Shaw was lingering
about the station when they returned, but he was too shy to speak to
them. When the train at last came in, Maria, with a duplicity which
shamed her in thinking of it afterwards, managed to get away from
Maud, and enter the car at the same time with Wollaston, who seated
himself beside her as a matter of course. It was still quite light,
but it had grown cold. Everything had a cold look--the clear cowslip
sky, with its reefs of violet clouds; even the trees tossed crisply,
as if stiffened with cold.

"Hope we won't have a frost," said Wollaston, as they got off at
Edgham.

"I hope not," said Maria; and then Gladys Mann ran up to her, crying
out:

"Say, Maria, Maria, did you know your little sister was lost?"

Maria turned deadly white. Wollaston caught hold of her little arm in
its brown sleeve.

"When was she lost?" he asked, fiercely, of Gladys. "Don't you know
any better than to rush right at anybody with such a thing as that?
Don't you be frightened, Maria. I'll find her."

A little knot of passengers from the train gathered around them.
Gladys was pale herself, and had a strong sense of the sadness of the
occasion, still she had a feeling of importance. Edwin Shaw came
lumbering up timidly, and Maud Page pressed quickly to Maria's side
with a swirl of her wide skirts.

"Gladys Mann, what on earth are you talking about?" said she,
sharply. "Who's lost?"

"Maria's little sister."

"Hm! I don't believe a word of it."

"She is, so there! Nobody has seen a sign of her since morning, and
Maria's pa's most crazy. He's been sending telegrams all round.
Maria's step-mother, she telegraphed for him to come home, and he
come at noon, and he sent telegrams all round, and then he went
himself an hour ago."

"Went where?"

"Back to New York. Guess he's gone huntin' himself. Guess he thought
he could hunt better than policemen. Maria's step-mother don't act
scared, but I guess she is, awful. My mummer says that folks that
bear up the best are the ones that feel things most. My mummer went
over to see if she could do anything and see how she took it."

"When was she lost?" gasped Maria. She was shaking from head to foot.

"Your step-mother went down to the store, and when she got back the
baby was gone. Josephine said she hadn't seen her after you had
started for Wardway. She took her doll with her."

"Where?" gasped Maria.

"Nobody knows where," said Gladys, severely, although the tears we