Mrs. Webb made Meg take her arm to the station and told Willie to walk the other side of her so the girl found herself well-guarded on both sides. She felt delightfully happy. * * * * * * Jem was feeling discouraged and anxious. He had been seeking for Meg for six weeks and without any result. He had been fortunate in getting odd jobs to do in which his days were employed, but his evenings were spent in search. Many a time he thought he had a clue, always to be disappointed, and as the days passed he grew more and more anxious. London struck him as a place full of pitfalls, and the thought of Meg alone and uncared for, almost paralyzed him at times with fear. He was growing thin and pale, and was often so tired with his efforts that he could not sleep. He had obtained a job in one of the suburbs of London to which he went daily by train, and the day on which Mrs. Webb took Meg and Willie into the country, found him at the same station but on another platform to the one from which the train for Hampstead Heath started. He was leaning against the corner of a smoking carriage looking weary and despondent, lazily watching a train that was slowly moving out of the station. The train was so close to the one in which he sat that he could have shaken hands with the people in the carriages which were passing him. Suddenly he became aware that coming towards him was a carriage out of the window of which leant a head of auburn hair. The head was uncovered, for Meg, having a headache, had thrown off her hat. As Jem caught sight of her she was leaning far out with her eyes fastened on him. The carriages were nearly opposite now. They both stared at one another as if dazed, then Jem sprang to his feet and tried to wrench open the door. He must get to her; there would be just time in which to spring on to the foot rail for the train was moving very slowly. But the door being locked resisted all his efforts. The veins on his temple stood out like cords, as he was conscious that the speed of the train was increasing. Then something hit his shoulder and fell at his feet and the next moment a curve in the line took Meg out of his sight.