"He has been punished already—pretty severely for him, I fancy," said Floss's mother, with a rather sad smile. "You will leave him to me now, won't you, Frank?" she asked her husband. "I will go up and see him, and try to make him thoroughly understand. Give me the sovereigns, Floss dear, I'll take them with me."
Somewhat slowly, Carrots' mother made her way upstairs. She was tired and rather troubled. She did not believe that her poor little boy had really done wrong wilfully, but it seemed difficult to manage well among so many children; she was grieved also, at Maurice's hastiness and want of tender feeling, and she saw, too, how little fitted Carrots was to make his way in this rough-and-ready world.
"How would it be without me! My poor children," she thought with a sigh.
But a little hand was slipped into hers.
"Mamma, dear, I'm so glad you thought of the sovereigns. I'm sure Carrots didn't mean to be naughty. Mamma dear, though he is so little, Carrots always means to be good; I don't think he could even be frightened into doing anything that he understood was naughty, though he is so easily frightened other ways."
"My good little Floss, my comforter," said her mother, patting Floss's hand, and then they together made their way to the dressing-room.
It was almost dark. The key was in the lock, and Mrs. Desart felt for it and turned it. But when she opened the door it was too dark in the room to distinguish anything.
"Carrots," she said, but there was no answer. "Where can he be?" she said rather anxiously. "Floss, run and get a light."
Floss ran off: she was back again in a minute, for she had met nurse on the stairs with a candle in her hand. But even with the light they could not all at once find Carrots, and though they called to him there was no answer.
"Can he have got out of the window?" Mrs. Desart was beginning to say, when Floss interrupted her.