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."

She ran on swiftly. She was always very quick and light in her
movements. Soon she came to the place where David had to all appearance
disappeared. She did not stay there long. She ran on to where the
bracken grew thick and l