amuse themselves there all right."

By the time Christine had donned a shady hat and gloves, Mrs. van
Cannan had made out a long list of articles she required at the store.
The household things were to be sent in the ordinary way, but she
begged Christine to choose some coloured cottons that she required for
new pinafores for the little girls and bring them along, also to look
through the stock of note-paper for anything decently suitable, as her
own stock had given out. It was the type of errand Christine was
unaccustomed to perform and plainly foreign to her recognized duties;
but it was difficult to be unobliging and refuse, so she took the
letters and the list and departed.

The store was a good half-mile off and the going (in hot weather) not
very fast. Then, when she got there, the storekeeper was busy with his
own mail, and she was kept waiting until various goods had been packed
into the cart before the door and driven away with the mail behind four
prancing mules. Looking out cottons and writing-paper occupied some
further time. Stores on farms are poky places, and the things always
hidden away in inaccessible spots. At any rate, the best part of an
hour had passed before Christine was again on her way home, and she had
an uneasy feeling that she had been too long away from the children,
especially from Roddy. Suddenly, her haste was arrested by an
unexpected sight. A tiny spot of colour lay right in her pathway on
the ground. It was only a yellow rose-leaf, but it brought a catch in
Christine's breath and her feet to an abrupt halt. How had it come
there? If it had fallen from one of Roddy's roses, it meant that he
had been out of doors since she left! That set her hurrying on again,
but, as she walked, she reflected that of the many roses left in the
dining-room, some might easily have been carried off by the servants
and leaves dropped from them. Still, she was breathless and rather
pale when she reached the house, wasting not a moment in finding her
way to Mrs. van Cannan's room.

Rita and Coral were amusing themselves happily, winding up a tangle of
bright-coloured silks. But Roddy was gone! Neither was Mrs. van
Cannan there.

Christine sat down rather suddenly, but her voice gave no sign of the
alarm she felt.

"Where is Roddy?"

"He went out," answered Rita, perching herself upon Christine. "Mamma
is going to give us each a new dolly if we get this silk untangled for
her."

"How