The boy ceased sobbing as he beheld this new arrival and his face became white with fear, while he shrank back again into the bushes as far as he could get. The girl of much perfume and stylish attire seemed to be unmoved by the new panic that seized him, but took hold of him and dragged him roughly out of his hiding place.
"Oh, do be careful," pleaded Hazel. "Don't you see he's scared nearly to death? You may throw him into a spasm."
"Is that any of your business?" the captor of the frightened youth snapped, looking defiantly at the one who addressed her. "He's my brother, and I guess I can take him back home without any interference from a perfect stranger. He's run away."
"I beg your pardon," Hazel said gently; "but it didn't seem to me to be an ordinary case of fright. I didn't mean to intrude, but he's such a dear little boy I couldn't help being sympathetic."
"He's a naughty bad runaway and ought to be whipped," the girl with the cold face returned as she started along a path through the timber, dragging the little fellow after her.
"Isn't that a shame!" Hazel muttered, digging her fingernails into the palms of her hands. "My, but I just like to--"
She stopped for want of words to express her feelings not too riotously, and Katherine came to her relief by swinging the subject along a different track.
"Do you really believe that boy is Glen Irving?" she inquired.
"No, I suppose not," Hazel answered dejectedly. "You heard that girl say he was her brother, didn't you? Well, Glen has no sister. But, do you know, I really am disappointed to find that he isn't the boy we are looking for, for my heart went right out to him when I first saw his crouching form and white face. Moreover, I can hardly bear the thought of leaving him in the hands of that frosted bottle of cheap Cologne."
Katherine laughed at the figure.