"I thought that was what would happen, Lolla, but I wasn't quite sure."

"Did you hear me shouting when Peter came along? I hoped you would
understand and bide yourself some way, so that he wouldn't find you.
What I was most afraid of was that you would be in the woods with your
friend, and that you wouldn't hear us."

"Yes, I heard you, and I knew what you were doing, Lolla; that you meant
to warn me that Peter had come sooner than you thought he would. I was
grateful, too, but I was afraid just to hide myself and let him go by,
because the woods were so thick on each side of the trail that I was
afraid he would see where I had broken through and catch me."

Lolla nodded her head.

"You are wise. You would be a good gypsy, Bessie. You would soon learn
all the things we know ourselves. Peter has very quick eyes, and he is
very suspicious, too. He saw you at the camp, you know, and he would
have guessed right away, if he had seen you there, that you were looking
for Dolly."

"That was just what I was afraid of, Lolla. He would have tied me up
with her if he had found me, wouldn't he?"

"Yes. He's a bad man, that Peter. I think if John and he were not so
friendly John would not have done this. He is kind, and brave, and he
always tried to stop anyone who wanted to steal children. He would steal
a horse, or a deer, but never a child; that was cowardly, he said."

"He didn't hurt you, did he, Lolla?"