“No, I will keep it for you, my little lover,” said Lady Georgina, kissing her hand to the handsome boy.
He laughed back at her and ran out of the ball-room. The moment he did so, Hester took his hand, and led him a step or two into the supper room.
“I really cannot stay with you, Hester,” he said; “what can you possibly want with me now?”
“I am very sorry to bother you, Master Murray,” said the girl, “but the fact is, I am in an awful fright. I am terribly afraid your poor mother has managed to get loose, sir.”
“My mother! Oh, what do you mean?”
“What I say, Master Murray. I was going through the garden just now, and I saw someone dressed as your mother dresses running and dodging just behind the laurel shrubs. If she did get loose, she would think nothing of going into the ball-room and frightening everyone. I wanted to see Mr. Rowton about it, and hoped he might be at the lower end of the room.”
“Shall I try and fetch him for you?” said Murray.
“No, sir, it is not necessary; you’ll do just as well as my master.”
“I!” said Murray. His little face turned pale as it always did when his mother was mentioned. “Perhaps you know, Hester,” he said with a sigh, “that mother is not very fond of me. I do not see how I am to find her.”