“I should like to ask if any one of you have seen Gypsy this morning.”
No one answered, but there was an immediate sensation in the room, for from the doctor’s manner, they all saw that something was wrong with the child, and merry little Gyp was the pet and plaything of all the boys.
“What is the matter? Is Gyp lost?” asked Alex, who had chanced to be standing near the desk when the doctor entered.
“I am afraid so,” her father replied, knitting his brow anxiously. “Her mother just sent up to see if she was here. Gyp went out to play, early this morning, and she hasn’t been seen since then.”
“Perhaps she may be with Lieutenant Wilde,” suggested Mr. Boniface.
“A good idea! Thank you, Mr. Boniface,” said the doctor gratefully. “Eliot, will you run up to the laboratory and see?”
Max rushed away, but was soon back again with the discouraging report that no one there had seen the child since the afternoon before, when she had brought Mouse to call upon her cousin.
The doctor took one or two hasty turns up and down the room to collect his thoughts, for the idea of any harm coming to the child unmanned him. Then he faced the boys again.
“My boys,” he said; “I must call on you for your help. Mrs. Flemming had looked about the grounds before she came here, and now there is no knowing how long the child has been gone. How many of you will help me to hunt for her? Any that are willing may leave their lessons and come to me in the hall.”
With one exception, every cadet in the room sprang up. The exception was Leon who was still unable to use his foot freely, and who sat there, gazing rather forlornly after his companions as they hurried away, followed by Mr. Boniface himself. The boy had taken his sprained ankle very patiently; but now he was wretched enough, as he glanced about the empty room, and listened to the voices of his friends outside. Then he hopped slowly over to the window and stood there, watching the boys as the doctor divided them into squads and sent them off, this way and that. It was a bleak, cold day, with every promise of snow. The upper limbs of the bare trees waved and twisted in the wind like so many gray, beckoning arms, and the dead brown leaves went scurrying across the frozen ground, in search of some sheltered corner where they might stop and rest. Leon watched the group of boys, among whom were Alex and Harry and Max, until it was out of sight, then he looked up at the dull, lead-colored sky and shivered, for it seemed as if he could feel its chill, even inside the house. But there was no use in his staying there alone, so, picking up his cane, he hobbled over to his room in Old Flemming and sat down to read.