Had Genevieve been older and with a little more understanding, she would have comprehended the desperate plight that had befallen her sister and Doris and Miss Camilla. And she would have lent wings to her feet and scurried to the nearest dwelling as fast as those feet would carry her. But she was scarcely more than a baby. The situation, though peculiar, did not strike her as so much a matter for haste as for patient waiting till the person required should happen along. As she didn’t see any one approaching in either direction, she decided to return to the house and keep a strict eye on the road.
And so she returned, seated herself on the porch steps, tucked her thumb in her mouth—and waited. There was no further calling from the curious hole in the back garden and nothing happened for a long, long time. Genevieve had just about decided to go back and inquire of Doris what else to do, when suddenly the afternoon stillness was broken by the “chug-chug” of a motor car and the honking of its horn. And before Genevieve could jump to her feet, a big automobile had come plowing down the sandy road and stopped right in front of the gate.
“Here’s the place!” called out the chauffeur, and jumping down, walked around to open the door at the side for its occupants to get out. A pleasant-looking man descended and gave his hand to the lady beside him. And, to Genevieve’s great astonishment, the lady proved to be none other than the mother of “Dowis.”
“Well, where’s every one?” inquired the gentleman. “I don’t see a soul but this wee tot sitting on the steps.”
“Why, there’s Genevieve!” cried Mrs. Craig, who had seen the baby many times before. “How are you, dear? Where are the others? Inside?”
“No,” answered Genevieve. “In de garden. Dowis she said come. Find some one.”
“Oh, they’re in the garden, are they? Well, we’ll go around there and give them a surprise, Henry. Doris will simply be bowled over to see her ‘daddy’ here so unexpectedly! And I’m very anxious to meet this Miss Camilla she has talked so much about. Come and show us the way, Genevieve.”
The baby obediently took her hand and led her around to the back of the house, the gentleman following.
“But I don’t see any one here!” he exclaimed when they had reached the back. “Aren’t you mistaken, honey?” This to Genevieve.
“No, they in big hole,” she announced gravely. The remark aroused considerable surprise and amused curiosity.