"GONE AWAY!" said Sigismund; "GONE AWAY!"
"Yes, sir, every one of 'em; and the boys was so pleased that they would go shoutin' 'ooray, 'ooray, all over the garding, though Mr. Sleaford swore at 'em awful, and did hurry and tear so, I thought he was a-goin' mad. But Miss Isabel, she cried about goin' so sudden and seemed all pale and frightened like. And there's a letter on the chimbley-piece, please, which she put it there."
Sigismund pounced upon the letter, and tore it open. George read it over his friend's shoulder. It was only two lines.
"DEAR MR. SMITH,—Don't think hardly of us for going away so suddenly. Papa says it must be so.
"Yours ever faithfully,
"ISABEL."
"I should like to keep that letter," George said, blushing up to the roots of his hair. "Miss Sleaford writes a pretty hand."