At last she heard a sound. "She"s coming," she thought, thankfully, but all at once she became conscious that the sound was not in the upper hall, but down-stairs on the porch.
There was the quick patter of little feet, and then an appealing whine.
"Why, it"s a dog," said Anne, sitting up straight, "It"s a dog."
She got up and looked out of the window. A little short-eared, stubby-tailed Boston terrier was running back and forth on the sand, anxiously.
Anne was a tender-hearted lover of animals, and his apparent distress appealed to her.
"I"ll go down and see what"s the matter with him," she decided, thrusting her feet into her slippers and tying the ribbons of her pink dressing-gown.
She flew down the long dark hall to the top of the steps that led below, and there she stopped still, with her hand on her heart.
The fire in the hall was still burning, and the flames wavered fitfully over the great picture above the mantel, and on the jar of red roses in front of it. The rest of the hall was in the shadow, and darker than the shadows, Anne had made out the figure of a man standing on the threshold.
As she gazed, he crossed the room and stood in front of the fire, his eyes raised to the great picture. Suddenly he leaned forward and took one of the red roses from the jar.
"He is even stealing the roses," thought Anne, indignantly, but then, what could you expect of a man who would carry off boxes of candy and thimbles and kittens?
She was sure it was the Durant burglar, and she dropped to the floor cautiously, and crouched there. Outside she could still hear the whine of the dog, but she had no thought of going to him now--she could not pa.s.s that silent figure on the rug.
Then, all at once, she thought of Judy. She was in the library, and there was just one room between her and the burglar!
Anne wasn"t brave, and never had been, but in that moment she forgot herself, forgot everything but that Judy was not well and must not be frightened at any cost. Judy must not see the burglar.
As the man moved across the hall Anne staggered to her feet, feeling along the wall for the electric b.u.t.ton, and then suddenly the lights flared up, and the little girl, a desperate pink figure clinging to the stair-rail, looked down into the upraised face of the man below.
"Don"t," she said, with white lips, "don"t--go--in--there--"
As she stared at him in a blur of fright she was conscious of wondering if all burglars looked so gentlemanly--if--why, _where had she seen his face_?
"Judy," breathed the man, and his whisper seemed to thunder in her ears as he came up the stairway two steps at a time.
Anne gave a little scream, half fright, half delight.
"Oh--" Why, his face was familiar--it was the face of the man in the picture over the fireplace!
"Judy," he said, again, as he reached her and caught her in his arms.
But as her yellow hair flowed over his coat, he laughed excitedly and put her from him. "I beg pardon," he apologized. "I thought you were Judy."
"And I thought you were a burglar," quavered Anne, as she sat down on the top step weakly.
Her fair little face was alight with joy as she held out her hand.
"Oh," she said, "you are Judy"s father, and you are alive, you are really alive!"
"And you are Anne," said the Captain.
"How did you know?" wondering.
"The Judge told me."
"Where did you see the Judge?" she asked.
"He has been with me ever since he left here," said the Captain. "Dr.
Grennell discovered me in a hospital in Newfoundland, and I was very ill, and he sent for father, and he has been with me ever since. And he has gone straight to Fairfax, for he isn"t very well. But I had to see my girl. Did I wake you?"
"I heard the dog."
"Terry? I brought him to Judy, and left him outside so he wouldn"t startle the house. Where is my girl--where is she, Anne?"
"Oh, she"s in the library," said Anne. "I"ll call her. Oh, how happy she will be! How happy she will be!" She sang it like a little song, as she flitted through the hall.
At the same moment the electric bell of the front door thrilled through the house, and the Captain opened the door quickly.
Preceded by a blast of wind, and the scurrying Terry-dog, Launcelot Bart came in. He stood irresolute as he saw the strange man on the rug, and before either could speak, Anne came running back.
Her face was white and her hands were shaking. She did not seem to see Launcelot, but went straight up to Captain Jameson.
"Oh, where is Judy, where is Judy?" she wailed, "she isn"t there."
"And where is Tommy Tolliver?" demanded Launcelot Bart.
CHAPTER XXI
CAPTAIN JUDY
"Gee, Judy, but you can sail a boat."
Judy with the salt breeze blowing her hair back from her face, with her hand on the tiller, and with her eager eyes sweeping the surface of the moonlighted waters, smiled a little.
"I ought to," she declared, "father taught me. He said that he didn"t have a son, so he intended that I should know as much as a boy about such things."
"It"s mighty windy weather." Tommy was hunched up in the bottom of the boat--and his face had the woebegone look of the inexperienced sailor.
"It"s going to be windier," said Judy, wisely, "it"s coming now. Look at those clouds."
Back of the moon a heavy bank of clouds was crested with white, and the waters of the bay heaved sullenly.
Tommy, ignorant little landlubber that he was, began to wish that he had stayed at home, but Judy was exalted, uplifted by the thought of a coming battle with wind and waves. She had fought them so often in the little white boat, but one thing she forgot, that she was not as strong as she had been, and that Tommy was not as helpful as her father.
The start had been very exciting. Judy had pretended to read in the library, and little Anne had gone to bed, and then when the house was still she had crept out, and had met Tommy, and together they had gotten "The Princess" under sail.
But more than once that day Judy"s heart had failed her. The Cause had looked rather silly on second thoughts, and Tommy was _so_ commonplace--but, oh, well, she had promised, and that was the end of it.
Tommy was dreadfully awkward about a boat, too. In spite of his eagerness for a life on the ocean wave, he had never had any practical training and Judy grew impatient more than once at the slow way in which he followed out her orders.