"Has any one seen Master Theodore?" she gasped, looking eagerly from one to another of the astonished faces. "I can't find him anywhere. Half an hour ago he was in the nursery, and now he's gone!"
The servants exchanged meaning looks. No one had seen the child. Jane rushed out, calling him loudly; but though she searched every nook of the grounds, and every corner of the stables and outhouses, she could discover no sign of him.
Meanwhile, in an old lumber-room at the very top of the house, Theodore lay carefully concealed under a heap of disused bedding. He felt warm and uncomfortable, for it was a decidedly mild day, to be so covered up.
By straining his ears, he could faintly hear distant sounds. He was very unhappy, very lonely, and his heart was filled with evil feelings against the strange woman, as he mentally dubbed his father's wife. He was sure she would treat him unkindly; he had heard many stories of cruel, unjust stepmothers; and he had made up his mind to hate this one and her child. Poor little boy! He had never known any love except old John Bawdon's, and Jane's idolising, ill-advised affection, which was calculated to spoil him. Jane was so fond of her little master, so jealous for him, that she had all unintentionally succeeded in sowing the seeds of hostility towards his stepmother in his impressionable heart. She resented the idea of another child in the house.
"Mrs. Barton's son shall not interfere with Master Theodore," she had told Mrs. Hussey the night before in Theodore's bearing; "I shall see to that. No doubt the master will make much of him, as it's her child; but Master Theodore is the heir, and the Hall is his rightful home, while that other will only be here on sufferance."
Theodore recalled the words as he lay listening, and though he did not thoroughly understand their meaning, he felt somehow injured and resentful. Suddenly he heard the sound of carriage wheels, then a tumult of voices, and presently a long silence, broken after what seemed an interminable time by approaching footsteps.
The child held his breath in suspense. The footsteps drew nearer, and then the door opened, and he heard the voices of Jane and Mrs. Hussey.
"He may be hiding here," Jane remarked, "but I don't think it's likely. Master Theodore, are you anywhere about?"
"Perhaps he's under this heap," Mrs. Hussey replied, and hastily turning over the bedding, she discovered Theodore.
"Oh, you naughty, naughty boy!" Jane cried, as, pouncing upon him, she dragged him to his feet. "Your father's come, and his wife, and the child. Master's that angry with you for not being there to greet him! I hardly dared tell him we couldn't find you! You must come down at once."