But they needed no urging. Their feet scarcely touched the floor, it seemed to Gloriana, as they made a mad rush for their room; and when Tabitha returned a moment later, alone, they lay tense and breathless under the coverlets of the cot.
"Glory!" they heard her ejaculate. "You let them get away from you!"
"I couldn't help it," replied the red-haired girl in excited tones. "Couldn't you get anyone? Wasn't the constable at home?"
"No, but he'll investigate as soon as——"
The rest of the sentence was lost in the slamming of a door; but the two culprits lay and quaked with fear long after the rest of the household was fast asleep, little dreaming that as soon as the door was tightly closed so they could no longer distinguish the voices, Glory had wheeled on Tabitha and giggled accusingly, "You knew all the time!"
"Not until I ran past their door and saw their bed was empty," whispered the black-haired girl with her hand over her mouth to stifle the laughter she could no longer suppress.
"What possessed you to keep on, then?'
"I surmised what would happen, and decided to scare them a little, too. So I crept around the house and listened to you talking with them. When they thought they heard me coming back, I concluded it was time I did put in appearance again; but I thought I'd die laughing to hear them scuttling into bed. Now I reckon the score is even!"
"Then you won't tell their Uncle this time?"
"I ought to."