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Often Bert and Nan made "sea- saws" on a lumber pile, but to-day Nan wanted to hurry home with Grace Lavine and Nellie Parks, for they had a new story book they were reading together, and over which they were very much excited, each pretending she was one of the principal characters.
"Where have you been, Arabella? You're chilled through. I say, where have you been?" "I've just taken quite a long walk," Arabella replied. "If you've taken a long walk as late as this in the afternoon, you've come some distance. Have you been spending this whole afternoon at that Lavine girl's house?"
"Nan, Nan! what can it mean?" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, mamma!" murmured Nan, and sank, limp and helpless, into her mother's arms. Just then Mr. Bobbsey came forth from the Lavine residence. Seeing his wife supporting their daughter, he hurried in that direction. "Grace is not dead," he announced. "She had a fainting spell, that is all.
Nellie Parks, Grace Lavine friends of Nan, and Willie Porter and his sister Sadie, came first, and Freddie and Flossie let them in, the Porter children being some of their bestliked playmates. All the children wore their best clothes, and for a time they were a bit stiff and unnatural, standing shyly about in corners, against the walls, or sitting on chairs.
"Grace Lavine is dead, and we did it, turning the rope for her!" "Grace Lavine dead?" repeated the dumfounded doctor. "Yes! yes!" "Where is she?" "Papa just carried her into her house." Without waiting to hear more, Doctor Briskett ran toward the Lavine residence, around which quite a crowd had now collected. In the crowd was Bert. "Is Grace really dead?" he asked. "I I guess so," answered Nan.
"A big black what bug?" asked Nan, ready to laugh. "No, a big black snake! I almost stepped on it." "A snake! Oh, dear!" screamed the girls. "Call Mr. Tetlow!" said Flossie. "He's got a book about snakes, and he'll know what to do." "Come on!" cried Nellie Parks. "I'm going to run!" "So am I!" added Grace Lavine. "Oh, it may chase us!"
When Mary opened the door and entered the room she found a dead woman lying across a dead man. A Prologue Characters: James Hamilton, Mary Fawcett, Rachael Lavine, two slaves. Place: Nevis, British West Indies. Time: The month of April, 1756. Beyond the windows are seen masses of tropical trees and foliage, green and more brilliantly hued, filled with screaming birds and monkeys.
"Good-by!" echoed Bob Guess. "I wonder if we'll ever see him again," murmured Bert. And he was to see the strange lad again, under queer circumstances. "Come, children, your ice cream will get cold!" called Mrs. Bobbsey, who had come from the pavilion to summon the little guests. "Ice cream get cold! Ha! Ha!" laughed Grace Lavine. "I like mine cold," chuckled Dannie Rugg.
Either their parents had made other plans for spending the Christmas holidays, or they did not think it wise to let their children go off in the woods. Bert asked a number of boys he knew, but none of them could go, and Grace Lavine, Nellie Parks, and many other girls to whom Nan spoke, made excuses. "I guess we'll have to give up the ice-boat plan," said Bert, regretfully that night to Nan.
He took the limp form up in his arms and hurried to the Lavine house with it. "Run and tell Doctor Briskett," he called back to Nan. The physician mentioned lived but a short block away, and Nan ran as fast as her feet could carry her. The doctor had just come in from making his morning calls and had his hat and overcoat still on. "Oh, Doctor Briskett, do come at once!" she sobbed.
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