"Here's the paper," added Carey; "telegraph to Clara at once. Ring
the bell, Jock; I'll send to the office."

Ail questions were suspended while Mr. Acton wrote the telegram, and
then it appeared that the boat had been picked up empty, with
Armine's pocket-handkerchief full of shells in it, and the boys had
been given up for lost, it having been concluded that, if they had
been seen, the boat also would have been taken in tow, and not cast
loose to tell the tale. The two elder boys were almost broken-
hearted, and would have been wild to come back to their mother, had
it not been impossible to leave poor little Barbara, who clung fast
to them, as the only shreds left to her of home and protection. They
would at least be comforted in the space of a quarter of an hour!

Carey was completely herself and full of vigour while Mr. Acton was
there, consoling him when he lamented not having taken better care,
and refusing when he tried to persuade her to accompany him back to
Kyve. Neither would Janet return with him, feeling it impossible to
relax such watch as she could keep over the Magnum Bonum papers, even
though she much longed for her brothers.

"I should insist on her going," said Aunt Ellen, "after all she has
gone through."

"I don't think I can," said Carey. "You would not send away your
Jessie?"

Ellen did not quite say that her pretty, sweet, caressing Jessie was
different, but she thought it all the same.