The
room was empty; and Susan at once concluded that Mrs. Legrange had
taken the child to her own chamber while she dressed for dinner, as
'Toinette often begged to be present at this ceremony, and was often
indulged.
"I'll just ready up the nursery a bit before I fetch her," said
Susan, looking round the littered room; and so it was half an
hour before she knocked at Mrs. Legrange's chamber-door with,
"I came for Miss 'Toinette, ma'am."
"Come in, Susan. Miss 'Toinette, did you say? She is down in the
drawing-room by herself, and you had better put her to bed at once.
She must be very tired."
Alas! the tender mother little guessed how tired!
Without reply, Susan closed the door, and ran down stairs; an uneasy
feeling creeping over her, although she would not yet confess it
even to herself.
The drawing-room was still empty; but James had lighted the gas and
stirred the fire, so that every corner was as light as day. In every
window-recess, under every couch and sofa, behind every large chair,
even in the closet of the ‚tag?re, Susan searched for her little
charge, hoping, praying to find her asleep, or roguishly hiding, as
she had known her to do before. But all in vain: no merry face, no
sunny curls, no laughing eyes, peeped out from recess or corner or
hiding place; and Susan's ruddy face grew pale even to the lips.
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