Part 22 (1/2)
”Where are we going to-day?” asked Rose Barclay. ”Don't kill us, Peggy!
I haven't got over being stiff yet, from the last tramp. It was jolly, though.”
”It was splendid!” chimed in Ethel Bird. ”Why, I had no idea what pretty places there were about here. Shall we go to the woods again?”
”I thought of going up Spy Hill!” said Peggy. ”It isn't very high, and there's a lovely view from the top.”
”Oh, I never can get as far as that!” cried Viola, aghast. ”You said a little walk, Peggy, and that is miles and miles, I know it is. Oh, I think I'll go back.”
”Oh, don't!” cried Rose, in a tone of heartfelt interest that won Viola's susceptible heart. ”It isn't very far, truly it isn't; and I want to ask you where you got that hat. It is too perfectly lovely for anything! I've got to have a new hat, and I do wish--”
”My dear!” cried Viola, dimpling all over with pleasure, ”I'll tell you all about it. You see--”
There was no more trouble with Viola. Peggy chuckled, and started off at a round pace, the others following.
The two Owls, standing at their window with arms intertwined, just thinking of taking a little flutter in the cool of the afternoon, looked after them with friendly eyes.
”What's the matter with Peggy Montfort?” said the Fluffy to the Snowy.
”_She's_ all right!” said the Snowy to the Fluffy. And then they looked at each other sternly, and shook their heads in grave rebuke. ”My dear,”
they said both together, ”we are surprised!”
CHAPTER XV.
WHAT WAS THE MATTER WITH LOBELIA PARKINS?
”Lobelia, I insist upon knowing!”
”Oh, Peggy, please don't ask me!”
”But I will ask you. I do ask you. What is it that you are afraid of? I shall find out sooner or later, so you might as well give up at once and tell me.”
Lobelia looked around her uneasily. She and Peggy were sitting in a cosy little hollow under the lee of a great brown rock, waiting for the others to come up.
”Come!” said Peggy. ”There's n.o.body behind that rock. What is the matter with you, Lobelia Parkins, and why don't you sleep? Out with it!”
Lobelia sighed, and twisted her b.u.t.tons. ”I--I never am a very good sleeper,” she said at last. ”I--I'm nervous, Peggy. And then--”
”And then, what?”
”Oh, dear me! I can't tell you. You won't believe me if I tell you.
Things come into my room and frighten me.”
”Things? What do you mean, Lobelia?”
”I don't know what I mean!” cried the poor girl, looking about her again, as if in dread of some unseen terror. ”I don't know who it is, or what it is. Something--or somebody--comes through my room at night and goes out of the window.”
”Ah!” said Peggy. ”Well, go on. How long has this been going on?”
”Oh, ever so long! At first--Peggy, you will feel badly if I tell you this.”