to spare.
"Ozzy, didn't you have that book yesterday?" said Elsie, after they had set out for school and were walking soberly along the edge of the mowing lot. "I am sure I saw you reading it."
Ozzy hung his head, but said nothing.
"Didn't you have it?" repeated Elsie, as though determined to have an answer.
"Well, I meant to put it back again as much as could be," said Ozzy. "It was so interesting about the queen of Scots, and all—"
"But what made you tell sister that you did not have it, when you did?" asked Elsie.
"I was afraid she would scold," said Osric, hanging down his head again. "Mother said we must never take sister's books without asking, and I was afraid sister would tell her."
The younger Dennison children always called Avice "sister." It was a mark of respect exacted by their mother. Mrs. Dennison was a second wife, not so very much older than Avice herself, and she always treated her stepdaughter with a great deal of consideration. Avice, on her part, was very fond both of Mrs. Dennison and the children, and when she was at home in vacation-time, she always helped a great deal in the work of the farm, and did many things for the little ones.