“No, no, my darling!” said Nurse; “it’s that dreadful young lady. But she’ll bring her back. Sure, what else could she do, lovey? She’ll bring the little one back, and, by the blessing of the good God, she’ll be none the worse for this. Don’t take on so, Miss Polly! Don’t look like that, dear! Why, your looks fairly scare me.”
“I’ll be better in a minute,” said Polly. “This is no time for feelings. I’ll be quiet in a minute. Have you got any cold water? There’s such a horrid loud noise in my ears.”
She rushed across the room, poured a quantity of water into a basin, and laved her face and head.
“Now I can think,” she said. “What did Flower do, Nurse? Tell me everything; tell me in very few words, please, for there isn’t a moment—there isn’t half a moment—to lose.”
“It was this way, dear: she came into the room, and took baby into her arms, and asked for some dinner. She didn’t seem no way taken with baby at first, but when I told her how much you loved our little Miss Pearl, she asked me to give her to her quite greedy-like, and ordered me to fetch some dinner for herself, for she was starving, she said. I offered that Alice should bring it; but no, she was all that I should choose something as would tempt her appetite, and she coaxed with that pretty way she have, and I went down to the kitchen myself to please her. I’ll never forgive myself, never, to the longest day I live. I wasn’t ten minutes gone, but when I come back with a nice little tray of curry, and some custard pie, Miss Flower and the baby were away. That’s all—they hasn’t been seen since.”
“How long ago is that, Nurse?”
“I couldn’t rightly tell you, dearie—maybe two hours back. I ran all round the moor anywhere near, and so did every servant in the house, but since the Doctor come in they has done the thing properly. Now where are you going, Miss Polly, love?”
“To my father. I wish this horrid noise wouldn’t go on in my head. Don’t worry me, Nurse. I know it was my fault. I wouldn’t listen to the warning, and I would provoke her, but don’t scold me now until I have done my work.”
Polly rushed downstairs.
“Where’s father?” she asked of Bunny, who was sobbing violently, and clinging in a frantic manner to Firefly’s skirts.