oks so quiet. But this
garden is like heaven, I think.'

The lady smiled. 'I will give you any flower you like to take away, so
choose.'

Betty was not long in making her choice. There were some beautiful white
lilies close by--lilies that might have come from the same plant as that
one lying between the little girl's hands in church.

'I should like one of those, please,' she said, with sparkling eyes.

She was given, not one, but several, and then was dismissed.

'And I shall never see you again,' Betty said, as she put up her mouth
for a kiss. She did not say it regretfully, only as if stating a fact.

The lady stooped and kissed her. 'Not unless I send for you,' she said.
'Can you find your way back?'

Betty nodded brightly, and ran off. The lady stood watching her little
figure for some minutes, then she gave a deep sigh, and her face relapsed
into its usual stern and immovable expression as she entered her garden
and locked the gate behind her.

Betty ran on as fast as she could to join the others. When she reached
the oak tree, Douglas and Molly were already there, seated on the ground,
busily employed in dividing the provisions for the feast. They exclaimed
at the sight of her flowers.

'I've had a lovely adventure,' said Betty. 'Where are Bobby and Billy?'

'We don't know,' said Molly, rising to her feet and looking anxious.
'I'm sure they ought to be here by this time.'

'Perhaps they're lost,' Douglas suggested cheerfully; 'I was hoping some
of us would get lost, and then we should have the fun of finding them.
We'll go in a few minutes and look for them. Would you like to hear
where we have been, Betty?'

'Yes.'

'Well, it is rather a stupid wood, for we came to nothing particular;
only we've found a little house. It has three sides and a roof--tumbling
in. We're going to mend it up, and live there, next time we come out
here. At least, I mean to live in it. I shall be a disguised prince
hiding for my life, and you will all have to search the wood to get food
for me. Molly and I have made it all up. She is to be my daughter, who
steals out at night time to visit me; you can be a servant, who mends the
roof, and makes me comfortable; and the twins can be soldiers scouring
the wood for me.'

Neither Betty nor Molly showed much interest in this plan; they were both
thinking of the twins, and Douglas, having said his say, was quite ready
to start off on the quest.

Together the