“I like little girls who talk too much,” Judy said, taking Penny to a more secluded part of the grove to comfort her and find out what the real trouble was.
“Paul didn’t mean it,” Penny defended her brother. “He’s just scared, and so is Mommy.”
“I should think she would be! Are you sure those men caused the accident on purpose to steal her pocketbook?”
The boy clapped his hand over his sister’s mouth
“No-o,” the little girl said slowly. “They wanted something else. They talked as if they’d been to Uncle Paul’s house looking for it and couldn’t find it. It was a—a correction.”
“A correction?”
“Yes, but it’s a secret. I mustn’t tell anyone about it because it will get us into trouble.”
“Then why are you telling me?” asked Judy.
“Because,” Penny explained quickly, “you get into trouble sometimes when you don’t tell things. Mommy did. I’d never, never steal anything after what she told me. Only bad people steal.”