CHAPTER VI
At eleven o’clock that night, just as Miss Pinckney was on the point of retiring to bed the news came in the form of Phyl herself.
She arrived in a buggy driven by the farmer who owned the land through which the grass road ran.
She gave a little glad cry when she saw Miss Pinckney and ran into her arms.
Upstairs and alone with the lady, she told her story. Told her how she had met Silas on the road that morning, how, tired of life and scarce knowing what she did, she had got into the phaëton, how he had upset it and smashed it, how she had sheltered in the cabin whilst he went in search of help.
“Then I went to sleep,” said Phyl, “and when I woke up it was afternoon. He was not there, but he must have come back when I was asleep and left some food for me, for there was a bundle outside the door with some bread and bacon in it. Then I started off to walk and found a village with some coloured people. I told them I was lost and wanted to get to Grangersons. They were kind to me, but I had to wait a long time before they could find that gentleman, the farmer, and he could get a cart to drive me here.”
“Thank God it is all over and you are back,” said Miss Pinckney. “But oh, Phyl! what made you do it?”
“I don’t know,” said Phyl.