in--it's such slippery work."

She peeped out as she said--cautiously at first; then again encouraged,
she made her way half way up the bank and glanced round her.

It seemed safe enough.

The group of ladies was to be seen at some little distance now; they
were returning towards the house by the proper road, which it would be
easy for the children to avoid.

And in her satisfaction, Freda gave a loud "cooey"--much louder than was
needed, as her companions were close by.

[Illustration]

Out popped all the heads from below the bridge, but before their owners
had time to begin to climb the bank, they were stopped by a "Hush," and
an energetic shake of the head from Freda, who next, greatly to their
surprise, flopped straight down among the high grass at the top, and lay
there motionless and quite flat.

The reason of this was soon explained. Again came the cry--"Nell-y!
Will-ie! Nell-y!" from Mrs. Frere, and a whistle, which Hugh Kingley
whispered to the others was his sister Sybil's.

"They've heard Freda's 'cooey,'" he said. "What a goose she was to call
so loud!"

Again there was nothing for it but to stay quiet, which was becoming
very tiresome.

The Frere children began to think that their ideas of "great fun," and
the Kingleys', did not at all agree.

"Wasting all the afternoon in this nasty damp hole, and risking Leigh's
getting really ill," thought Helena.

And at last she sprang up and called out to Freda.

"I won't stay here any longer," she cried. "Whether we are scolded or
not, I won't. It isn't safe for Leigh."

"How cross you are!" said Freda coolly. "I was just going to tell you to
come out. I think it's all right now; they've moved on. We can make a
rush for the house across the grass somehow, can't we? There must be
some back way in, where we shouldn't meet anyone. Then you and I can
take Leigh up to the nursery and say he had an accident, which is quite
true--and when he's clean again he can come out to us and your Mamma
needn't know anything about it. The rest of us are all quite tidy--quite
as tidy as can be expected after running about."

Helena did not reply. She was feeling too annoyed and vexed, and she did
not like Freda's wish to hide what had really caused their troubles.

But she took Leigh by the hand--Freda, it must be allowed, taking him
kindly by the other, and they all set off as fast as they could to the
house. They could not go quite straight for fear of being seen;