"He was lost in the bush, Grif, with other children," Alice whispered, in explanation. "We found him very tired, and very hungry. He will be well to-morrow."
"You found him, Ally!" Grif said. "After I went away?"
"Yes. Why did you go away?"
"Never you mind. I didn't go away for no harm. The young lady who was with you that night, sir!" he said to Matthew Nuttall. "I think it was a good deal through her that you took care of Little Peter. Thank her for me, sir, please, when you see her."
"Thank her yourself, my lad," Matthew said, beckoning to Marian, who came forward, and stooped towards Grif. As she did so, Grif caught the stone heart which the Tenderhearted Oysterman had compelled her to place round her neck.
"It's like a dream," he said, holding the emblem in his hand; "everythin' seems to be comin' all at once. This heart--"
"One of the bad men who were here to-night made me place it round my neck," Marian said.
"This is Little Peter's heart," said Grif; "how did one of them get hold of it, I wonder?"
"Have you seen it before?" asked Richard.
"Yes, sir; it's Little Peter's heart, that is--I remember losin' it one night, but I don't know where. It belonged to Little Peter's mother. When she died in the horspital, she put it round his neck."