Polly. "She could have asked if she might
go."

"She didn't have a chance, for we had gone sailing, you know."

"Then she ought to have told the first thing, as soon as she saw Aunt
Ada. No, she is a sneaky, horrid girl and I am not going to have
anything more to do with her, if she is my cousin. I was beginning to
like her, too." Polly spoke regretfully.

"So was I," agreed Molly. "But now the main thing is, shall we tell or
shall we not? I hate to be a tattle-tale."

"Then don't let's tell, but don't let's be more than polite to her and
she'll see that something is wrong and maybe she will tell of her own
accord. I wish she'd go. I don't like sneaky girls; I'd rather they'd
be out and out naughty."

"Why do you suppose she didn't tell?" said Molly thoughtfully. "She
might have known that Aunt Ada wouldn't punish her or even scold. She
would only have said: 'I'd rather you'd always tell me, Mary, before
you undertake such trips again.'" Again Molly imitated the person she
quoted. "It doesn't seem to me she could be scared of Aunt Ada when
she's always so gentle and kind."

"Well, I don't care whether she was scared or not, she wasn't honest,
and I think anyhow it was very queer for her to sneak off with a boy
she didn't know."

"But I know him; I used to play with him when I was only four years
old," said Molly. "He is a very nice boy. Aunt Ada says that he has
been very well raised and that any mother could be proud of him. He is
real bright, too: why, he can manage a sail boat as well as a man, and
he's always so ready and willing to do anything he can for any of us.
He is very different from some of the others who just can't bear the
summer people."

"Never mind about him; I suppose he is all right; it is Mary I am
bothered over."

"Well, the only thing we can do is to wait and see if she will tell of
her own accord; maybe she hasn't had a good chance yet to see Aunt Ada
alone; we are giving her the chance now, so we will wait and see what
happens."

This Polly agreed was best, but they returned to the house to turn a
cold shoulder to Mary, and to ignore her in every way they could
without being directly rude. So directly opposite was this course of
conduct from that of the morning, when her cousins had been all smiles
and sweetness, that Mary's fears again arose and she was so miserable
that at bedtime when Molly went in to her English cousin's room to get
a bottle of cold cream with w