‘We’ll hope so, Miss Emmeline,’ said Jane, gloomily.
Kitty’s round honest face was looking rather scared.
‘Do you think anything can have happened to Micky?’ she asked anxiously, as Jane went out of the room.
‘Oh no. I expect he’s in the wood somewhere with Diamond Jubilee, and has just lost count of time,’ said Emmeline, with determined cheerfulness. ‘Very likely we shall find them both in the Feudal Castle.’
Accordingly they put on their hats and, going out into the wood, made their way towards the Feudal Castle. As they walked they kept shouting ‘Micky!’ ‘Cooee!’ at the tops of their voices, but there was never the faintest response.
‘Well, I don’t suppose they can hear us if they’re right inside the Feudal Castle,’ said Emmeline, hoarse, but still reassuring.
But when they reached the Feudal Castle neither Micky nor Diamond Jubilee was there; what was more, the uneaten biscuit, which was still lying among the newspapers just as Emmeline had dropped it, seemed to show that they never had been there since yesterday evening.
Even Emmeline’s courage gave way at that point.
‘Wherever can he be?’ she exclaimed, almost tearfully. She might have said ‘they,’ but it was odd how very little Diamond Jubilee seemed to matter just then.