And Walter answered with a quiver of joy in his voice:
"Yes, Val, we have found her!"
"Found her!" Mrs. Valchester echoed from her place beside the bed where she was fanning her son.
"Found her!" Mrs. Earle cried joyfully from the washstand where she was preparing iced cloths for Ronald's heated brow.
But Ronald was stricken dumb by that joyful answer. He lay still, pressing Walter's hand tightly in perfect silence, his whole eloquent face expressing his exceeding joy and thankfulness. It was Mrs. Earle who asked after a moment:
"Walter, where did you find the poor child?"
"In the woods, mother, where she had dragged herself until she could go no further. She was very weak and exhausted."
"Is it possible she had escaped from her captor?" exclaimed Mrs. Valchester.
"So it seems," said Walter, "but she was too weary and exhausted to give us any information, scarcely. We have taken her home, and when she is rested and somewhat recovered, she will tell us all."