Flower had not been on the moor since that dreadful day when she had taken the baby away. So much had happened since then, so many dreadful things had come to pass, that she shuddered at the bare thought of the great and desolate moorland. Nevertheless she guessed that David would hide there, and without a moment's hesitation turned her steps in the direction of Peg-Top Moor. She had walked for nearly half an hour, and had reached rather a broad extent of table-land, when she saw--their little figures plainly visible against the sky--two children, nearly a quarter of a mile away, eagerly talking together. There was not the least doubt as to their identity; the children--a boy and a girl--were David and Fly. Fly was holding David's arm, and gesticulating and talking eagerly; David's head was turned away. Flower quickened her steps almost into a run. If only she could reach the two before they parted; above all things, if she could reach them before David saw her! Alas and alas! she was too late for this. David suddenly pushed his little companion a couple of feet away from him, and to all appearance vanished into the solid ground. Fly, crying bitterly, began to run to meet Flower. Flower held out her arms as the little girl approached. "What is it, Firefly? Tell me, has David confessed?" "Oh, what do you know about it, Flower? Oh, what am I to do, what am I to do?" "You are to go quietly home," said Flower, speaking in a voice of authority. "You are to go quietly home, and leave this matter in my hands. I know all about it, and just what David has done. He has bound you by a sort of oath, you poor little thing--you dear, brave little thing! Never mind, Fly; you leave David to me. I expect I shall find him now--that is, if you don't keep me too long talking. Go home, and leave matters to me." "But Flower--Flower, you do comfort me a little; but Flower, it will soon be three o'clock, and then--and then--oh, dear father! Oh, it is so dreadful!" "No, you silly mite; it is not dreadful at all. Polly is in charge of the Doctor. She is sitting with him now, and the door is locked, and the key is in Polly's pocket, and she has promised me not to open that door to any one--no, Fly, not to a hundred of your Aunt Marias--until I bring David home." Fly's face underwent a transformation. Her big eyes looked full up into Flower's. A smile flitted across her quivering lips. With a sudden, passionate gesture, she stooped down and kissed Flower's fingers, then ran obediently back in the direction of Sleepy Hollow. "She is a perfect little darling!" said Flower to herself. "If Master David does not rue it for making her suffer, my name is not Flower Dalrymple."