did you ever get the nerve to do it at all, Bessie? That's what I don't
understand. The way you act now, it seems as if you always wanted to do
just as you are told."

"I thought you'd heard all about that, Dolly. You see, when we really
did run away, we couldn't help it, Zara and I. And I don't believe we
really meant to go quite away, the way we did--not at first. You
remember when we saw you girls first--when you were in camp in the
woods?"

"Oh, yes; I remember seeing you, with your head just poking out Of the
door of that funny old hut by the lake. I thought it was awfully funny,
but I didn't know you then, of course."

"I expect you'd have thought it was funny whether you knew us or not,
Dolly. Well, you see, Zara had come over to see me the day it all
happened, and Jake caught her talking with me, and locked her in the
woodshed. Maw Hoover didn't like Zara, because she was a foreigner, and
Maw thought she stole eggs and chickens--but never did such a thing in
her life. So Jake locked her in the woodshed, and said that he was going
to keep her there till Maw Hoover came home. She'd gone to town."

"Why did he want to do that?"

"Because Maw had said that if she ever caught Zara around, their place
again she was going to take a stick to her and beat her until she was
black and blue--and I guess she meant it, too. She liked to give people
beatings--me, I mean. She never touched Jake, though, and she never
believed he did anything wrong."