Cora took the folded paper from Jack’s hand.
“More—ghosts!” sighed Belle. “Somehow this whole trip has been——”
“Ghost-bound!” interrupted Walter. “Well, what does this particular ghost want, Cora?”
“It’s a note—from Rose and Nellie,” she announced. “They have been here—and—wait, let me read it.”
“Dear Miss Kimball,” she read aloud.
“We came to your cottage last night. I hope you will forgive us. We did not sleep in any bed, but slept on the floor. We washed all the dishes this morning, and cleaned down the pantry shelves to pay for our night’s lodging. We are dreadfully discouraged, and when you see Aunt Delia will you just tell her we have drowned ourselves on account of that piece she put in the paper about us. We did not take Miss Schenk’s earrings.
Your true friends,
Rose and Nellie Catron.”
“Oh!” gasped Belle. “Isn’t that perfectly dreadful!”
“Do you really think—they have drowned themselves?” asked Bess.
Jack was reading the letter over, and the other boys were helping him decipher it. Cora waited their opinion.
“Isn’t it strange,” she said, as Jack laid the paper on the table, “every place we go they leave some clue, and yet they are just clever enough to escape us.”