“We’ll be short of cups,” the teacher admitted. “Otherwise, I think we can manage.”
“Let’s get to work,” proposed Connie briskly. “We can clean up the worst of this mess before he arrives.”
Quickly the girls gathered up the broken dishes and restored other china to its assigned place. Having no broom they could not clean the floor.
Noon came and another ten minutes elapsed. Mr. Vincent had not appeared.
“He isn’t coming,” Veve announced with conviction. She felt quite relieved.
“I think he will,” insisted Connie. “It’s barely possible he doesn’t know how to find the place, or is mixed up on the trails.”
After another ten minutes had elapsed, she and Veve and Sunny asked if they might go to the gatehouse to inquire if Mr. Vincent had been seen in the park.
Miss Gordon told the girls they might go and suggested that while there they report to Mr. Karwhite the damage done to their playhouse.
“Don’t be gone long,” she said as the girls started away. “We’re all very hungry.”
At the base of the oak tree, the three Brownies paused a moment to study the cluster of footprints.