As they went along Molly insisted on Miss Lydia, who looked very tired and exhausted, having two of the little brown square sweets that Old Nancy had given her; and she ate two herself. After a few minutes both she and Miss Lydia felt much refreshed, and fit for the journey in front of them. It was strange and delightful to Molly to know that there was nothing now to be afraid of; no more dodging and hiding and distrusting everybody.
When they neared the bottom of the hill, they caught sight of a figure emerging from a wood on the opposite side of the High Road. The person stood gazing up at the blazing beacon, spellbound; then all at once gave a whoop of joy and did a sort of step-dance in the road.
“Oh!” cried Molly, delighted. “It is—its Glan!”
And Glan it was, sure enough. He raced to meet them as soon as he saw the little party moving down.
“So it is you, little lady. You’ve done it, after all!” he shouted, as he came toward them. “Well done, well done!” and he seized Molly’s hand and shook it till he nearly shook it off. “But where’s your brother?” he asked, noting, with puzzled eyes, the two Pumpkins.
Molly told him what had happened to Jack, as they all moved onward to the High Road; and then she went on to explain where she found the Black Leaf, and how bravely Miss Lydia had acted.
“Madam, I’m proud to meet you,” said Glan, shaking hands with Miss Lydia. “If I had only known, I could have come to your aid. I was not so far away, finishing searching that wood, which is my boundary; you remember, I mentioned that part of my search-ground joined yours,” he turned to Molly, “but, of course, I knew nothing, till I saw that blaze in the sky,” he waved his hand toward the beacon. “You’re not worrying about your brother, are you, little lady?” he inquired, peering anxiously at Molly. “Don’t do that. Old Nancy will soon put things right, I feel sure.”
As they went along he told them some of his adventures, and the narrow escapes he had had from being caught by the spies; his ‘poor old Father’ had been nearly caught once also.
By the time he had finished they were well on the way back along the High Road. It seemed to Molly that the return journey developed into something like a triumphal procession. She would rather have gone back quietly without any fuss, but the people who ran out to meet her seemed so deeply thankful and so full of gratitude that she had not the heart to wish them not to cheer. There were many glances of awe directed at the two Pumpkins as they rolled steadily along side by side. Many of the people followed Molly, and Miss Lydia, and Glan, all the way back to the City—a straggling crowd that grew in numbers, collecting people from every house that was passed on the road. Presently the High Road was left behind and they took the short cut through the lane that went near the Orange Wood.