“Janie!” she exclaimed, as soon as the door was closed, “I’ve lost my purse. I didn’t look for it when we were getting out of the cab, because you paid our share; and now I haven’t it.”
“Was there much in it?”
“Oh, no; about $2.50, I think. You know I never keep much in it when we’re traveling.”
“But when did you have it last?”
“I know I had it when we were in the station.”
The girls looked at each other, their thoughts apparently traveling in the same direction.
“I do hate to suspect anybody,” said Nan, “but I am awfully suspicious of our queer-acting traveling companion.”
Martha and Miss Ashton entered just in time to hear the last words, and asked for an explanation.
“I’m afraid there is nothing to be done, Nancy,” said Miss Ashton, after hearing the story. “You are fortunate that there was not much in it.”
“Indeed I am; and I’m not going to worry about it. It is to avoid worry of that kind, that I carry so little money in my purse; then if it does get lost, it’s not especially important. What’s our immediate program?”