in
all the length and breadth of it, as far as her eyes could see, she caught
no glimpse of the others. They were nowhere in sight, and the moor looked
big, and lonely, and frightening.

Poppy felt very forlorn, and miserable, and homesick, standing there in
that great waste; and under the weight of her troubles her lip began to
quiver, though she did her best to steady it. She dared not go indoors,
and she was too weary to go in search of the others, so she crept up the
slope to the nearest rocks large enough to hide her, determined to sit
there and wait until she saw the others coming home, when she would call
to them. She slipped off her pinafore, spread it on the ground to dry,
and with much care and trouble cleaned first her hands and then her boots
on the short coarse grass, after which, utterly weary, she lay down
herself and knew no more.

CHAPTER VII.

Esther, Penelope, and Angela reached home at just about what they thought
must be tea-time. They came in the way they had gone out, through the
garden door. In the garden path they saw Poppy's new watering-can lying.
They expected to see Poppy too, but she did not appear, and the garden
seemed quite empty. She must have gone indoors, they concluded, and
Esther began to feel very compunctious for having left her alone so long.
With this feeling on her she hurried in to find her little sister,
but the house seemed quiet and empty too. They ran up to their own rooms.
No one was there. They came down and looked in the sitting-rooms,
Esther with a sudden fear that Poppy might be at some mischief; but both
rooms were quite empty. They next ran out and tapped at the kitchen door.

"Come in," said Anna cheerfully. She liked to have the children about
her.

"Is Poppy here?" asked Esther.

"Miss Poppy! No, miss. I haven't seen her since she went out with you."

"She hasn't been with us. We have been on the moor ever since, and she
must have stayed in the garden, but I can't see her there now. We saw her
little can in the path, that was all, and I can't find her in the house
anywhere. I thought perhaps she was here with you."

Anna looked anxious. "Have you been all over the house, miss?"

"I have been in our rooms and the dining-room and drawing-room, and we
have all called her, but we can't find her."

"I'd look again, miss, if I was you; look in the missus's room, and mine
too, if you like. I'd come with you, but I can't leave my bread