Mrs. Dobson went as near to Frank as she thought it prudent to venture, and assured him that the men would return that way and release him; she knew they would, and she must go home. Even Josh only wagged his tail at Frank, as he bounded past to follow his mistress, and never once dreamed that it was necessary to stay with him.
For more than a half hour Frank stayed there, and even when the men did return and drag him out, he did not seem suitably thankful, and would have insisted on remaining in the wood but for the snakes.
Before five of the clock, Kate, restored to cleanliness and comfort, and accompanied by her mother, drove up to the brown house in the lane. She had returned to keep her promise to Grandma Dobson.
Frank, on inquiry, was found sitting in the sun out at the back door, determined to dry the mud until it would all rub off, and quite too proud to accept the offer of a pair of clean stockings from Mrs. Dobson; but he was very glad of the opportunity afforded by the arrival of Neptune to get home without being seen. He crept around the house as he heard the doctor going in at the front door, sprang into the pony carriage, and was half way to Hallock Point before his mother or Kate missed Neptune from the gate. When Frank also was found missing, no further anxiety was felt concerning the safety of the horse; and in less than an hour, Frank reappeared, as fresh and good-tempered as Kate herself.
Mrs. Dobson had gone on her errand down the harbor, with no one to watch her movements; and as Frank appeared in the room, on his return, Harry Cornwall, with the bandage removed from his eyes, was, Kate said, “telling us the interestingest story, better than any book story in the whole world.” Frank was sorry that he had not heard the beginning of the story; but unless he knows it already, he will have a chance to read it in the next chapter.
Chapter VI.
Kate Hallock had no sooner shut the front door of the brown house in Pumpkin Delight Lane on that eventful day in June, than Harry Cornwall remembered the necklace story.
“Call her back,” he cried to Frank, who was rocking away as hard as he could, and fanning himself furiously with his straw hat, as he sat in Grandma Dobson’s large rocking chair.
“What for? She’s gone home to dinner; mother said she must,” replied Frank, rocking a bit farther and faster than before he was requested to call her.