uncle s daughter � that is what has changed her i wish she had never known ay so do i agreed but she s got the f notions all about that old stone knight in the garden � an what wi the things he s left carved all over the wall of the room where she read them queer old books she s fair with ideas ti at don t belong to the ways o the world at innocent all i can t think what ll become o the child won t there be any means of out where she s gone i m afraid not answered robin sadly we must trust to her remembrance of us and her thoughts of the old home where she was loved and cared for his voice shook it will be a without her we shall miss her every minute every hour of the day i cannot fancy what the garden will look like without her little white figure flitting over the grass and her sweet fair face smiling among the roses hang it all if it were not for the last wishes of my uncle i d throw the whole up and go abroad don t do that robin � and laid her rough work worn hand on his arm � don t do it it s turning your back on duty to give up the work to you by a dead man you know it is an the may come back any day i shouldn t wonder if she got frightened at being alone and ran home again to morrow think of it mist robin suppose she came an you weren t here why you d never forgive yourself i can t think she s gone far or that she ll stay away long her heart s in farm all the while � i d swear to that why only yesterday when a lady came to see if she couldn t buy something out q the house you should just a seen her toss her pretty little head when e told me how she d said it wasn t to be sold lady what lady and robin looked as he felt bewildered by s vague statement did come here to see the house not exactly � i don t know what it was all about replied but quite a grand lady called an gave me her card i saw the name on it� � and she asked to see miss on business i ask if it was anything i her fancy and his fact could and she said no so i called the child in from the garden and she and the lady had quite a long talk together in the best parlour then when the lady went away innocent told me that she had wished to buy something from farm � but that it was not to be sold robin listened attentively curious he ed � very curious what was the lady s name lady repeated slowly he took out a note book and pencil and wrote it down you don t think she came to engage innocent for some service he asked or that innocent herself had perhaps written to an agency asking for a place and that this lady had come to see her in consequence such an idea had never occurred to s mind but now it was suggested to h it seemed more than likely it might be so she ed slowly but i can t bear to think the child was a part an me things that weren t true just to get away from us no i robin i i don t believe that lady had an to do with her going i keep the name by me he said and i shall find out where the lady lives who she is and all about her for if i don t hear from innocent if she doesn t write to us i ll search the whole world and never rest tiu i find her i looked at him tears springing again to her eyes aye you ve lost the love o your hearty my lad i i know that well enough die said an it s mi ty hard on you i but you must be a man an turn to work as though had happened there s the farm tes there s the farm he repeated innocent but what do i care for the without her you will stay with me stay with you surely i will robin where should an old woman like me go to at this time o day i and took his hand and clasped it don t you fear my place is in farm till the lord makes an end of me and if the child comes back at any hour of the day or night she ll find old ready to welcome � ready an glad an thankful to see her pretty face here unable to control her sobs she turned away and made a hasty retreat into the kitchen he did not follow her but acting on e sudden impulse of his mind he entered the house and went up to innocent s deserted room he opened t e door hesitatingly � the little study in its severe simplicity and neatness looked desolate � like an empty shrine from which the worshipped figure had been taken he trod softly across the floor buying his footsteps as though some one slept whom he fear to wake and his eyes wandered from one familiar object to another till they rested on the shelves where the old bound books which innocent had loved and studied so much were ranged in orderly rows taking one or two of them out he glanced at their � he knew that most of them were rare and curious though his oxford training had not impressed him as great a love of things literary as 