"It seems so," Jess replied.
"Where's your father?"
"He left home this morning in search of you, and we haven't seen him since."
For a few minutes Mrs. Andrews sat perfectly still, staring straight before her. Then she roused to action, sprang from the waggon and fairly dragged down the children. Thanking the driver for his kindness, she headed straight toward the house without once looking back. Jess and Belle rounded up the boys and marched them to the back door. By this time the two urchins of the night were down from the tree, eager to make friends with the new-comers. Leaving the five in the yard, the girls followed Mrs. Andrews into the house. Seating herself upon a chair in the kitchen, the troubled woman began to fan herself furiously with a copy of The Family Herald and Weekly Star. Her face was a study. An expression of anger and consternation was depicted there, her lips quivered and she was evidently making a great effort to control herself. Seeing this, Jess' sympathy was aroused, and stepping quickly forward, she placed her arms lovingly about her mother's neck.
"There, mother dear," she soothed, "don't feel so badly. There has been some mistake, I am sure."
"Mistake! How could there be any mistake? Your father must have planned to bring these boys here while I was away."
"Oh, no, he didn't," Jess explained. "They dropped upon him last night." Then she related the story as her father had told it to her the night before.
Mrs. Andrews said nothing for a while when Jess was through, but sat lost in thought.
"I wonder why Abner hasn't come back," she at length remarked. "He has had plenty of time to hunt for me all over town."
"Perhaps he is afraid to come," Jess suggested.