ll she could do was to tell the servant we'd all be in
soon, and she must tell us what had happened, and that she'd send the
cart back to the station to meet nurse at nine. Now, the servant was
very stupid; she got 'nine' into her head, and when Mr. Parsley came in
about half-past seven she told him we were all to be in at nine; and he
said afterwards he'd got some vague idea that we had all gone in the
cart to meet nurse. Anyhow, he wasn't a bit uneasy, and after he'd had
his supper he set off walking to the old aunt's to see how she was, and
to arrange about Mrs. Parsley staying all night if she had to.

So you see, till nurse got back, there was no one to be uneasy about
us.

But _we_ didn't know it, and there we sat, more and more puzzled, and
even frightened in a strange sort of way. It seemed as if we'd dropped
out of the world and nobody cared.

'At the worst,' I whispered to Anne, 'when nurse comes they'll hunt us
up. She knows we were to be in the church, and she'll think of the
Maggie story.'

'Only,' said Anne, '_suppose_ she misses her train, or that it's very
late. It's Maudie I'm so unhappy about, Jack. Hush----'

For we heard a little sob, and we didn't want to wake her. She had
fallen asleep, and Anne and I were both cuddling her close to keep her
warm.

'Is she waking?' I said, very low.

But Anne pinched my hand. The sob wasn't from Maud, it was from Serry. I
must say I was rather glad. It was about time for her to sob and cry, I
thought.

We waited on and on. After a bit I think Anne and Serry too got drowsy,
and perhaps I did myself. Anyhow, I grew stupid, and as if I didn't
care; but I was very cold too.

It seemed such a tremendous time. I heard a story not long ago of a man
who got shut in somewhere--I think it was in the catacombs, or some
place like that--who went through, as he thought, days of it. He grew
terribly hungry, for one thing, and ate his candle, and was released
just when he believed he was at the last gasp, and after all he'd only
been there three hours! It did seem absurd, but I can quite believe it.
He'd lost all sense of time, you see. Well, I suppose it was rather like
that with us. I know, when at last we heard the clock strike, I was
_sure_ it was going on to twelve. I couldn't _believe_ it was only nine!

'Anne,' I whispered, 'are you awake? How ever are we to wait here till
to-morrow morning? It's only nine o'clock!'

'Nurse will be coming home soon then,' sai