"Who in the world?" he began; then added quickly, "We _are_ unlucky, Florence. Here are Trixie and her double, and that offensive boy, Calthorp. I wish we had not let them know we were coming this way, and I wish I had not let Miss Wentworth go exploring. They have all been in there together." He looked and felt really annoyed. Florence cared less, but in her softened mood she was inclined to sympathise with him, as the noisy party emerged from the caves laughing and talking loudly. Miss Forsyth was the first to greet them. "I can't congratulate you on the way you do your duty as a cicerone, Florry," she said. (Florence especially detested Miss Forsyth using her pet name.) "We ran across Miss Wentworth all by herself in the cave. She might have been lost and never heard of any more." Major Winchester tamed to Imogen. She was looking rather pale; truth to tell, she was tired and very cold, and rather cross. "What was Oliver about?" he said. "He promised to look after you. You weren't really frightened, were you?" he added in a lower tone. "No, not exactly. But I don't think any one would like to be all alone in a dark care where they've never been before," said Imogen, childishly but resentfully. "Mr Oliver Helmont and Mrs Wyngate went another way. I don't know where." "It was all right, I assure you," said Oliver, who was just behind. "Mrs Wyngate wanted to see the large stalactites, and when we turned round, Miss Wentworth had disappeared.--It was you, I think, who went another way, not we," he added good-naturedly. And so it was, for Imogen, annoyed at finding that Major Winchester was not following, and that she was to be left to the semi-guardianship of Oliver, had turned, with the intention of retracing her steps to the outer world; and not till she had proceeded some little distance did she discover that she was diving farther into the dim, almost black recesses of the cavern. Then she got frightened, and welcomed effusively the apparition of Trixie and her satellites. "I don't see how you can say it was all right," said Imogen coldly. "People _have_ been lost in caves, as Miss Forsyth says." "Not in Tor Cave," said Oliver. "It's not really deep a bit. I'll show you a plan of it when we get home. You couldn't have helped coming out again in a minute or two." "But I can quite understand your having been frightened, and I only hope you have not caught cold," said Rex with real concern in his voice. "I should say the best thing to be done under the circumstances is to walk home as briskly as possible. A cup of hot tea will be an excellent preventive of harm, as soon as we get in." "_We_ shall not be satisfied with walking, thank you," said Trixie. "We've got the dogs Gunner and Plunger with us, tied to a gate over there," and she nodded her head in a direction behind where they stood, "and we mean to have a good race with them.--Won't you come with us, Imogen?"