'I am sure,' said Tricksy still tearfully to Reggie as he said good-night to her in her little bed; 'I don't know what I should do if I hadn't a mother! It's great fun running about with you and the others, and staying out-of-doors for whole days at a time; but when we get hurt or sorry, it's Mummie that we want!' Little sleep came to the boys that night. Each turned and tossed uneasily upon his bed, trying not to disturb the other; falling into broken dreams of being with Neil on the rocks in their own island, and awakening to a sense of the reality. Early in the morning it became useless to keep up the pretence any longer. They rose and dressed and went out-of-doors. By the garden gate two shaggy ponies were standing; and the boys were not at all surprised to see Marjorie and Hamish, who turned anxious faces towards them. 'Well,' said Marjorie, 'anything new?' 'Nothing since we saw you.' 'There hasn't been time, of course,' said Marjorie. 'We couldn't rest, so we came along to see you.' 'Let's go down to the shore,' said Allan. 'Can't talk here.' A window was thrown open on the upper story of the house, and a little voice cried, 'Wait a minute, people! don't go away! I'm coming too.' 'Tricksy awake already!' said Marjorie; 'that child will make herself ill.' In a few minutes a little figure emerged from the front door, and Tricksy ran towards them. 'What are you going to do?' she said. 'Is there any news?' 'Nothing at all, Tricksy,' said Marjorie; 'we were only going down to the shore to talk.' The little girl slipped her hand confidingly into Allan's and walked beside him, trying to accommodate her steps to his long stride. 'Hullo, there's Euan Macdonnell,' said Allan. 'He was at the trial yesterday; let's ask him about it.' The fine frank-faced young coastguard touched his cap to the girls and waited to be spoken to. 'Euan,' said Allan abruptly; speaking in Gaelic, which was always most convenient for the islanders if a conversation was likely to be long; 'we know about Neil. You were there; tell us about the trial.' 'Well, Mr. Allan, it was a very bad business, and we none of us expected it to go as it did. Poor Neil was most frightfully cut up about it, and no wonder, poor fellow. What he felt most was that some of the people were against him when he thought they would be quite sure to believe in his honesty, no matter what might have happened.' 'So they ought,' declared Allan. 'Any one who knows Neil in the least would know that whether he sent away that order or not, he would never have stolen it, and that there must have been a mistake.' 'Of course there must have been,' said Euan, 'and I'm glad to hear you say so, Mr. Allan.' 'Suppose things were to go wrongly,' said Marjorie; 'I mean, supposing that nothing is found out that will help to clear Neil when he comes before the Edinburgh court, what will he have to expect?'