er men plunged thitherward with him, and more went along the
road. They were gone about twenty minutes altogether, returning without
result to the inn. Ned sat down in the settle, and clasped his forehead
with his hands.

'Well--what a fool the man is, and hev been all these years, if he thinks
the child his, as a' do seem to!' they whispered. 'And everybody else
knowing otherwise!'

'No, I don't think 'tis mine!' cried Ned hoarsely, as he looked up from
his hands. 'But she is mine, all the same! Ha'n't I nussed her? Ha'n't
I fed her and teached her? Ha'n't I played wi' her? O, little
Carry--gone with that rogue--gone!'

'You ha'n't lost your mis'ess, anyhow,' they said to console him. 'She's
throwed up the sperrits, and she is feeling better, and she's more to 'ee
than a child that isn't yours.'

'She isn't! She's not so particular much to me, especially now she's
lost the little maid! But Carry's everything!'

'Well, ver' like you'll find her to-morrow.'

'Ah--but shall I? Yet he _can't_ hurt her--surely he can't! Well--how's
Car'line now? I am ready. Is the cart here?'

She was lifted into the vehicle, and they sadly lumbered on toward
Stickleford. Next day she was calmer; but the fits were still upon her;
and her will seemed shattered. For the child she appeared to show
singularly little anxiety, though Ned was nearly distracted. It was
nevertheless quite expected that the impish Mop would restore the lost
one after a freak of a day or two; but time went on, and neither he nor
she could be heard of, and Hipcroft murmured that perhaps he was
exercising upon her some unholy musical charm, as he had done upon
Car'line herself. Weeks passed, and still they could obtain no clue
either to the fiddler's whereabouts or the girl's; and how he could have
induced her to go with him remained a mystery.

Then Ned, who had obtained only temporary employment in the
neighbourhood, took a sudden hatred toward his native district, and a
rumour reaching his ears through the police that a somewhat similar man
and child had been seen at a fair near London, he playing a violin, she
dancing on stilts, a new interest in the capital took possession of
Hipcroft with an intensity which would scarcely allow him time to pack
before returning thither.

He did not, however, find the lost one, though he made it the entire
business of his over-hours to stand about in by-streets in the hope of
discovering her, and would