The strange house or, A moment's mistake
He had glanced up eagerly at the beginning of her answer, but as her
voice took a more formal tone at the end, his eyes went back to the
contemplation of the busy traffic.
"I should be sorry to live in London," he said quietly.
"So should I, unless—"
"Unless?" he asked, rather eagerly.
"Unless those I loved had to live here; of course that makes such a
difference."
"Yes," he said.
They came now to the Museum, and here the children turned to them,
asking what they were to see first, and which way was it to go?
They were all so inexperienced that Otto told them they had better walk
straight on for a little while, keeping their eyes open meanwhile.
"Above all things, do not let us get separated," said Gertrude. "Keep
close to us, Hugh and Daisy. Will Randall like to be with you or with
me?"
"We will take him," said Daisy.
"Yes, I'll go with them," said Randall.
They soon came to the large Hall, and here Otto proposed to sit down,
while the children walked about examining the various objects of
interest.
He found a seat for Gertrude, and when some one moved away, he sat down
beside her.
"May I ask now?" she said. "Oh, Otto, do tell me!"
"They have been, Gertrude! Dr. Blank has examined little Lester
thoroughly."
"And he says—"
"That time, and care, and love 'may' restore him."
"Oh, Otto! How thankful I am."
"He says that one-room-business of Mrs. Swift's would soon have
finished the story. But now, he hopes with plenty of sunshine, and sea
air, and patience—Gertrude, he says he will need infinite patience."
"Rose can give that."
"Yes, no one better, unless it were you."
"I? I should not be half as patient as Rose! Besides, she is his
mother."
"Oh, yes; that makes a great difference, of course."
"Are they going home?"
"Not for a few days."
Gertrude sighed with relief. Then she might see Rose once more perhaps.
"You are not happy here, Gertrude, are you?" asked Otto, suddenly
turning and looking her in the face.
"I was, oh, as happy as I could be away from you all, till this about
Lester happened. That has unsettled me, I think. Why do you ask, Otto?
I do not look unhappy, do I?"
"You look different," he said consideringly. "Yes, as I thought, not so
happy."
"I shall feel all right again directly all this is settled, Otto. You
can hardly believe all I have gone through."
He was silent, his eyes following the three children as they slowly
walked round the large room, coming nearer and nearer.
"It is hard sometimes to square one's wishes with one's possibilities,"
he said at length.
"Very," she answered; "that is where discipline comes in, Otto. Like my
text this morning, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?'"
"Was that your text, dear Gertrude? What did you answer?"
"I asked that whatever He pointed out for me to do, I might do
willingly."
"Ah! That speaks to me."
"Does it not speak to all of us?"
The children had reached them now.
"May we go into the next room?" asked Randall.
"We will come too," said Gertrude, rising.
"There's no need," said Randall, "but you can do as you like, Miss
Ashlyn. I wish Mr. Leigh would come and explain this old furniture to
us."
"So I will," said Otto readily. "Gertrude, sit still and rest till I
come back."
He went off with them. And Gertrude sat down again and thought over the
conversation which had just passed, wondering at Otto's manner, which
had constraint in it which she had not remembered at home.
Then once more, she thought of her text as settling all wonderings, and
giving quiet and peace in the midst of every circumstance.
"Lord, what wilt 'Thou' have me to do?" And in that will and that Lord,
she took refuge and found her rest.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
HIDING.
THE time seemed to her rather long before she saw Otto's thin face
coming back through the doorway.
He was closely followed by Daisy and Hugh, and came up to her at once,
surprise in his tone as he inquired—
"Where is Randall? Is he not with you?"
"With me?" echoed Gertrude, starting up. "No, he has not been with me
at all. He went off with you, Otto."
"He was with me, but he asked if he might find you. And I brought him
to the doorway and pointed you out, and left him. How very strange!"
"I did not see either of you," said Gertrude, looking alarmed.
"No—you were deeply meditating, and did not look up. Do not worry
yourself, he'll be all right. Boys don't get run off with every—" He
stopped short. He had touched too near home to their recent sorrow
about Lester, to bear it yet.
"At any rate," he added hastily, "he will be all safe. We must go and
look for him."
They quickly arranged a meeting-place, and Gertrude took Daisy with
her, while Hugh volunteered to go with Mr. Leigh.
But they wandered through the rooms, one after another, searching in
every part fruitlessly, till they were utterly weary and footsore.
Again and again they met, only to acknowledge that their search had
been in vain.
At length it grew dusk, and the Museum began to thin. People were
leaving for their homes before the fresh accession would come in with
the lights.
Gertrude was worn out. She felt as if her feet would not carry her
another step.
"Did you ever know of his doing such a thing before?" she asked Daisy,
as she sank on to a seat for an instant.
"No—never," said poor Daisy, who could hardly keep back her tears. "He
said this morning, 'I'm going to have a lark to-day, Daisy,' but I
thought he meant coming to the Museum."
"He meant to play us a trick," said Hugh decidedly; "at least I think
so—he did say—don't you remember, Daisy?—that he would do something
that really would tease Miss Ashlyn."
Gertrude felt herself get hot from head to foot.
"How can we go home and tell your mother?" she said piteously. "It is
too dreadful. Otto, you have asked all the men at the doors to keep any
little boy—"
"Certainly I have. Not one has noticed such a child pass."
"It makes it worse to think he could have been so cruel as to play
such a trick," said Gertrude. "We must stay here, Otto, till the place
shuts, and you must go home and tell Mrs. Shaddock. It is too dreadful—"
"Come, do not give up," said Otto cheerily, though he little liked the
errand on which he was sent. "If Randall has done it for a trick, he
will probably turn up all right. Anyway fretting will not mend it. He
has had his wish and spoilt our day!"
He left them regretfully, and made his way with all speed to Hampstead.
It was, however, nearly an hour before he reached the Shaddocks'
comfortable home.
To picture the dismay which spread through the house at his story would
be impossible. Mrs. Shaddock gave up her darling for lost. And Mr.
Shaddock, between indignation and real apprehension, hardly knew what
he was doing.
He set off at once with Otto, feeling as if trains were a slow mode of
travelling, when the heart had reached the end of the journey before
the whistle had more than sounded!
Hurriedly they retraced their steps through the warm and crowded rooms,
till they reached the one where Otto had left Gertrude.
There, in front of the anxious father's eyes, sat the group he had come
to seek, Randall in the middle of them looking flushed and sullen, the
rest white and weary.
"You have found him?" asked Mr. Shaddock.
"Where? How?"
Gertrude looked up, her eyes tearful, her lips trembling.
"We cannot well explain it here," she said in a low voice. "He came to
us of his own accord. I believe he is beginning to be sorry."
"Beginning to be sorry?" echoed Mr. Shaddock.
"What can you mean?"
He took Randall's hand in his, and turned towards the door.
"How is this, my boy?"
"They left me alone—I got lost," said Randall, whimpering.
Hugh had joined his father on the other side, and heard the last words.
"Father!" he began urgently.
"Hush—I will hear all about it at home."
Mr. Shaddock hurried them into the train, Gertrude and Otto following.
"He thinks we carelessly let him get lost," said Gertrude. "What shall
we do?"
"Stick to the truth," said Otto. "How did you find him, Gertrude, after
all?"
"He was hiding somewhere," said Gertrude in a low voice. "Just before
the place was lighted up, not long after you had gone, he sauntered up
with his hands in his pockets and asked how we were getting on."
"What did you do?" asked Otto, almost too astonished to speak.
"I asked him where he had been, and told him what a fright he had given
us all, and was just bidding him to sit down by me, when he gave a
strange little glance at Hugh—gone in a moment—and then sat down by me,
pushing his hand away from mine. Then I guessed that it was a trick."
"Shameful!" said Otto indignantly.
"It breaks my heart that he could—" said poor Gertrude.
CHAPTER XL.
RANDALL'S MISCHIEF.
THE trains were crowded, so that in the bustle of getting a seat at
all, Otto found himself almost pushed by the guard into a carriage
where were Gertrude, Hugh, and Daisy, while Mr. Shaddock and Randall
found room in a compartment farther down the train.
"It was not my fault, one bit," Randall began, when they were off.
"They ought not to have left me."
Though Mr. Shaddock had not intended to discuss the subject with his
little son, he was taken off his guard by the last words, and asked—
"Who?"
"Mr. Leigh and Miss Ashlyn."
"Left you, how?"
"Mr. Leigh said I could easily find her, and I went where he said, and
she was not there. Then I got lost."
"Why did you not speak to a policeman? You have always been told to do
that. You would have saved us all this fright if you had."
"I did not think of that," said Randall.
Mr. Shaddock was looking out of the window in anxious thought.
"Hugh always tries to get me into trouble—" began Randall, "and so does
Miss Ashlyn."
"Nonsense!" said his father.
"I wish I hadn't gone with them," pouted Randall. "I haven't had any
tea, and I am as tired as anything, hunting everywhere for them."
"Well, you had better keep quiet now," said his father. "I do not
understand it. But I dare say we shall hear it explained when they tell
me all about it. How you can have escaped meeting all these hours I
cannot conceive."
Randall did not reply to that.
And by and by the journey was over, and they got out of the train and
walked up the hill under the starry sky.
"When do you leave London?" asked Gertrude of Otto. She felt as if she
knew nothing of his plans; for they had been separated at different
ends of the railway carriage, and the search for Randall had taken up
all the rest of the day.
"That is not decided. I had much to tell you, but there is hardly time
to even begin it! Gertrude, Dr. Blank asked me a number of questions
about myself and my future."
Gertrude felt startled. Again came that strange tone of constraint into
Otto's voice.
"He was interested in you?" she asked falteringly. She hardly knew what
to say, or how to question him, unless he wished to tell her. Did he
wish to tell her? That was what she asked herself.
"I think he was, though why I cannot imagine. I told him of my long
struggle with my medical studies, and what exams I had passed, and so
forth, and then he told me a sea voyage would do me a world of good!"
"A sea voyage!" echoed Gertrude.
"Miss Ashlyn," said Hugh, turning back from where he was walking with
his father, "I wish you would tell me about those constellations again."
"Never mind now," said Mr. Shaddock, "let Miss Ashlyn have a moment's
peace. The constellations will keep, that's one good thing."
Hugh did not press the matter further, but contented himself with