"That's so." Mr. Snyder nodded thoughtfully. "And you say that little gipsy girl told you there was a colored child at the camp?"
"Yes," Eleanor answered.
"Those gipsies have been about here for a couple of weeks. I mind just when they came. Yes, it might be her. Well, Sylvy's coming over after a bit, and we'll see what she says about it. It seems to me if the child the gipsies had was Bubbles, that they would have let Sylvy know, or would have sent the child to her. Come now, breakfast is ready."
It was impossible, even with this anxiety of mind, not to enjoy Mrs. Snyder's delicious rolls and sweet butter, her honey and her country sausage, and Eleanor really ate heartily, although she was not feeling very well, and her cough troubled her. Mrs. Snyder suggested all sorts of queer remedies, chief among which was a decoction made from a hornet's nest which Eleanor rejected emphatically. "Oh, please, Mrs. Snyder, I shouldn't want that. It might make me feel a buzzy and stingy inside."
Mrs. Snyder laughed, and just then Sylvy came in. Eleanor greeted her joyfully. "Oh, Sylvy," she said, "I'm so glad to see you, but where do you suppose poor Bubbles is? I feel so dreadfully about her."
"Me too, honey," said Sylvy. "It on mah min' all de time. Tell me jes' how it happen she quit Miss Murdoch." And Eleanor related her woeful little tale which brought many "uh-uhms" and "dar nows," from Sylvy.
"I git mah fathah to go 'roun' an' fin' out what he kin," said Sylvy, after Eleanor had concluded, "an' if nobody ain't seen her I'll reckon she's the one the gipsy folks has. How long yuh gwine stay here, honey?"
"I wish I could stay here till I hear from mamma. I like Mrs. Snyder and she says I am to stay to-day, anyhow."
She seemed so much brighter that morning that Mrs. Snyder's fears that she might have a very ill child on her hands were allayed, and Mr. Snyder joked with her saying he believed it was a disappointment to his wife not to have secured some one needing her nursing.
"Now, father," Mrs. Snyder protested, "it isn't that, but I'd like to keep the child here."