“Why, but for me Fairy might never find her parents after all; if I were to keep this secret to myself she would never know for certain she was a lady born, perhaps a countess. I shall make them understand that before I tell them. Or, if anything was to happen to me now before I have told them, why they’d like to never know it. Bless me, where am I? This fog is worse than I thought; I ought to have been home by now, and here I am still on the top. De Thorens, Carolles, Normandy,” and so muttering to herself Dame Hursey disappeared in the fog. That same afternoon, Fairy, little thinking her name and birth were so soon to be revealed, and her happy life in the shepherd’s cottage exchanged for a very different one in a French château, had gone for a walk with Charlie, and, to Mrs. Shelley’s great anxiety, at half-past five o’clock, when her husband and Jack came in to tea, they were not home. The fog now was so dense that you could hardly see your hand before you, and even with a lantern you could not discern anything a yard or two in advance of you, and Mrs. Shelley was intensely relieved when John and Jack came home safe. “Thank God you are both back safely; it is an awful fog, isn’t it, John?” asked Mrs. Shelley, as John stood wiping the fog from his beard and face. “Yes, it is a bad one; luckily both Jack and I saw it was coming on and got the sheep home before dark, or we might have been half the night on the downs.” “Isn’t it tiresome? Charlie and Fairy went out for a walk soon after dinner, and they are not back now; I have been in such a fright about them,” said Mrs. Shelley. “What, mother? Fairy out in this fog? Good heavens! the child may be killed! What on earth does that little idiot mean by taking her out in a fog? He deserves a sound thrashing,” burst out Jack. “Hush, Jack; Charlie may be in danger as well,” said Mrs. Shelley. “Serve him right too,” muttered Jack, as he went in search of a lantern without another word. “Fairy and Charlie out, wife? Dear me, we shall have to go and look for them; why, they may fall into a chalkpit and break their necks. Where have they gone?” asked John, leisurely putting on his hat and scarf. “I don’t know, but I fancy to Mount Harry; I heard Fairy talking about it.” “Here, Jack, we shall have to go and look for them children, I think,” called out the shepherd to Jack. “Of course we shall; I am lighting the lantern; let’s be off at once, father,” said Jack, who had made the necessary preparations for the search while his father was taking in the fact that the children were lost, and now stood with the lantern in his hand and his dog by his side at the open door. “Where are we to go, father?” said Jack as they started.