e crossed the fields from the village of Nooks to
the high-road. And when, therefore, at but a few paces distant, there
suddenly appeared a small figure, looking dark against the white dust of
the road, frisking and frolicking about in evident excitement, it really
seemed to the little brother and sister as if it had sprung out of the
earth by magic. They had not time, however, to speak--hardly to
wonder--to themselves before, all frisking and frolicking at an end, the
shaggy ball was upon them, and, with a rush that for half a second made
Pamela inclined to scream, the little dog flew at them, barking,
yelping, almost choking with delight, flinging himself first on one then
on the other, darting back a step or two as if to see them more
distinctly and make sure he was not mistaken, then rolling himself upon
them again all quivering and shaking with rapture. And the cry of
ecstasy that broke from the twins would have gone to the heart of any
one that loved them.

"Oh Toby, Toby!--bruvver--sister--it is, it _is_ our own Toby. He has
come to take us home. Oh dear, _dear_ Toby!"

[Illustration: "OH TOBY, TOBY!--BRUVVER--SISTER--IT IS, IT IS OUR OWN
TOBY, HE HAS COME TO TAKE US HOME. OH DEAR, DEAR TOBY!"--p. 220.]

It _did_ go to the heart of some one not far off. A quaintly-clad,
somewhat aged, woman was slowly climbing the stile at the moment that
the words rang clearly out into the summer air. "Oh Toby, _our_ Toby!"
and no one who had not seen it could have believed how nimbly old
Barbara skipped or slid or tumbled down the steps on the road-side of
the stile, and how, in far less time than it takes to tell it, she was
down on her knees in the dust with a child in each arm, and Toby
flashing about the trio, so that he seemed to be everywhere at once.

"My precious darlings!--my dear little master and missy!--and has old
Barbara found you after all? or Toby rather. I thank the Lord who has
heard my prayers. To think I should have such a delight in my old days
as to be the one to take you back to my dearest lady! A sore heart was I
coming along with--to think that I had heard nothing of you for all I
had felt so sure I would. And oh, my darlings, where _have_ you been,
and how has it all come about?"

But a string of questions was the first answer she got.

"Have you come to look for us, dear Barbara? Did Grandpapa and
Grandmamma send you, and Toby too? How did you know which way to come?
And have you seen Tim? Did T