Minutes passed before any sign of life came back to her, and with a
shuddering sigh she opened her eyes again. At first she was dazed,
and her mind a blank, then the open door, the empty room, the
stillness, brought all back to her in a sudden overwhelming rush of
sorrow.

For a few moments she sat, weak, white, and trembling, trying to
think; then rising stumblingly to her feet she picked up her shawl,
and wrapping it over her head and shoulders, she groped her way out
of the house, down the garden, and out into the darkness of the
night.

Stumbling, tottering, having to pause every few minutes, to rest her
shaking limbs and gasp for breath, she made her way up the lane.
She must find Miss Rose. Miss Rose must know, Miss Rose would help
them! Oh it _must_ come right! She could not lose her child and
Dick. She could not live without them now!

Tears welled up, and poured down her ashy face, as she thought of
those two, and what they might be enduring now.

"Dear Father, protect them!" she prayed. "Dear Jesus, take care of
them!" and all the way she went her pleadings beat at Heaven's gate
for the two poor waifs she so loved. "Dear Jesus, protect them, and
bring them back to me. I love them so, and they are all I have."

Her heart laboured so heavily she could scarcely breathe, her head
throbbed distractingly, her limbs shook so much under her that she
could scarcely drag herself along. Every now and then she fancied
she heard a scream or Huldah's sobs; then again she thought she heard
Dick's bark, and each time she stopped and listened, and gazed into
the darkness, but presently the loneliness and darkness so oppressed
her that she could not bring herself to stop again. All she could do
was to stumble onward until the vicarage was reached, and arrived
there she sank down on the doorstep exhausted. The fright and the
walk, so long for her, had nearly killed her.

Dinah came quickly to the door, in response to the frightened frantic
knock, and as she opened it Martha Perry fell in at her feet, faint
and helpless.

"My--Huldah"--she panted, "he's found her; he's taken her--away--and
Dick too! Help me--to--" then, as they raised her and carried her
into the kitchen, she lost consciousness entirely.

When she opened her eyes again Miss Rose was standing beside her.
"Huldah! where's my Huldah?" she cried, her poor eyes filling with
tears. "What--can we do?"

Miss Rose's face was very white, but her ey