Pam and the Countess

by E. E. Cowper

She hurried to her mother, and was greeted with--"Oh, my little Pam!" and an almost passionate clasp of arms.

"Mummy darling, what is the matter? Why is everybody----"

"I can*not* understand," Mrs. Romilly interrupted, urgently talking. "I am worried about the others, of course, but the yacht is nice and solid--one feels they are really all right--but who on earth? It's like witchcraft!"

"What is?" demanded Pamela, looking to Hughie, who had come up with Keziah, and was the only person not chattering.

"You, in the dinghy!" said Hughie, returning her inquiring gaze with eyes so full of meaning that gradually a dawning dread took possession of her mind. She turned to Mrs. Romilly.

"Mother, I never went in the dinghy."

"Dear child, I see now, of course, but we all thought you'd gone off in her."

"Gone off in her! At this time! In such beastly weather--why?"

"But, Pam, we saw you go!"

"Saw me go!" Pamela echoed the words almost stupidly.