Norah laughed.
"I wish it had been a fairy," she said. "I would have wished for ever so many things. Oh dear, Dan, look at the sun! it's quite low, and mother will be wondering where we are."
"Here's Tom," said Dan. "Mother must have sent him to look for us."
Long before Tom reached them, however, he had begun to cry aloud his news.
"Mother's gone away! Aunt Edna's ill, and they sent a telegram for mother. Father's gone too, but he is coming back to-morrow."
"Oh, Tom!" said Norah.
And, "Oh, Tom!" echoed Dan blankly. It seemed so terrible to think of going home and finding no mother or father there.
"Who's going to look after us, and everything?" asked Dan.
"Kate is going to look after the house, and I'm to look after you—mother said so," said Tom importantly.
But the next morning Master Tom forgot his charge, and went off on some expedition of his own; and Norah and Dan were left on their own devices once more.