“It’s gone,” Miss Gordon acknowledged. “Probably taken by a pickpocket. Now that I think of it, a stranger brushed against me only a moment or two ago.”
“While we were standing near the fat lady’s tent!” recalled Veve. “When you looked at him, he said ‘sorry’ and hurried away.”
Miss Gordon turned to gaze quickly through the crowd. The stranger no longer was to be seen.
“I remember him too,” declared Jane. “He had a mole on his cheek.”
“And he wore a brown suit,” added Connie.
“I don’t suppose we’ll ever see him again,” sighed Miss Gordon. “It makes me fairly ill.”
“Is all our camping money gone?” Eileen asked plaintively.
“Every penny. Besides, the billfold contained five dollars of my own and our circus tickets.”
As the full significance of the bad news dawned upon the Brownies, they were stunned. For a moment, they could say nothing.
“Let’s tell a policeman,” Veve proposed at last. “He’ll catch that old pickpocket.”