Genefer made a sound between a snort and a laugh.

"Lord love you, miss, them boys have been up and out this two hours!

They were off before ever I was down, and I"m no lie-a-bed. They had got the door opened and were away to the pine wood. Old Sam he saw them scuttling up the path like a pair of rabbits. There"ll be no holding that pair, I can see. Boys will be boys, as I always did say."

Esther"s face was full of anxiety and trouble.

"O Genefer! and they don"t know their way about a bit! And all the holes, and crags, and rocks on the other side! Perhaps some harm will come to them, and I promised to take care of them! Oh, please, let me go, and I"ll run after them and see if I can"t fetch them home! They said something about the sea last night. Suppose they fall into one of the pools and get drowned!"

But Genefer only gave another snort.

"You take my word for it. Miss Esther, them boys isn"t born to be drowned. Now don"t you worrit so, child. They"ll be all right. That sort never comes to any harm. You might as well go looking for a needle in a haystack, as for a boy out on the spree, as they call it. You go down and get your breakfast, and take up your mama"s. We"ll have them down again safe and sound, and as hungry as hunters, before you"re done. It"s not a bit of good your worriting after them. They can take good care of themselves, as one can see with half an eye."

Esther always submitted to Genefer"s judgment, but it was with an anxious heart that she went down-stairs, and gazed up at the pine-clad hillside, hoping to see some signs of the returning boys. But there was nothing visible, and she went into the dining-room with a grave face, feeling as though she had somehow been unfaithful to her charge.

Breakfast at the Hermitage was at nine o"clock, and Esther always took up the tray to her mother"s room. Mrs. St. Aiden seldom came down-stairs before noon, though she talked of getting up earlier now that the summer was coming. But Esther was fond of waiting on her, and she liked being waited upon. Afterwards Esther would eat her solitary breakfast, with a book propped up in front of her on the table; and she never thought of being lonely, especially as s.m.u.t always sat on a chair beside her, and had his saucer of milk replenished each time she poured out her own tea afresh.

But to-day Esther did not get her book; she was much too anxious, and kept rising and walking over to the window every few minutes, rather to the discomfort of the placid cat, who could not think what had come to his little mistress that day.

Esther was thankful that her mother had not seemed much alarmed by the news that the boys had gone out for a walk before breakfast.

"Boys like that sort of thing, I suppose," she said. "Their father said they were active and independent, and that we must not make ourselves anxious over them needlessly." Then she had taken up her letters and begun to read them; and Esther stole away, wishing she could be as calm and tranquil over the disappearance of the boys as other people were.

"I"m sure they have gone up to the Crag," she kept saying to herself, "and they may have got into some awful place, and all sorts of things may be happening!"

Esther could not have explained to Genefer or anybody grown up her horror and misgiving respecting the vicinity of the Crag; but it was a very real terror to her, and it had become greater since she had heard Bertie"s account of the electric eye, and other awful things which were likely to be going on there now. Mr. Trelawny had an a.s.sistant now, and was going to do still stranger things. Suppose he wanted blood, or brains, or something human for his experiments! She shivered at the bare thought.

Suddenly she jumped up with a stifled cry. Through the open window she heard the sound of steps and voices; but before she had time to reach it again, the sunlight was darkened by the approach of a tall figure, and Esther saw that the missing boys were being led home by Mr. Earle, who had his hand upon the collar of each, as though he had found them a slippery pair of customers, and was resolved that they should not escape him.

"Here are your boys, Miss Esther," he remarked, walking in and depositing each of them upon the chair set ready at table for him. "I hope you have not been anxious about this pair of young rascals; and will you tell your mother, with my compliments, that I am ready to begin regular study with you all any day she may like to send word! You need not wait till next week unless you like."

There was rather a grim smile upon Mr. Earle"s face, and the round spectacles glinted in the sunshine till Esther thought they must certainly be "electric eyes"--though what electric eyes were she had not the faintest notion, which, however, did not tend to allay her uneasiness.

"Thank you, sir," she said rather faintly; "I will tell mother." Then she plucked up her courage to add, "May I give you a cup of coffee after your walk?"

"Thank you; but I have breakfasted already," answered Mr. Earle with a smile, which made Esther just a little less afraid of him. "We keep early hours up at the Crag; and a good thing too for these young sinners!" and he threw a scathing look at the boys, who were sitting marvelously quiet in their places, looking exceedingly demure, not to say sheepish, though they stole glances across the table at each other, showing that the spirit of mischief within them was only temporarily in abeyance.

Mr. Earle nodded to them all and walked off through the window, and Esther looked curiously at her two charges as she poured out the coffee.

"Where did you go?" she asked.

"Why, up to Old Bobby"s of course!" answered Pickle, his mouth full of bread and b.u.t.ter. "Why can"t we live up there, instead of in this little band-box? It"s no end of a jolly place. Do you go often?"

"Not very," answered Esther with a little shiver.

"That"s what he said," remarked Puck indistinctly, "but you"ll have to come oftener now."

"Why?"

"Oh, because he said we might come as often as you brought us. I want to go every day."

"I don"t think Mr. Trelawny would like that."

"Oh, he wouldn"t mind. He said he didn"t mind how many visits you paid him. He said little girls were worth twice as much as boys, but that"s all tommy rot."

Esther"s eyes opened rather wider.

"I don"t know what tommy rot is," she said.

Puck burst out laughing.

"She doesn"t know much, does she, Pickle?" he cried. "I wonder why Old Bobby likes girls better than boys?"

"Perhaps they"re nicer to eat," suggested Pickle; and the two boys went off into fits of laughter, whilst Esther shook silently, wondering if that could have anything to do with it.

To judge by their appet.i.tes, the boys were none the worse for their morning"s walk--they put away the food in a fashion that astonished Esther; but as she sat watching them at their meal, she noticed some very queer marks upon their clothes, which she did not think had been there last night--stains, and little holes, looking rather like burns; and presently she asked,--

"What have you been doing to yourselves?" and pointed to the marks.

Puck began to giggle, and Pickle answered boldly,--

"Oh, I suppose that must have been some of the stuff that smelt so nasty in the tanks."

"What tanks?"

"Don"t you know? Haven"t you ever been down there? In that jolly old cave under Old Bobby"s house."

Esther felt a cold thrill creeping through her.

"I don"t know what you mean," she said faintly.

"Well, you must be a precious ninny!" laughed Pickle, with a good-humored contempt; "fancy living here all these years, and not knowing that!"

"We haven"t been here so very long," said Esther.

"Well, you"ve been here longer than we have anyhow. And we"ve found it out already."

She was shivering a little, yet was consumed by curiosity.

"Tell me about it," she said.

Pickle was quite ready to do that. He had appeased his first hunger, and he loved to hear himself talk, especially when he had an appreciative audience; and Esther"s eager and half-frightened face bespoke the keenness of her interest.

"Well, you see, we woke up early, and didn"t see any fun in lying in bed; so we got up and dressed and went out, and there was the path up through the wood, and we knew Old Bobby"s house was somewhere up there.

So it seemed a good plan just to go and look him up, you know."

"We often go out early at home," added Puck, "and look people up.

Sometimes we wake them up throwing things into their windows, or at them, if they"re shut. Sometimes they throw water at us, and that"s awful fun. One old fellow did that, and we went and got the garden-hose, and his window was wide open, and we just soused his room with water.

You should have seen him rushing to shut it up! But there isn"t always a hose and pump handy," and he looked pathetic for a moment.