Auntie Anna
said at breakfast that she'd come home from her drive in time to go too,
if she could. But we all knew that she wouldn't get back in time, most
likely; and besides, the Doctor meant business from the look of him, Peter
said, so he'd be dead certain to come early enough to go off with Jill
alone. Trust him! That was jolly dangerous, you see, because the chap
is going away to-morrow, and it's their last chance of being together.'

'Why is that dangerous?' asked Barbara, trying hard to follow his
bewildering tale.

'Oh, well, if he's ever going to ask her to marry him, or any of that
rot, he must be going to do it to-day,' explained Kit, with a certain
contempt in his voice. 'Anyhow, what we've been trying to do all the
holidays is to save Jill from the Doctor; so naturally we were rather
upset when Peter brought us the news. But I said I'd have nothing to do
with locking any one up, 'specially Jill; so they said I could make myself
scarce, and I did.'

'Oh, Kit!' exclaimed Barbara, opening her eyes, 'do you think Jill is in
that horrible dark barn all this time?'

Kit sprang to his feet and made for the door. 'I'll go and see if I can
find those idiots,' he said, but an exclamation from the sofa made him
look back. Babs was clapping her hands wildly, and her face had suddenly
reddened with excitement.

'It's all right, Kit. It's beautiful,' she was crying joyfully. 'Don't
stop them, Kit; don't help her to escape, whatever you do. Leave her alone
till the prince comes. Don't you see he'll be able to break the spell at
last!'

Kit did not see at all. Indeed, he looked rather alarmed, and came back
into the room. 'Look here, Babe, you're not going to get excited again,
or anything like that, are you?' he asked her, nervously.

Barbara set his mind at rest by laughing merrily. 'You silly old Kit, of
course I'm not!' she said. 'I never felt so jolly in my life!'

Christopher sped away, reassured, and Barbara lay back on her cushions
and waited impatiently for the sound of the Doctor's gig. She did not have
to wait long, and she waved her hand gaily in answer to the flourish of
his whip with which he greeted her as he drove up to the door.

'Come up here, Dr. Hurst, and be as quick as you possibly can!' she called
down to him; and a minute later he was in the room.

The first thing he did was to ask where Jill was, just as Kit had done.
Barbara laughed more merrily than ever. Her small black eyes were
g