Читать книгу The Corner House Girls Solve a Mystery. What It Was, Where It Was, and Who Found It онлайн

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“Oh, don’t be silly!” burst out Agnes.

“’Tisn’t silly!” declared Dot. “And Tess is going to hide her doll, too; aren’t you, Tess?” She appealed to her sister who, though not as passionately devoted to her dolls as was Dot to Alice, still had some that she cared something about.

“I was going to hide them,” confessed Tess.

“Nonsense!” exclaimed Ruth. “Go to sleep and forget all about the men. They were, as Neale says, just tramps. Uncle Rufus will lock up well, and nothing will disturb you children, or your dolls either. You must go to bed soon.”

“Well, I’m going to hide my Alice-doll,” declared Dot, and she finally found a place behind the piano that seemed safe.

“If you want me to,” said Sammy, with an ingratiating voice, “I could come over and stay all night with you.”

“Thanks, but why should you?” asked Neale, winking one eye at Agnes.

“Well, in case burglars did get in,” answered Sammy, “I could shoot off the gun.”

“What gun?”

“My father’s got a shotgun,” went on the boy, “and I could go over home and get it. I could bring Billy Bumps into the house, too! He’d butt the rob—tramps!”