"Cheer up! Maybe some of the stuff will be found," said Sadie optimistically.
"Not with that long-whiskered sheriff down in the village and his short-brained helper on the job," said Nan flippantly. "If they didn't catch the thieves before, there's not much chance of their doing it now. A fine mess we're in, I'll say!"
That afternoon Miss Romaine called a special meeting of all the students of Laurel Hall in the auditorium.
She spoke simply and sincerely of the second robbery, sympathizing with the girls who had lost their property and assuring them that no effort would be spared to apprehend the thieves and recover the stolen articles.
But in spite of these assurances the girls remained uneasy and nervous.
"How do we know that this thief isn't some sort of maniac?" one of them suggested.
"It certainly sounds like the work of a crazy man," another admitted.
This dread supposition spread through the school like fire and for days after the second robbery scarcely a girl could be found who would set foot in the grounds of Laurel Hall after dark.
The local police, represented by the sheriff and his assistant, were being stirred to real effort by the insistence of Miss Romaine and the girls hoped daily that they would receive some word in regard to their stolen property and the identity of the thieves.
Poor Jo was in a worse plight than any of them. She had bought her gymnasium suit with a bill from that pitifully small roll handed to her by her father. She had no money to buy another. She could not bring herself to confess this to Nan or Sadie and she would not confess it to her father, who would probably sacrifice something he needed himself to send her the money.