ng again, and my head is in a whirl, and the noises are coming
back into my ears. Oh! how fearfully I hate Flower! How could she, how
could she have taken our darling little baby away? And yet--and yet I
think I'd forgive Flower; I think I'd try to love her; I think I'd even
tell her that I was the one who had done most wrong; I think I'd even go
on my knees and beg Flower's pardon, if only I could hold baby to my
heart again!"

By this time Polly was crying bitterly. These tears did the poor child
good, relieving the pressure on her brain, and enabling her to think
calmly and coherently. While this tempest of grief, however, effected
these good results, it certainly did not improve her powers of
observation; the fast-flowing tears blinded her eyes, and she stumbled
along, completely forgetting the dangerous and uneven character of the
ground over which she walked.

It was now growing dusk, and the dim light also added to poor Polly's
dangers. Peg-Top Moor had many tracks leading in all directions. Polly
knew several of these, and where they led, but she had now left all the
beaten paths, and the consequence was that she presently found herself
uttering a sharp and frightened cry, and discovered that she had fallen
down a fairly steep descent. She was slightly stunned by her fall, and
for a moment or two did not attempt to move. Then a dull pain in her
ankle caused her to put her hand to it, and to struggle giddily to a
sitting position.

"I'll be able to stand in a minute," she said to herself; and she
pressed her hand to her forehead, and struggled bravely against the
surging, waving sounds which had returned to her head.

"I can't sit here!" she murmured; and she tried to get to her feet.

In vain!--a sharp agony brought her, trembling and almost fainting,
once more to a sitting posture. What was she to do?--how was she now to
find Flower and the baby? She was alone on the moor, unable to stir.
Perhaps her ankle was broken; certainly, it was sprained very badly.

CHAPTER VII.

MAGGIE TO THE RESCUE.

When the Maybrights returned home from their disastrous picnic at
Troublous Times Castle, Maggie and George brought up the rear. In
consequence of their being some little way behind the others, Maggie did
not at once know of the fact of Flower's disappearance with the baby.
She was naturally a slow girl; ideas came to her at rare intervals; she
even received startling and terrible news with a certain outw