“Oh, yes indeed; won’t you——”
She suddenly broke down and sobbed.
“There, my dear; you mustn’t cry, for we are going to take you home just as soon as we can; your papa and mamma want to see you badly and they shall not be kept waiting; won’t you come closer?”
“May Peggy come too?” she asked with a smile, though the tears still wetted her plump cheeks.
“Certainly, for I know Peggy is a good girl.”
“Yes, she is, and we love each other, don’t we, Peggy?”
Grace looked at her companion for reply, and she nodded her head six or seven times but did not speak. The two advanced and Harvey took each by the hand.
“How long have you and Peggy known each other?” asked Harvey of Grace.
“This is the first time the bad folks would let me go to see her,” was the reply.
The youth read the full meaning of these words. The kidnappers had kept the little one a close prisoner from the first. For the sake of her health, they probably allowed her to play at times near the shanty, as she was doing when he first saw her, but as the time of her captivity, as they viewed it, was shortened to a few hours, they yielded to her wish to walk the little way through the woods to her neighbor. She would be within quick reach, and besides, had promised to come back after a brief absence. What she might reveal while playing with Peggy Waters could not bring any risk of her loss to her captors. These facts, which became known afterward, showed that the flight of Harvey Hamilton’s aeroplane on its first sweep over the ramshackle structure had not roused any distrust on the part of the two abductors there, who kept out of sight while the biplane was near.