“Any clue is worth following up,” cried Dorothy, instantly aquiver with hope. “Are you going to Scranting now? Because if you are, I am going with you.”
Ned hesitated.
“It is almost dinner time,” he reminded her, but Dorothy broke in impatiently.
“Oh, what difference does that make? We can snatch a bite in Scranting if we have to. Ned, you mustn’t put me off.”
“But there’s another thing, Dot,” Ned demurred, troubled. “I went to get out the Fire Bird just now and she isn’t in the garage. Nat must have beaten me to it. He and Tavia are among the missing. Joy riding, probably.”
Dorothy’s brow clouded. If, as Ned suggested, her chum and Nat were joy riding, such a procedure seemed heartless to her, in view of all the trouble at The Cedars. Then, too, Tavia might have guessed that they would need the car.
In the excitement of her father’s illness and this new announcement of Ned’s, she had not yet remarked the absence of Roger.
Now she turned to Ned decisively.
“We will go by train then. There is one that leaves North Birchlands in half an hour. Can we make it?”