"Yes," said Tom, "right in the middle of the rabbit run, almost smothered, poor little beast He'd dug himself in, and of course there wasn't room for him to turn round, so he tried to go on, and the earth had fallen on him and—well, he couldn't have lived much longer if Moses Lee hadn't found him when he did!"
"Has Miss Perry given Moses Lee the reward?" questioned Nellie.
"Oh, yes!" answered Tom. "She said she had never paid a sovereign with greater pleasure in her life. And, oh, Mother, what do you think? She's going to call here by and by to ask you to let me go to Halcyon Villa to tea; she says she would like her nephew and me to become better acquainted with each other. You will say 'yes,' won't you, Mother?"
Mrs. Burford exchanged a glance with her husband, and, looking very pleased, answered: "Certainly, my dear."
"Did Miss Perry say anything about me, Tom?" Nellie inquired.
"Oh, yes!" Tom replied promptly, adding, as he met the wistful glance of his little sister's eyes: "I'm sorry, Nellie, but she didn't say anything about asking you to tea."
It was between eleven and twelve o'clock that morning when Miss Perry's motor-car, with only Miss Perry and the chauffeur in it, drew up before the Burfords' house in Ladysmith Terrace. Tom had gone out to do an errand for his mother; but Nellie was at home, lying back in her favourite hammock chair in the shady yard, her pale little face swollen with weeping; for, since breakfast, she had been told of the change in store for her, that she was to spend three months at Broadstairs, away from her own people, and she could not reconcile herself to the idea at all. Her mother was with her when Jane came into the yard and said that Miss Perry was in the drawing-room.
"Will you come with me and see her, Nellie?" Mrs. Burford inquired.
"No, thank you," was the answer; "she hasn't come to ask me to tea!"
So Mrs. Burford went into the house alone. In a very short while she returned, her face lit up with a pleased smile. "Nellie, dear," she began, "Miss Perry wants to know if you would like a drive with her this morning—"