CHAPTER V


The next day was the first of the long vacation, and with it came an
addition to the Leighton household. Mammy was given a temporary helper,
a shrewd little maid, with a head thirty years old on shoulders of
twelve. Lalia was her name. The Reverend Orme had chosen her from among
his charity pupils. He himself gave her his instructions--never to leave
Shenton except to run and report the moment he escaped from her charge.

Lalia was accepted without suspicion by the children not as a nurse, but
as a playmate. Weeks passed. The four played together with a greater
harmony than the three had ever attained. Day after day the Reverend
Orme sat waiting in his study and brooding. The dreaded call never came.
He began to distrust his messenger.

Then one stifling afternoon as he sat dozing in his chair a sharp rap on
the study door awakened him with a start.

"Master! Master!" called Lalia's voice.

"Yes, yes," cried Leighton; "come in."

As he rose from his chair Lalia entered. She was breathless with
running.

"Master," she said, "Shenton did quarrel with us. He has gone to
Manoel--to his house."

"Manoel!" cried Leighton, "Manoel!" and strode hatless out into the