FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95  
96   >>  
she was greeted with cries of joy when the girls saw her burden. "They'll make our breakfast ever so much nicer," said Eleanor. "It was good of you to think of them." Not until after breakfast did they see Mrs. Chester--not, indeed, until all the dishes had been washed and put away. And then she approached with a grave face, and called the Guardian aside. They talked together earnestly for a few minutes, and Eleanor's face grew as serious as the Chief Guardian's. Bessie saw that they looked at her more than once as they spoke, and that Eleanor shook her head repeatedly. "I wonder what can be wrong, Zara," she said. "Do you suppose that Farmer Weeks has been making trouble for us again?" "Oh, I hope not! Do you think it's about us they're talking?" "I'm afraid so. See, they're calling me. We'll soon know." Bessie did indeed, soon know what had happened. "Bessie," said Mrs. Chester, "did you go anywhere else this morning when you went for berries?" "I just walked about the place, Mrs. Chester, and looked around. That's all." "But you were quite alone?" "Yes, quite alone. I only saw a few men who were working, cutting the grass, and trimming hedges." "Oh, I'm sorry! Bessie, over there in the woods there's a place that's fenced off, where General Seeley keeps a lot of pheasants. And some time since last night someone has been in there and frightened the mother birds and taken a lot of the eggs. Some of them were broken--and it was not an animal." Bessie looked frightened and concerned. "Oh, what a shame! But, Mrs. Chester, you don't think I did it?" CHAPTER XIII A TANGLED WEB Bessie's eyes were full of fear and dismay as she looked at Mrs. Chester and Eleanor. At first she hadn't thought it even possible that they could think she had done anything so cruel as to frighten the birds and steal their eggs, but there was a grave look on their faces that terrified her. "No, Bessie," said Mrs. Chester, "I don't believe you did--certainly, I don't want to believe anything of the sort." "I _know_ you didn't do it, Bessie!" cried Eleanor Mercer. "But General Seeley is very indignant about it, Bessie," Mrs. Chester went on to say. "And some of the men told him that one of the girls from the camp was around very early this morning, before anyone else was up, walking about, and looking at things. So he seemed to think right away that she must have done it. And he sent for me and asked
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95  
96   >>  



Top keywords:

Bessie

 

Chester

 

Eleanor

 
looked
 
General
 

frightened

 
Seeley
 

morning

 

Guardian

 

breakfast


thought
 

burden

 

frighten

 

broken

 

animal

 
mother
 

concerned

 

TANGLED

 

CHAPTER

 
dismay

walking

 
things
 

greeted

 

terrified

 

indignant

 

Mercer

 

talked

 
earnestly
 

making

 

trouble


called

 

talking

 

approached

 

happened

 

calling

 

afraid

 

Farmer

 

repeatedly

 

suppose

 

minutes


fenced

 

hedges

 

pheasants

 

trimming

 

walked

 

dishes

 
berries
 

washed

 

working

 

cutting