Part 29 (1/2)
”She has come back again. This is she. Don't you see that it is she?” asked the lady called Clara earnestly.
”My poor sister,” said the younger lady compa.s.sionately, ”you are mistaken. This is not your little Mary. Where did you find her?
To whom does she belong?”
Emma had listened to this conversation with interest, feeling that it concerned her. She answered the question herself.
”I belong to Ben,” she said.
”Where is Ben?” asked the younger lady.
”He is at the big stone chimney. He was going up to the top. He left me with her.”
”You mean the monument, don't you, my dear child?”
”Yes, ma'am.”
”Is this true, Clara?”
”Yes,” the elder sister admitted.
The younger lady looked perplexed.
”You did wrong, Clara, to take the little girl from her brother. He will feel very anxious about her.
”She said she would buy me some candy,” said Emma.
”Could I see my child, and not claim her?” said Clara.
”I am not your child. What makes her say I am her child?”
”My dear,” said the younger lady gently, ”my poor sister lost her little girl not long since. She has not been well since. When she saw you to-day she thought you were her little Mary.”
”I want to go back to Ben. What will Ben say?”
”Certainly, you must go back to your brother. Come, my child, we will try to find him.”
Emma went down-stairs with her new friend. Clara did not attempt to hinder her, but seated herself with an air of dependency in an armchair, and buried her face in her hands.
”I am afraid Ben has gone away,” said Emma.
”It is very perplexing,” said the young lady to herself. ”We will go out and try to find your brother. If we cannot, you can tell me where your home is and I will take you there.”
”I don't know exactly where it is,” said Emma; ”I have never been there. I came from New York. I am going to board with Ben's aunt.”
”And you don't know where she lives? You don't know the name of the town.”
Emma shook her head.
”My poor sister has done great mischief,” said the young lady gravely.