Chris was consumed with remorse. Diana did not comfort him.
"He may have tumbled into the pond at the bottom of our field and been drowned, or perhaps a motor has run over him and they've taken him to a hospital."
"He's done it to annoy us," said Chris crossly. "I wish Mums was home!"
When dinner-time came Noel was still absent.
Mrs. Tubbs made the two children have their dinner.
"And afterwards, I'll put on my bonnet, and go down to the village myself. Somebody is sure to have seen him."
And then about two o'clock Noel appeared with a broad smile all over his face.
To all the questions and exclamations, he made answer:
"I runned away because everybody was unkind, and I've written a big letter to Mums and tolded her what you dooed to me, and I got a stamp and posted it, and it's going in the train to Mums as fast as it can!"
Chris and Diana looked at each other in a puzzled kind of way. They knew how badly Noel wrote, and what a time it took him to form his letters.