“I’ll show him what I can do! But he will be in trouble enough when he gets home. I’m sure of that.”
“That Mr. Stratford didn’t look like he meant to make Montmorency trouble,” said the freckled girl. “He looked real pleased when he was talking with Mrs. Shannon.”
“Bah! You vulgar little thing!” snapped Belle. “What do you know about it? And you are just as bad as the Shannons—every whit.”
“Oh, I’m worse!” said Henrietta promptly. “Everybody says I’m the worsest kid in Dogtown. Why! I’m Spotted Snake, the Witch!”
The laugh raised among the other girls did not soothe Belle Ringold’s rage at all. She exclaimed:
“Well, I know what Mark Stratford wants that boy for. He’s heard about you kids raking over the ruins of that aeroplane. That watch Mark lost stuck to Monty Shannon’s fingers, and I’m going to tell Mark so if he doesn’t already know it.”
A flame of color swept over Jessie’s face and her eyes flashed, but for the moment she said nothing. She had been angered by Belle’s speech and feared that she would say too much. Her chum, however, was not so careful.
“Mean thing!” exclaimed Amy, sharply. “You don’t know anything of the kind.”
But Henrietta and the boys Monty had left behind him began to cry out at this aspersion cast upon their friend.
“’Tain’t so! ’Tain’t so!” shrieked Henrietta, angrily. “We never seen no watch. I was over at Miss Jessie’s place, too. Why don’t you say I stole a watch?”