"Why, isn"t she in the house? We s"posed she was. Jennie Vance and I have just been out in the garden, under your little _crying willow_, making a wreath. Thought she was in the barn, or somewhere."
"But you haven"t been in the garden all the while?"
"No"m; once we went up in the Pines,--grandma, you said we might,--but we haven"t seen Fly,--why, we haven"t seen her for the longest while!"
Grace had dropped her knife and fork and was looking pale.
"It was Susy and I that had the care of her, grandma; when you went out to see the sick lady, you charged us, and we forgot all about it."
"Pretty works, I should think!" cried Horace, springing out of his chair; "I wouldn"t sell that baby for her weight in gold; but I reckon _you_ would, Grace Clifford, and be glad of it, too."
Grandma held up a warning finger. "I declare," said aunt Louise, very much agitated, "I never shall consent to have Maria go out of town again, and leave Katie with us. If she will try to swim in the watering-trough, she is just as likely to take a walk on the ridgepole of the house."
Horace darted out of the room with a ghastly face, but came back looking relieved. He had been up in the attic, and climbed through the scuttle, without finding any human Fly on the roof, or on the dizzy tops of the chimneys, either.
But where was the child? Had Ruth seen her? Had Abner?
No; the last that could be remembered, she had been playing by herself in the green chamber, soaking Dinah"s feet in a gla.s.s of water. The "blue kitty," the only creature who had anything to tell, sat washing her face on the kitchen hearth, and yawning sleepily. Fly"s shaker was gone from the "short nail," and aunt Louise discovered some bank-bills in a wash-bowl,--"Fly"s work, of course." But this was all they knew.
Grandpa searched the barn, Abner the fields, Ruth the cellar; aunt Louise and Horace ran down to the river. In half an hour several of the neighbors had joined in the search.
"I always thought there would be a last time," said poor Mrs. Dr.
Gray, putting on her black bonnet, and joining Grace and Susy. "That child seems to me like a little spirit, or a fairy, and I never thought she would live long. She and Charlie were too lovely for this world."
"O, _don"t_, Mrs. Gray," said Grace. "If you knew how often she"d been lost, you would not say so! We always find her, after a while, somewhere."
Horace, who had gone on in advance, now came running back, swinging his boots in the air.
"A trail!" cried he. "I"ve found a trail! Who planted these boots in the road, if it wasn"t Fly Clifford?"
"Perhaps she has gone to aunt Martha"s," said Mrs. Parlin, "or tried to. Strange we did not think of that!"
But aunt Martha had not seen her, nor had any one else. Horace and Abner went up to the Pines, but the forest beyond they never thought of exploring; it did not seem probable that such a small child could have strolled to such a distance as that.
Supper time came and went. There was a short thunder-shower. The Parlins shuddered at every flash of lightning, and shivered at every drop of rain; for where was delicate, lost little Fly?
Abner and Horace were out during the shower. Horace would have braved hurricanes and avalanches in the cause of his dear little Topknot.
"There"s one thing we haven"t thought of," said Abner, shaking the drops from his hat and looking up at the sky, which had cleared again; "we haven"t thought of the railroad surveyors! They are round the town everywhere with their compa.s.ses and spy-gla.s.ses."
It was not a bad idea of Abner"s. He and Horace went to the hotel where the railroad men boarded. The engineer"s face lighted at once.
"I wish I had known before there was a child missing," he said. "I saw the figure of a little girl, through my gla.s.s, not an hour ago. It was a long way beyond the Pines, and I wondered how such a baby happened up there; but I had so much else to think of that it pa.s.sed out of my mind."
About eight o"clock, Flyaway was found in the woods, sound asleep, under a hemlock tree, her faithful Dinah hugged close to her heart.
There was a shout from a dozen mouths. Horace"s eyes overflowed. He caught his beloved pet in his arms.
"O, little Topknot!" he cried. "Who"s got you? Look up, look up, little Brown-brimmer."
All Flyaway could do was to sob gently, and then curl her head down on her brother"s shoulder, saying, sleepily, "Cold, ou" doors stayin"."
"Why did our darling run away?"
"Didn"t yun away; I"s goin" up to heaven see Charlie," replied Flyaway, suddenly remembering the object of her journey, and gazing around at Abner, Dr. Gray, and the other people, with eyes full of wonder. "Where"s the toppest hill? I"s goin" up, carry Charlie some canny."
The people formed a line, and, as Prudy said, "processed" behind Katie all the way to the village.
"Is we goin" to heaven?" said the child, still bewildered. "It yunned away and away, and all off!"
"No, you blessed baby, you are not going to heaven just yet, if we can help it," answered Dr. Gray, leaning over Horace"s shoulder to kiss the child.
Flyaway was too tired to ask any more questions. She let first one person carry her, and then another, sometimes holding up her swollen thumb, and murmuring, ""Orny "ting me--tell my mamma." And after that she was asleep again.
Dotty Dimple, Susy, and Prudy were pacing the piazza when the party arrived, but poor grandma was on the sofa in the parlor, quite overcome with anxiety and fatigue, and Miss Polly Whiting was mournfully fanning her with a black feather fan. The sound of voices roused Mrs. Parlin. "Safe! safe!" was the cry. Dotty Dimple rushed in, shouting, "A railroad savage found her! a railroad savage found her!"
In another moment the runaway was in her grandmother"s lap. All she could say was, ""Orny "ting me on my fum! "Orny "ting me on my fum!"
For this one little bite of a bee seemed greater to Flyaway Clifford than all the dangers she had pa.s.sed. If grandma would only kiss her "fum," it was no matter about going to heaven, or even being undressed.
But after she had had a bowl of bread and milk, and been nicely bathed, she forgot her sufferings, and laughed in her sleep. She was dreaming how Charlie came to the door of heaven and helped her up the steps.
CHAPTER V.
EAST AGAIN.
A whole year pa.s.sed. Dotty Dimple became a school-girl, with a "bosom friend" and a pearl ring. Prudy, who called herself "the middle-aged sister," grew tall and slender. Katie was four years old, and just a little heavier, so she no longer needed a cent in her pocket to keep her from blowing away.
The Parlins had been at Willowbrook a week before the Cliffords arrived. There was a great sensation over Katie. She was delighted to hear that she had grown more than any of the others.
"I"m gettin" old all over!" said she, gayly. "Four--goin" to be five!
Wish I was most six. Dotty Dimpul, don"t you wish _you"s_ most a _hunderd_?"
"O, you cunning little cousin!" said Dotty, embracing her rapturously; "I wish you loved me half as well as I love you; that"s what I wish. I told Tate Penny you were prettier than Tid; and so you are. Such red cheeks! But what makes one cheek redder than the other?"
"O, I eat my bread "n" milk that side o" my mouf," replied Flyaway; "and that"s why."
"What an idea! And your hair is just as fine as ever it was; the color of my ring--isn"t it, Prudy?"
Flyaway put her little hand to her head, and felt the floss flying about as usual.
"My hair comes all to pieces," explained she; "_or nelse_ I have a ribbon to tie it up with."
"Are you glad to come back to Willowbrook, you precious little dear?"
asked two or three voices.