They went out, laughing and gay; the child clinging to the giant’s hand, and hoping that she might really see the phantom of Aunt Sally’s story, for she had no fear concerning it. They came back, five minutes later, looking grave and seriously alarmed.
CHAPTER IX.
THE PRISONER DISAPPEARS
“What’s happened?” asked Mrs. Trent, foreboding fresh trouble, since, of late, trouble had become so familiar a visitor.
“Well, ma’am, the bird has flown.”
“Please explain, Samson,” she anxiously urged.
“That bird of dark plumage––Ferd, the dwarf. He’s escaped, vamoosed, took wings and flew.”
“Oh, Samson! I’m so sorry. I hoped you would look after him until I could find some suitable institution in which to place him. It’s time he should be helped, for if he’s so sharp to do evil, he must have equal capacity for better things.”