The girl looked curiously at her. "I hope Lois is pretty well this morning?" she said, in her amiable voice. Mrs. Field responded with a harsh outburst that fairly made her start back. "No," she cried out, "she ain't well; she's sick. She wa'n't fit to go to school. She couldn't hardly crawl out of the yard. She ain't got home, an' I'm terrible worried. I dun'no' but she's fell down." "Maybe she just thought she wouldn't come home." "No; that ain't it. She never did such a thing as that without saying something about it; she'd know I'd worry." Mrs. Field craned her neck farther over the gate, and peered down the road. Beside the gate stood two tall bushes, all white with flowers that grew in long white racemes, and they framed her distressed face. "Look here, Mrs. Field," said the girl, "I'll tell you what I'll do. The school-house isn't much beyond my house; I'll just run over there and see if there's anything the matter; then I'll come back right off, and let you know." "Oh, will you?" "Of course I will. Now don't you worry, Mrs. Field; I don't believe it's anything." The girl nodded back at her with her pretty smile; then she sped away with a light tilting motion. Mrs. Field stood a few minutes longer, then she went up the steps into the house. She opened Amanda Pratt's door instead of her own, and went through the sitting-room to the kitchen, from whence she could hear the clink of dishes. "Lois ain't got home yet," said she, standing in the doorway. Amanda set down the dish she was wiping. "Mis' Field, what do you mean?" "What I say." "Ain't she got home yet?" "No, she ain't." "Why, it's half-past one o'clock! She ain't comin'; it's time for school to begin. Look here, Mis' Field, I guess she felt kind of tired, an' thought she wouldn't come." Mrs. Field shook her head with a sort of remorselessness toward all comfort. "She's fell down." "Oh, Mis' Field! you don't s'pose so?" "The Starr girl's gone to find out." Mrs. Field turned to go. "Hadn't you better stay here till she comes?" asked Amanda, anxiously. "No; I must go home." Suddenly Mrs. Field looked fiercely around. "I'll tell you what 'tis, Mandy Pratt, an' you mark my words! I ain't goin' to stan' this kind of work much longer! I ain't goin' to see all the child I've got in the world murdered; for that's what it is--it's murder!" Mrs. Field went through the sitting-room with a stiff rush, and Amanda followed her. "Oh, Mis' Field, don't take on so--don't!" she kept saying.