"Give them another chance, Tabitha. I think they really are trying to be good."
"Well, I'll—see. We'll forget all about it now and go to sleep. Morning can't be very far off."
CHAPTER VII
TOADY AND THE CASTOR BEANS
But when morning dawned, Gloriana lay flushed and feverish upon her pillow, her head throbbing until she could scarcely open her eyes. Tabitha was alarmed, and between her worry over the sick girl lying in their darkened room, and her ministrations to croupy Janie, who had caught cold sleeping in the night air on the mountain top, the poor housekeeper was so nearly distracted that she had little time to devote to the rest of her large family, and they wandered about the premises like so many disconsolate chicks who had lost their mother. It was an ideal time to get into mischief, and yet something restrained them.
The girls, it seemed, had slept through all the racket of the previous night, and were not aware that anything out of the ordinary had occurred, but they could not understand the tense atmosphere; and when Mercedes heroically tried to fill Tabitha's place the other members of the brood resented her authority, frankly found fault with her badly cooked oatmeal and unsalted potatoes, and insulted her attempts at housekeeping in such a heartless, unfeeling manner that she finally dissolved in tears and refused to do anything further toward their comfort. Susie and Inez quarreled over the dishes and had the sulks all day. The boys, still fearful of the consequences of their latest prank, and somewhat remorseful at having frightened Gloriana into a fever, wandered aimlessly away toward town, glad to escape from Tabitha's watchful eye, and greatly relieved to think no mention had been made by anyone of the burglars' visit.
"Guess the girls couldn't have heard the noise last night," ventured Toady, when they had left the house far enough behind to make it impossible for anyone to overhear their conversation.
"The girls?" repeated Billiard blankly, his thoughts on another phase of the situation.
"Mercedes and Susie and the twins, I mean."