"She'd send you to the poorhouse! Fred, it was very bad of you to set the cap on fire, and you must never do such a thing again. But she shan't part us. Who would take care of you? And I promised muddie I would. I will, too. We'll slip out—the great gate is open still, or I'd have heard the clang—and we'll run away."
"Oh, jolly, jolly!" cried Fred, performing as lively a dance as the space would permit. "We'll wun away and be beggars! Won't it be fun?"
"It can't be wrong," Frank said thoughtfully. "She'd part us, and—no, it must be right for me to save you. We'll go to Liverpool, and find our school. Mrs. Crane was very kind to us, and she'll find out where muddie is for us. That's what we'll do. Fred, stay here till I come back. I must go to our room to get my money."
He was the proud possessor of a few shillings, which his mother had given him, and a sixpence with a hole in it, given him "by father years ago," he said himself.
He shut Fred into the closet, and stole like a little mouse out of the room and along the passage. He took a brush and comb bag, and stuffed some of Fred's clothes into it, with its usual contents. Another bag—a work-bag when it was new—held some of his own clothes. The big red comforter might be useful, for if they could not reach Liverpool before night, they must sleep in the fields. Then the money. Father's picture was safe in his pocket.
Then he stole back and released Fred. They crept across the hall and into the porch. The cart was still there, for Jacob had gone to make himself presentable after his adventures as a fireman, and the great gate was still open. In a few moments Janet's two darlings were out of the court, and had darted into a side path, where some shrubs concealed them from view.
"But we must get back to the big road when we are far enough from the Castle," said Frank, "and get to the gate. I remember the gate. Jacob called 'gate,' and an old woman came and opened it."
"I can call 'gate' just like Jacob," said Fred. "Listen—gate!"
"Hush, hush! We'll be caught, if you shout. Come, let us get back into the road."
The poor little souls were as merry as grigs, running and jumping, then walking hand-in-hand, talking and laughing in the delights of their newfound freedom. They never heard the sound of wheels, till Jacob called "Hullo, boys!" When they stood gazing, and gave themselves up for lost.