ng with an eager expectant eye, and he did not know what to say to
her. It would be easier when he brought the baby and actually put it
into her arms.

The sun had set when he had finished tea, a blaze of splendour settling
down into dull purple and dead orange, leaving a stripe of pale-green
sky over the horizon, flecked with a few soft brown clouds tinged with
red.

But envious night hastened to cover up and deaden the colours of the
sky, and the almost equally gorgeous tints of tree and hedge; and, by
the time Mr Robins reached the Grays' cottage, darkness had settled
down as deep as on that evening four months ago, when he carried the
baby and left it there.

Now, as then, the cottage door was open, and Mrs Gray sat at work with
the candle close to her elbow, every now and then giving a long sniff
or a sigh, that made the tallow candle flicker and tremble. He had
almost forgotten her husband's accident in his absorption in the baby;
but these sniffs recalled it to his mind, and he thought he would give
them a helping hand while Gray was in the hospital.

'She has been kind to my little Zoe,' he thought, 'and I will not
forget it in a hurry. She shall come and see the child whenever she
likes; and Edith will be good to her, for she has been like a mother to
the baby all these months.'

Close by where Mrs Gray sat he could see the foot of the old cradle and
the rocker within reach of the woman's foot; but Zoe must be asleep,
for there was no rocking necessary, and Mrs Gray did not turn from her
work to look at the child, though she stopped from time to time to wipe
her eyes on her apron.

'She is taken up with her husband,' he said to himself; 'it is as well
that I am going to take the child away, as she will have no thought to
give her now.'

And then he went into the cottage, with a tap on the open door to
announce his presence.

'Good evening, Mrs Gray,' he said in a subdued voice, so as not to wake
the baby. But he might have spared himself this precaution, for the
next glance showed him that the cradle was empty.

'Bless you, Mr Robins,' the woman said, 'you give me quite a start,
coming in so quiet like. But, there! I 'm all of a tremble, the
leastest thing do terrify me. You might knock me down with a feather.
First one thing and then another! The master yesterday and the baby
to-day!'

'What!' he said, so sharp and sudden, that it stopped the flow of words
for a moment. 'What do you mean