thing he had set himself to do. Dr. Hurst had
had an hour's start of him at least, and even the short cut across the
fields would not make up for that. With a quick-trotting cob like his, he
would have reached his destination easily by this time and discovered the
trick that had been played upon him, and no effort on Kit's part would
bring him back a moment sooner than he would be coming of his own accord.
Besides, if it was any good going after him, Finny would have sent her man
on horseback long before this, and he would have outdistanced Kit in any
case.

'If only our bicycles had been there instead of at Crofts, I might have
caught him up then,' cried the boy, as the hopelessness of the position
dawned upon him.

Nothing answered him, and the road looked more dreary than ever. A
good deal of rain had fallen that week, and the drip drip of the trees
overhead added a kind of melancholy to everything. Christopher's quick
imagination called up all the details of the scene he had left behind him:
the unwonted anger of his cousin, the anxiety of Finny and Auntie Anna
when he had rushed into the drawing-room with her message, and then
their eagerness to ring the bell and send some one for the Doctor,
whom he knew to be far away on a wild-goose chase of his own making. He
pictured with vividness too the consternation that would be caused in
the house when Finny's messenger returned from his fruitless errand,
and the look that would come on Auntie Anna's face when Peter came in
from his tramp with the other boys and explained the trick that had been
played on the Doctor. No wonder he had hurried straight out of the house
and struck blindly across the fields, without stopping to reflect whether
it would be any good or not! Even now, though he knew how little he
could do, he felt unable to remain inactive; and turning his face in
the direction of Crofts, he once more broke into a run and hurried
wildly along the muddy, desolate road.

He had been running about thirty-five minutes, only falling into a walk
now and then to recover his breath, when the sound of wheels, coming
from behind made him draw to the side of the road. He still trudged on,
however, with his head down and his hands clenched, and he did not even
trouble to look round when the vehicle caught him up and passed him. The
light from the lamp flashed across his face as it rolled swiftly by; and
immediately afterwards, the trap pulled up just ahead of him.

'Hu