Margaret, thinking her husband was in charge of Herrick, had not hurried
down and he, returning to the empty coffee-room, concluded that Herrick
had been fetched upstairs by her mother. It was not till Margaret came
down that they discovered she had apparently vanished into space.
William instantly fell into a panic and was for summoning a detective at
once, when Margaret calmly interposed with the suggestion that he should
first look for his daughter in his uncle’s house. After considerable
explanation which included the important personalities of Mr.
Woolykneeze and Umpy dear, William was fain to go back to the King’s
Arms without his daughter, and Herrick sat at Mr. Wycherly’s right hand,
raised high in her chair upon a dictionary and Cruden’s Concordance, and
had breakfast all over again "wivout a bib" as she joyfully announced.
The blue smock also bore testimony to that fact when the meal was over.
The extra bacon and eggs were not wasted; Montagu and Edmund consumed
the lot.
By the time breakfast was over it was nearly ten o’clock, and Edmund
went to the front door to look for Jane-Anne. Sure enough she was there
waiting in a doorway just down the street. Jane-Anne saw him and came
out from her doorway, advancing rather timidly.
"Where’s Aunt Martha?" she whispered.
"Upstairs, making beds," Edmund answered, "so we can’t go to the attics,
but you can come into the garden. There’s only one room looks out into
the garden and that’s Guardie’s study. He’s gone there now so Mrs. Dew
won’t be in that."
"Are you sure?" Jane-Anne whispered again. "She’d be awfully vexed if
she saw me."
"Come on. That kid is here and she can’t stop long for we’re all going
out on the river. Hurry up if you really want to see her."
Jane-Anne came in sideways, as though by that means she made herself
less conspicuous.
Herrick and Montagu were standing on the lawn under an apple tree,
looking at some trumpet daffodils that were growing at its root.
Herrick, very gently, was lifting each yellow bell to look inside it.
"Fairies live in these," she was saying, "but it’s such a beautiful
morning, I ’spect they’ve all flown away. You have to be very early to
catch a fairy. Who’s that with Edmund and what’s she come for?"
"To see you, I think," Montagu replied. "Jane-Anne’s her name and she’s
Mrs. Dew’s niece."
Jane-Anne looked more haggard than ever this morning; pale to
ghastliness with dark shadows under her great eyes, she was singularly
unattractive. Little Herrick felt both puzzled and repelled, but
Margaret’s teaching held good and the child walked forward holding out
her hand with a little gracious air that was very captivating.
"How do you do?" said Herrick.
To her surprise, this strange-looking person dropped on one knee before
her and taking the eggy little hand in both her own, kissed it.
"You’re quite right," Jane-Anne remarked to Montagu over her shoulder,
"she is like a princess."
"You may kiss me if you like," said Herrick graciously.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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