Page:Carroll Rankin--Dandelion Cottage.djvu/226

 202  not worry about it. Let's rebuild our fire—of course it's out by now—and finish our cake."

In spite of the cake's turning out much better than anyone could have expected, with so many agitated cooks taking turns stirring it, there was something wrong with the day. The girls were filled with uneasy forebodings and could settle down to nothing. Marjory felt no desire to sing and even the cake seemed to have lost something of its flavor. Moreover, when they had stood for a moment on their doorstep to see the new steam road roller go puffing by, Laura, had tossed her head triumphantly, and had shouted tauntingly: "I know something I sha'n't tell." After that, the girls could not help wondering if Laura really did know something—some dreadful thing that concerned them vitally and was liable to burst upon them at any moment.

For the first time in the history of their housekeeping, they could find nothing that