"Why, Theo, we've been away two hours nearly," Jack cried. "What have you been doing all the time? I suppose you've been talking?" he said, dubiously.
Theodore nodded.
"Secrets?" asked Jack.
Again Theodore nodded, but this time he spoke as well. "Nothing to do with anyone besides ourselves," he explained; then added, a little shyly, "secrets between mother and me."
[CHAPTER XX.]
HOME AGAIN.
THEODORE'S hand was not long in healing. At the end of a week he was able to dispense with the sling he had at first been obliged to wear, and soon only the scars where the teeth of the gin had torn the skin, remained to remind him of his accident.
Jack, although he had come off easier than his stepbrother, and had been kept up by the strength of his excitement during the time of Theodore's disappearance, and the day of his return to Blackburn Farm, was so unwell on the following morning that he was forced to remain in bed.
But after a few days' rest, Jack soon began to mend, so that by the time Theodore's hand had healed he was almost himself again, and able to join in his stepbrother's pursuits as before.
Moses Stanley and his family made a fortnight's sojourn at Naraton, encamping, by Mr. Fry's kind permission, in a field close to Blackburn Farm-house. Theodore and Jack paid several visits to the encampment during the few last days the gipsies were there.