“I can’t tell you, Mother,” he said courageously. It would have been as true if he had said “I don’t know,” for he knew nothing but her name, after all. However, he never stopped to think that knowing her name was not all there was to knowing her.
Mrs. Carrenda wisely pursued the matter no further; but she determined to keep watch.
Eepersip was much more cautious after this. She was always on the lookout. Several times Toby asked her why she didn’t want to be seen. But she would not answer him. She was, however, very kind in all other respects. Several times Mrs. Carrenda found Toby playing with her, but never spoke or let him know. She saw that Eepersip played nicely with him and that they liked each other much; so she did not interfere. Once, however, she put her hands suddenly on Eepersip’s shoulders from behind and said kindly: “Little girl, don’t be afraid of me.”
Eepersip sprang to her feet, stared wildly a moment, and then dashed off straight to the sea. But for fear of making Toby very unhappy, Mrs. Carrenda never questioned him about her.
She and her husband had many anxious conferences together. Her husband thought that it was exceedingly risky to let Toby play so unwatched with Eepersip, but Toby’s mother did not feel that way at all. Then they talked over the matter of who she was.
One day Eepersip was peeping into the house to see if she could find Toby, for he had not been out to play with her. Looking into the dining-room, she saw him there, eating luncheon with Mr. and Mrs. Carrenda. They were talking anxiously, and she was curious, and listened.
“I have it,” said Mr. Carrenda suddenly. “Don’t you remember those people—the Eeglines, or Eigleens—that came over to the hill near Mount Varcrobis where we lived before we came here? who wanted to know if we had seen a strange little girl, dressed all in ferns? She is the Eigleens' lost little girl.”
Mrs. Carrenda looked puzzled.
“They told us, you know, that they had given up all hope of having Ee—ee—serpip” (Toby started violently) “back again—”
“Oh yes, I remember now.”