"Hallo, Pam!" shouted Avelyn gleefully, "I've unearthed you at last, old sport!"
"Wait a sec. I'll come down," returned her friend in a cautious voice.
Pamela appeared from out the stable door, with a rainbow face in which storm and sunshine seemed to be struggling.
"I never expected to see you, Ave! Have you dropped from the skies?"
"No, climbed over the palings. I thought I'd be sure to find you somewhere about in the garden. I saw your hat, and went to look for you."
"Yes. I was gardening."
"Is this your hen-house?"
"No, it's not the hen-house, it's—just a kind of stable."
"It reminds me of the Swiss Family Robinson, or Robin Hood's shanty in the depths of Sherwood Forest. You could climb up that tree if you got on to the roof."
As Avelyn's eyes glanced up the bole of the huge oak Pamela's followed with a look of strained anxiety. She laid her hand on her friend's arm and drew her inside the stable. She seemed ill at ease.