“Yes, Auntie Lu, when I find her,” answered Dorothy, speeding out of doors, while the lady looked after her with more than ordinary interest; thinking: “What a dear, bonny creature that child is! And I am so glad, I hope so much for her now. I’m sure Schuyler will bid me go ahead and write, or will send a note to be forwarded. I can hardly wait for the outcome of the matter, but Dorothy must know nothing—nothing—until just the right moment. Then for the climax, and God grant it be a happy one!”
She sat down on the broad sill by the open window to wait for the girls, lost in her own happy thoughts, until Miss Greatorex came and asked:
“Did you know that dinner had been served some moments and is fast getting cold? It’s mutton to-day, and Mrs. Grimm is fretting that ‘mutton must be eaten hot to be good.’”
“So late? I was musing over something—didn’t notice. Have the girls come in without my seeing them?”
“Neither of them.”
“That’s odd. By the way, when did you see Molly?”
“A few moments after breakfast, I think. I’ve been writing all morning at that further window and have scarcely looked out. Why?”
“She hasn’t been in and dearly as she loves riding I never knew her to keep on with it so long, unless she was off with the farmer. I sent Dolly to call her and now she delays, too.”
“Very well, I will find Dorothy!” said Miss Isobel, with an air of authority. She considered Mrs. Hungerford quite too indulgent to her niece and was all the more strict with her own especial charge for that reason. She now left the room with a firm step and was still wearing an air of discipline when she came upon Dorothy emerging from the stables. The child looked perplexed and a trifle frightened. She didn’t wait for her governess to upbraid her but began at once:
“Oh, dear Miss Isobel! I can’t find her anywhere! Nobody has seen her and Queenie isn’t in her stall. I’ve been to my corncrib, the garden, the long orchard all through, and yet she isn’t. Ah! There’s Mr. Grimm! He’s finished his dinner already and is going back to the hay-fields. Please excuse me, I’ll run ask him if he’s seen her.”