“There’s a light inside,” observed Honey
“Not much,” Mrs. Riker replied quickly. “I only had a few dollars left, just about enough to get us to Uncle Paul’s. There was nothing else of any consequence.”
“No green doll?” Judy wanted to ask. But would Helen Riker admit it? They were nearly home now, but the game of secrets was not over. Even Horace acted as if he knew one.
“What does consequence mean?” Penny was asking.
“The dictionary says it’s the natural result of an act,” Judy began.
She had read the dictionary once in order to win a spelling bee, and often quoted definitions from it.
“I didn’t mean it that way. I’m so confused I don’t know what I mean,” Mrs. Riker confessed. “I didn’t tell those horrible men where anything was. I couldn’t have. I didn’t know!”
“They must have overlooked something or they wouldn’t have stopped you. How did they know who you were?” asked Judy.
“A voice from the trees told them, no doubt,” Horace said dryly.