[CHAPTER XI]
A Flash of Light
BERT hurried back to the Princess with his hands full of small packages. He proceeded to set out the nicest supper his limited means had enabled him to provide. Prin began to eat eagerly, but ere she had swallowed many mouthfuls, her appetite suddenly failed. She pushed her plate aside, and said she could eat no more.
"Why, Prin, you must be ill," Bert said, unable to understand how one who had eaten nothing all day could be so easily satisfied.
"No, not ill, only dead tired," she said faintly. "I think I'll go to bed."
"Won't you tell me first how it is you are in London?" Bert asked timidly. "Have you left Lady Millicent?"
A shiver ran through Prin as he spoke.
"Yes," she said faintly, "I've left her. They were unkind to me, and I ran away."
"Ran away!" repeated Bert, in amazement. "From Park Lane?"
"No, from the cottage—from Mrs. Hamblyn's, down in Hampshire."