“The one we’re supposed to find!” Judy broke in excitedly, forgetting her promise of secrecy. “That may be it, Honey! If we find the doll we may find out what the voice is, too. May I tell Peter about it?” she whispered to Penny. “He may be able to help us find it.”
“Find what? I didn’t tell you anything,” the little girl said loud enough for the others to hear. “I was just making it up.”
“Of course she was,” Paul agreed. “Penny is always making up things. Who ever heard of a green doll?”
CHAPTER VIII
The Wonders of Magic
Judy didn’t for a minute believe Penny had made up the story she had told her. The empty box proved there had been something of value in her mother’s pocketbook. But it was obvious the little girl was afraid to talk about it except when she and Judy were alone.
“Why?” Judy asked herself. “What is she afraid of?”
The trees were frightening, but Penny claimed she had heard nothing but whispers from them. Had a voice really told Muriel and Anne to run? Judy questioned them some more, and they still insisted the voice had come right out of that hollow tree.
“It has a mouth,” Muriel said, “and arms that it waves in the wind. It’s alive, Judy. We’re afraid to go home for fear it will catch us.”
“That I would like to see,” declared Horace, and everybody laughed.