They searched in silence for some minutes, but the twilight had deepened quickly, and the dewy grass seemed all one mist under their feet.
"This is damp for you, ain't it?" he asked suddenly.
"Yes; that was how I came to drop it. I gathered up my dress, and it must have slipped then. Whatever shall I do?—we cannot see any longer."
"I dare say they have a lantern at the stables; I will go and ask."
"I will wait here," she answered.
"Don't do that. You go home; I'll come back and look till it's found."
"I cannot trouble you with that," said Meg. "Mother and I will come early to-morrow. No one passes this lane before seven. We could see soon after six now."
"It will be no trouble," Jem answered earnestly; "and if it can be found to-night it is far better nor waitin'. There is some things gets better for waitin', but others——"
Meg listened: surely there was a serious tone in this man's talk, such as her mother loved.
They were rapidly nearing the light in her mother's window.