“Do you know how long she has been out?” asked Evelyn in a tone of keen interest.
“About half an hour, miss.”
“Then I’ll follow her.”
Evelyn went to her wardrobe. Jasper had already unpacked her young lady’s things and laid them higgledy-piggledy in the spacious wardrobe. It took the little girl a long time to find a tall velvet hat trimmed with plumes of crimson feathers. This she put on before the glass, arranging her hair to look as thick as possible, and smirking at her face while she arrayed herself.
“I would not wear this hat, for I got it quite for Sunday best, but I want her to see that she cannot master me,” thought the child. She then wrapped a crimson silk scarf round her neck and shoulders, and so attired looked very much like a little lady of the time of Vandyck. Once more she went down-stairs.
Audrey she did not wish to meet; Miss Sinclair she intended to be hideously rude to; but Jasper—where was Jasper?
Evelyn looked all round. Suddenly she saw a figure on the other side of a small lake which adorned part of the grounds. The figure was too far off for her to see it distinctly. It must be Jasper, for it surely was not in the least like the tall, fair, and stately Aubrey, not like Miss Sinclair.
Picking up her skirts, which were too long for her to run comfortably, the small figure now skidded across the grass. She soon reached the side of the lake, and shouted:
“Jasper! Oh Jasper! Jasper, I have news for you! You never knew anything like the——”
The next instant she had rushed into the arms of Sylvia Leeson. Sylvia cried out eagerly: