Was there a moment's hesitation on the part of the Red Cross girl? Laura thought there was; yet almost instantly the stranger replied: "My name is Janet Steele." "Ah! Your address?" repeated the doctor. This time there was no doubt that the girl flushed, and more than a few seconds passed before she made answer: "Thirty-seven Whiffle Street." At the same moment somebody exclaimed: "Here comes Fatty Morehead, the cop. Better late than never," and a general laugh went up from the crowd. Jess seized Laura's wrist, exclaiming: "Oh, Laura! he will want to take down our names and addresses, too. Let's get away." The Red Cross girl uttered an ejaculation of chagrin. She began pushing her way out of the press, and in an opposite direction from that in which the portly policeman was coming. Jess whispered swiftly in Laura's ear: "Come on! Let's follow her! I'm awfully interested in that Red Cross girl, Laura!" "Why should you be?" asked her chum. "Although she looks like a nice girl, I never saw her before." "Neither did I," said Jess. "But did you hear the address she gave? That is the poor end of Whiffle Street, as you very well know, and mother and I used to live right across the street from that house. I did not know anybody lived in the old Eaton place. It has been empty for a long, long time." CHAPTER III ODD! Bobby Hargrew met Laura and Jess on the edge of the crowd, for she had been unable to worm herself into the middle of it again, and told them swiftly of the boys' departure to hunt for the car that had done the damage. "And that's just like the boys!" exclaimed Jess Morse, with some exasperation. "To run away and desert us!" "I don't know but I'm glad," said Laura. "I don't feel much like shopping after seeing that poor man hurt." "Or skating, either," complained Jess. Presently the three overtook the strange girl. Bobby, whom Chet had said was "just as friendly with strangers as a pup with a waggy tail," immediately got into conversation with her. "Say! was he hurt badly?" she asked. "I think his right leg was broken," the Red Cross girl replied. "And his head was badly hurt. Your friends, here, could see that." "He bled dreadfully," sighed Laura. "But you had the bandage on so nicely that the doctor did not even disturb it, my dear." "Thank you," said the Red Cross girl. She hesitated on the corner of the side street. "I fear I must leave you here. I am going home." "Oh," cried Jess, who was enormously curious, "we can go your way just as well as not, Miss Steele! We live at the other end of Whiffle Street--up on the hill, you know." "All but me," put in Bobby. "But I can run right through Laura's yard to my house." She indicated Laura as she spoke. The Red Cross girl looked at Mother Wit with some expectancy. Jess came to the rescue.