The nurse quieted her, breaking a capsule for her to inhale. She asked the girl for her name and address, but all Clarissa said was, “I’m not real. I’ll fade away altogether pretty soon. Please, just leave me alone.”
“Perhaps that’s best.” Quietly the nurse escorted Judy, Pauline, and Flo into the next room where she began to ask questions.
“You say the girl’s name is Clarissa Valentine?”
Judy nodded, and the nurse wrote it down.
“Where does she live?” was her next question.
The three girls looked at each other in bewilderment. “She said West Virginia, didn’t she? We don’t know the name of the town.”
“It’s all right. I’ll get the rest of the information from her as soon as she’s feeling better. Now,” said the nurse, “if you will leave your names and tell me where I can reach you, I think it will be all right for you to go back and finish your tour. Give our patient half an hour, and I think I can convince her she isn’t in any danger of fading away.”
“We forgot to tell the nurse that Clarissa’s father is a minister,” Judy said suddenly when they were halfway down the hall.
“Maybe he isn’t. I still think she’s putting on an act,” declared Pauline. “She’s the sort that craves attention.”
“How do you know what sort she is?” Flo asked. “She’s practically a stranger.”