"Do you really mean that you have had news of the children?"
"I have had very positive news. Why, they belonged to the circus we went to see to-day! I had my suspicions as soon as ever I heard that woman talking and saying that the performance was miserably poor without the children. At that very instant it came right over me that it was our little Miss Di who had made things so sparkling and lively."
"Oh, Fortune! let me go to her," cried Iris. "Is she there? Please, Fortune, take me to her at once."
"Now, Iris, love, that"s just what I can"t do. Patience has to be exercised always in the matter of trails," continued Fortune; "and when we hurry or flurry ourselves we lose the scent, and then we are nowhere. The children did belong to the circus, for I had it from the lips of one of the circus girls. Poor innocent lambs, to think of them having anything to do with such a defiling place! But there they were, and there they would not stay, for three nights ago, Iris, they ran away, and n.o.body in the wide world knows where they are at the present moment."
"Well, and what do you propose to do?" said Mr. Dolman. "For my part, I think the police----"
"Excuse me, sir, this is a matter for me, not the police. I propose, sir, to stay at Madersley until I bring the children back. I hope to bring them back to-night."
"To-night!" cried Iris. "Oh, Fortune! do you mean it?"
"Yes, my love. I am an American, and I generally do what I say. I mean to bring the little dears back to their rightful home to-night. And now I"m off, and please expect me when you see me."
Fortune turned abruptly and left the hotel. She walked down the High Street.
"Now," she said to herself, "why should not I just go and pay a visit to my old friend and neighbor, Matty Bell. I want a woman that is a gossip just now, and if there is a gossip in the whole of Madersley, it"s Matty Bell. As a rule, I can"t abear her, but there are times when a gossiping woman comes in handy; and Matty"s neither very low nor very high up in the world, so she"s acquainted with all that goes on in both circles, the high and the low. Yes, I"ll go to Matty this very moment; and as there"s not any time to lose, I"ll take a fly and drive there."
Fortune hailed the first fly she came across, and was quickly borne to the abode of her old neighbor, Matty Bell.
Matty Bell was a woman of about sixty years of age. At one time she had been a servant at Delaney Manor, but having married, and then lost her husband, she had set up in the laundry line. In that interesting trade she had done a thriving business, and kept a comfortable roof over her head. She had never had children, and consequently had plenty of time to attend to her neighbors" affairs.
"Well, to be sure, Fortune, and what brings you here?" she said, when Fortune alighted from the fly. "Dear heart! I didn"t know that you would care to leave Delaney Manor with all the troubles about."
"And what troubles do you mean now, Matty Bell?" said Fortune, as she paid a shilling to the driver, and then tripped lightly into Matty"s little front parlor.
"Why, the death of the poor missus, Heaven bless her memory! and then the master going off to the other end of n.o.body knows where, and all them blessed little children took from their home and carried--oh, we needn"t go into that, Fortune--it"s been a trouble to you, and I see it writ on your face."
"You are right there, Matty," said Fortune; "it has been a bitter trouble to me, and there"s more behind, for the lady who took the children had no right to interfere, not having a mother"s heart in her breast, for all that Providence granted her five babes of her own to manage. What do you think she went and did, Matty? Why, lost two of our children."
"Lost two of "em? Sakes alive! you don"t say so!" replied Matty. "Have a cup of tea, Fortune, do; I have it brewing lovely on the hob."
"No, thank you," replied Fortune. "I"m in no mood for tea."
"Well, then, do go on with your story, for it"s mighty interesting."
"It"s simple enough," replied Fortune. "Two of the children are lost, and now I have traced "em to a circus in the town."
"A circus here--what, Holt"s?" said the woman.
"No less. Why, Matty; you look queer yourself. Do you know anything?"
"I know nothing for certain," said Matty. "I can only tell you--but there, perhaps I had better not say--only will you excuse me for a minute or two, Fortune?"
"I"ll excuse you, Matty, if you are on the trail of the children, but if you aren"t, you had better stay here and let me talk matters over.
You always were a fearful one for gossip, and perhaps you have picked up news. Yes, I see you have--you have got something at the back of your head this blessed minute, Matty Bell."
"That I have," replied Mrs. Bell. "But please don"t ask me a word more, only let me get on my bonnet and cloak."
Mrs. Bell left the room, and quickly returned dressed in her widow"s weeds, for though Bell had been dead for over ten years, his widow was still faithful to his memory; she slipped a thick crepe veil over her face, and went out, looking the very essence of respectability. She was not more than twenty minutes away, and when she came back she looked much excited. On each of her smooth, pasty cheeks might even be seen a little flush of color, and her dull blue eyes were brighter than their wont.
"Fortune," she cried, "as there"s a heaven above me, I"ve found "em!"
"Bless you, Matty; but where--where?"
"Why, at no less a place than Jonathan Darling"s."
"Jonathan Darling? Who may he be?"
"He"s as honest a fellow, Fortune, as you can find in the whole of Madersley--he drives a milk cart. He found the two little dears three mornings ago, wandering about in their circus dresses, and he took "em home."
"Well," said Fortune, "well--then _that"s_ all right. It was a trouble, but it"s over, thank the good G.o.d. I could fall on my knees this moment and offer up a prayer; that I could, Matty Bell."
Fortune"s small, twinkling eyes were full of tears; she caught her neighbor"s hand and wrung it hard.
"And I bless you, Matty," she continued, "for you have put me on the right trail. I"ll never blame a gossiping neighbor again, never as long as I live."
"But you haven"t heard me out to the end," said Matty, "for one of the little "uns is very ill. You have found "em, it is true; but it isn"t all beer and skittles, Fortune Squeers."
"One of the children ill?" said Fortune.
"Yes; little Miss Diana. You come along and see her at once. They say she fell on her head out of a ring at the circus, and she must have hurt herself rather bad. Anyhow, she don"t know a word she is saying, poor little dear."
When Fortune heard this news she shut up her mouth very tight, tied her bonnet-strings, and followed her neighbor out of the house.
The Darlings" humble little domicile happened to be in the next street, and in less than five minutes Fortune was standing over little Diana"s bed. The child was tossing from side to side, her big eyes were wide open; she was gazing straight before her, talking eagerly and incessantly.
"Is it to be a pwivate funeral?" she said, when Fortune entered the room, and, falling on her knees, clasped the hot little hands in hers.
"Oh, my little darling!" said the good woman, "and have I really found you at last?"
She sank down by the child and burst into more bitter tears than she had even shed when Mrs. Delaney went away.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE LITTLE MOTHER TO THE RESCUE.
Yes, the lost children were found, but little Diana was very ill. The blow she had received on her head had developed into inflammation of the brain. She was highly feverish, and did not in the least know what she was saying. Fortune immediately made up her mind not to leave her.
After standing by her bedside for a minute or two, she went into the next room and asked Mrs. Darling if she would take a fly and go with little Orion to Delaney Manor.
"You are going to your own home, my poor little boy," said the nurse, "and please tell your uncle and Iris and Apollo that I am staying here to look after Diana."
The little boy was so excited at the prospect of being home once more that he forgot any small anxieties which he had experienced with regard to Diana. He started off, therefore, with Mrs. Darling in the highest spirits, and Fortune returned to the bedside of the sick child. Within a couple of hours after Orion"s departure, Mr. Dolman arrived in person. When he saw Diana he immediately insisted on the best doctor in the place being sent for to see her.