“You’ll be home early?”
“I hope so,” Penny answered earnestly. “If for any reason I fail to appear, don’t search in any of the obvious places.”
Leaving her father to ponder over the remark, she hastily quitted the house. A clock chimed nine o’clock as she reached the Sidell house, and a moment later her chum joined her in the yard.
“I had trouble getting away,” Louise reported. “Mother asked a thousand questions.”
“Did you bring the flashlight?”
“Yes, here it is. My, but it’s a dark night!”
“All the better for our purpose,” Penny said cheerfully.
A single light burned in the kitchen window of the Marborough house as the girls presently approached it. The garden was shrouded in damp, wispy mist and the unkempt grounds never had appeared more desolate.
“Penny, must we go through with this?” Louise asked, rapidly losing enthusiasm for the venture.
“I’ll admit the idea doesn’t look quite as attractive as it did this afternoon,” her chum replied. “All the same, I’m going through with it!”