The girls and boys looked after him until he had disappeared within the store, then exchanged curious glances.
“Darry sure seems all ‘het up’ over this girl,” remarked Burd, with a chuckle. “Never knew him to take so much interest in a stranger before.”
“Maybe he is in with the gang of counterfeiters,” suggested Fol, grinning, “and is afraid this mysterious young thing may give him away.”
“Here comes Darry now. Let him speak for himself,” said Amy.
But Darry seemed to have no intention of speaking for himself or for any one else. He looked as black as a thundercloud as he flung down the steps, and had hardly a word to say in answer to their eager questions.
“I found out a good many things that don’t help me any,” he said, taking Burd and Fol by the arm and heading them back toward the roadster. “Let’s get started. Something tells me we are wasting more time than is necessary.”
The only one who agreed with him was Miss Alling. Mildly interested in the account of the counterfeit bill and the girl who had passed it, Aunt Emma was much more vitally concerned with the passage of time and that stretch of mountain road that they would have to cover at the end of their journey.
So as Darry herded the boys into the roadster she stepped on the starter and Jessie and Amy had no alternative but to climb hastily into the car before she released the brake and threw in the clutch.
Amy looked regretfully at the blank face of the store as they moved away.
“I have an idea there are just slathers of mystery surrounding that girl, Jess,” she said, in a low tone. “I hate to go away and leave it all unsolved.”