ow Wolf; though he
could not so speedily overcome the difficulties of the way as the dog
had done.

"Whilst Margot was running to the village, Wolf running after Margot
(for such he afterwards proved was his purpose), and Jacques after
Wolf, the fierce man had frightened poor Meeta out of all the small
discretion which she ever had at command; and she told him that she had
seen her grandmother put the purse in the great chest above stairs,
that she did not know whether her uncle had taken the key, though,
perchance, little Margot might know, as she slept with her grandmother.

"She could not have done a more imprudent thing than mention Margot,
for the woman immediately started, like one suddenly reminded of an
oversight, at the mention of the child's name, and ran out instantly to
seek her; at the same time the man drove Meeta before him up the ladder
or stairs to where the great old chest which contained all the spare
linen and other treasures of the family stood, and had stood almost as
long as the house had been a house. There, without waiting the ceremony
of looking for the key, he wrenched the chest open, pulling out every
article which it contained, opening every bundle, and scattering
everything on the floor, telling Meeta that, if he did not find the
purse, she should either tell him where it was or suffer his severest
vengeance.

"So dreadful were the oaths he used that the poor girl was ready to
faint, and the whitest linen in that chest was not so white as her
cheeks and lips.

"The woman, in the meantime, was seeking Margot, and, with the cunning
of a gipsy, had traced the impression of the little feet to the corner
of the garden, where a bit of cloth torn from the child's apron showed
the place where she had crept through the hedge. The gipsy could not
creep through the opening as the child had done, but she could get over
the hedge; and this she speedily did, and saw the little one before
her, running with all her might. At the noise the woman made at
springing from the hedge, Margot looked back, and set up a shriek, and
that shriek was probably what first roused Wolf, who was lying with his
ear on the earth.

"Now there were four running all at once; Margot first, the gipsy after
her and gaining fast upon her, Wolf springing over every impediment and
gaining ground on the gipsy, and Jacques after the dog; and there was
another party too coming to where Margot was. These last were coming
from the p