They
had, however, scoured the country far and wide, but without success.
After this the afternoon wore drearily on, and towards evening,
there still being no signs of Flossie, our anxiety grew very
keen. As for the poor mother, she was quite prostrated by her
fears, and no wonder, but the father kept his head wonderfully
well. Everything that could be done was done: people were sent
out in all directions, shots were fired, and a continuous outlook
kept from the great tree, but without avail.
And then it grew dark, and still no sign of fair-haired little
Flossie.
At eight o'clock we had supper. It was but a sorrowful meal,
and Mrs Mackenzie did not appear at it. We three also were very
silent, for in addition to our natural anxiety as to the fate
of the child, we were weighed down by the sense that we had brought
this trouble on the head of our kind host. When supper was nearly
at an end I made an excuse to leave the table. I wanted to get
outside and think the situation over. I went on to the veranda
and, having lit my pipe, sat down on a seat about a dozen feet
from the right-hand end of the structure, which was, as the reader
may remember, exactly opposite one of the narrow doors of the
protecting wall that enclosed the house and flower garden.
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