parts of the garden, but nowhere was there a morsel of blue pinafore
or red curls to be seen.

"We had better get down," Prudence said, "and search the garden
properly; I'll ask Bridget to come and help us. What I can't
understand is how she got down at all, and, if she _was_ down, why
she didn't come to meet Papa. She always meets him; always, always.
Whoever doesn't meet him Grizzel always does."

Bridget laughed at their fears, but under her laugh Mollie could
detect a tone of anxiety, and when house and garden had been
searched in vain, Bridget and Prudence faced each other in silence.
Then Prue spoke out the fear which Mollie had not understood:

"The blacks have come to town; I saw their wurlies yesterday when we
left the Gardens."

"Away wid ye, Miss Prudence," Bridget scoffed. "An' what for wud the
blacks be touchin' Grizzel? Isn't yur Pa the kindest gintleman in
the whole wurrld to thim, dirrty things they be!"

"Old Sammy was angry because Mamma would not give him a new blanket
last time he came," Prudence answered, her face pale with anxiety
and tears not far away. "He just goes and sells them, that's what he
does, and buys whisky. He followed me all down the road one day when
I was alone, and jabbered away till his wife came and hauled him
off."

There was a troubled silence while Bridget and Prue considered the
next step to take. Mollie felt that this problem was beyond her