There was reason
for their whispers. His figure, his head, his face, were all
unusual, and at that moment highly expressive, and coming as he
did out of the darkness, his presence had an uncanny effect upon
their simple minds. They had been laughing before; they ceased to
laugh now. Why?
Meanwhile, Judge Ostrander was looking about him for Mrs. Yardley.
The quiet figure of a squat little body blocked up a certain
doorway.
"I am looking for Mrs. Yardley," he ventured.
The little figure turned; he was conscious of two very piercing
eyes being raised to his, and heard in shaking accents, which yet
were not the accents of weakness, the surprised ejaculation:
"Judge Ostrander!"
Next minute they were together in a small room, with the door shut
behind them. The energy and decision of this mite of a woman were
surprising.
"I was going--to you--in the morning--" she panted in her
excitement. "To apologise," she respectfully finished.
"Then," said he, "it was your child who visited my house to-day?"
She nodded. Her large head was somewhat disproportioned to her
short and stocky body. But her glance and manner were not
unpleasing. There was a moment of silence which she hastened to
break.
"Peggy is very young; it was not her fault. She is so young she
doesn't even know where she went. She was found loitering around
the bridge--a dangerous place for a child, but we've been very
busy all day--and she was found there and taken along by--by the
other person.
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