In a few seconds the boy had dashed up-stairs and was back with the alphabetically arranged code-book.
"Fable?" said his uncle, and Rob, turning to the F's, ran his finger hastily down the long column.
"Oh!" he gasped, "Fable means, 'Mason too ill to travel.'"
"Garnet?" continued Mr. Hinckley, huskily.
"Garnet means, 'Wants to see Rob before he dies.' Do you believe it can be as bad as that, Uncle Will?" and a choking sob rose in the boy's throat.
"First find the meaning of 'Hazel,' and then we will talk about it," replied Mr. Hinckley.
"Hazel," replied Rob, in another moment, "means, 'Send Rob to us at once.'"
"Oh, Rob! my dear, dear boy!" cried Mrs. Hinckley. "It is terrible for you, and it is going to be dreadfully hard to give you up, for you have become as our own son."
"But we must give him up, and that at once," said her husband, sorrowfully, "since the meaning of this despatch cannot for a moment be misunderstood. Mason's illness must have taken such a sudden turn for the worse that his life is endangered. They evidently hope, though, to prolong it for some weeks, at least, or Fanny would not send for Rob. She knows that he cannot, under the most favorable conditions, reach her in less than a month."
"But in case of the worst, she would want Rob with her," suggested Mrs. Hinckley.