About ten minutes later, the bell rang for tea, and, as Virginia did not come down,
Mrs. Otis sent up one of the footmen to tell her. After a little time he returned and
said that he could not find Miss Virginia anywhere. As she was in the habit of going
out to the garden every evening to get flowers for the dinner-table, Mrs. Otis was
not at all alarmed at first, but when six o'clock struck, and Virginia did not appear,
she became really agitated, and sent the boys out to look for her, while she herself
and Mr. Otis searched every room in the house. At half-past six the boys came
back and said that they could find no trace of their sister anywhere. They were all
now in the greatest state of exitement, and did not know what to do, when Mr. Otis
suddenly remembered that, some few days before, he had given a band of gipsies
permission to camp in the park. He accordingly at once set off for Blackfell Hollow,
where he knew they were, accompanied by his eldest son and two of the farm-
servants. The little Duke of Cheshire, who was perfectly frantic with anxiety,
begged hard to be allowed to go too, but Mr. Otis would not allow him, as he was
afraid there might be a scuffle. On arriving at the spot, however, he found that the
gipsies had gone, and it was evident that their departure had been rather sudden,
as the fire was still burning, and some plates were lying on the grass. Having sent
off Washington and the two men to scour the district, he ran home, and
despatched telegrams to all the police inspectors in the country, telling them to look
out for a little girl who had been kidnapped by tramps or gipsies. He then ordered
his horse to be brought round, and, after insisting on his wife and the three boys
sitting down to dinner, rode off down the Ascot road with a groom. He had hardly,
however, gone a couple of miles, when he heard somebody galloping after him,
and, looking round, saw the little Duke coming up on his pony, with his face very
flushed and no hat. "I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Otis," gasped out the boy, "but I can't eat
any dinner as long as Virginia is lost. Please, don't be angry with me; if you had let
us be engaged last year, there would never have been all this trouble. You won't
send me back, will you? I can't go! I won't go!"
The Minister could not help smiling at the handsome young scapegrace, and was a
good deal touched at his devotion to Virginia, so leaning down from his horse, he
patted him kindly on the shoulders, and said, "Well, Cecil, if you won't go back I
suppose you must come with me, but I must get you a hat at Ascot."
"Oh, bother my hat! I want Virginia!" cried the little Duke, laughing, and they
galloped on to the railway station. There Mr. Otis inquired of the station-master if
any one answering to the description of Virginia had been seen on the platform, but
could get no news of her. The station-master, however, wired up and down the
line, and assured him that a strict watch would be kept for her, and, after having
bought a hat for the little Duke from a linen-draper, who was just putting up his
shutters, Mr. Otis rode off to Bexley, a village about four miles away, which he was
