as before, in front of
her, looking back every moment or two to see if she was following all
right. Neither spoke, as Rosamond did not want to waste either her own
or her companion's breath.

'I shall have to run as fast as ever I can when I get on to the smooth
road,' she thought.

So for upwards of a quarter of a mile the two trotted on in silence,
till Bob pulled up.

'Miss,' he said, 'this is where I have to turn.' As a matter of fact he
had been out of his way till now. 'If you go straight on, you can't miss
now. See,' and he pointed before him in the gloom, 'the hedge stops a
bit farther on, and there's a clear piece of grass on to the road.'

'Ye-es,' said Miss Mouse, peering before her, 'I think I see.'

'Anyway you'll see it all right as soon as you come to it, and you go
straight till then.'

'Yes, yes,' said Rosamond, anxious to see him off. 'Take care of the
money, Bob, and the first time we go to see your grandmother I shall
expect to hear from you that it's all right. Now, run off as fast as you
can and I will too.'

He started at a good pace, and as Miss Mouse trotted in the opposite
direction, from time to time she looked over her shoulder, till the
ever-lessening black speck that she knew to be Bob had altogether melted
into the gloom. Bob's eyes were keener than hers; as he ran, he too kept
glancing backwards to watch the little figure of the child towards whom
his wild but true heart was bursting with gratitude. He distinguished
her for some distance, and when he lost sight of her it seemed to be
rather suddenly, and for a moment or two, hurried though he was, he
stood still with a slight misgiving.

'I saw her half a minute ago,' he thought. 'She must have set to
running very fast. I hope nothing's wrong. She can't have fallen and
hurt herself,' and at the mere idea he had to put force on himself not
to rush back again to see. 'Oh no, it can't be that--why, if she'd hurt
herself, she'd have called out and I'd have heard her. It's got so
still--and oh, my, it's cold. I shouldn't wonder if it started snowing
before morning.'

And off set Bob again, with a lighter heart than if he had yielded to
his impulse and run back, setting his 'missus's' scolding at defiance,
to see that no misadventure had happened to his generous little lady.

Alas! this was what had happened--in the gloom, fast turning into night,
even out here on the open ground it was impossible to see clearly where
one was goin