There was a little difficulty about climbing a ladder out of the yard.

Ann was awkward, and the red cashmere dress being rather long she continually tripped over it. But when they had once safely reached the loft they had a grand game of play among the great heaps of hay and straw, scattering them untidily all over the neatly-swept floor in a way that was certain to drive Barton almost wild whenever he discovered it.

The distant ringing of a large bell at last broke in upon the children's shouts.

"That is to call us," explained Madge. "They always ring it when we are out in the fields and forget tea. But it can't be tea now because we have had it. I expect Mrs. Winter wants to go home."

"Oh, whatever will Grandmama say when she sees my dress!" wailed Ann as they emerged from the gloom of the loft into full daylight. "It was new to go to London," she continued sadly; "and Mother said it would do to wear on Sundays all through the year."

The red cashmere had indeed suffered sadly. It bore greasy traces of having been in contact with the pig-sty door all down its front, and was also torn in more than one place. Mrs. Winter was very much distressed by her grandchild's appearance when they returned to the house, and scolded her somewhat severely for having behaved in a rough and unmannerly fashion when out on a visit. Poor Ann burst into tears, and was only partially comforted when Miss Thompson took her upstairs and kindly st.i.tched together the worst of the rents so that she might not look absolutely ragged on her way home.

When the little pony cart drove away from the door Madge returned rather thoughtfully to the schoolroom with the tortoise-sh.e.l.l cat in her arms.

"It seems a curious thing," she said, "that people are not always happy when you mean them to be. I thought Ann would like the same things as we do, and after all she has gone away almost crying, and hasn't enjoyed herself a bit."

"Another time," answered Miss Thompson, "when you really wish to give your guests pleasure, you had better consult their tastes instead of your own. If you had only considered for a moment, it was not probable that a town child would be as familiar with animals as you are; and it was also easy to see that Ann had been dressed in her best clothes for the afternoon and was afraid of hurting them."

"Perhaps so," said Madge. "But I always think it's rather stupid of people who don't like the same things as we do, don't you?"

CHAPTER XXIII.

AN END OF HIDING.

At the earliest opportunity on the following day Madge, Betty, and John returned to the loft to finish their interrupted game. They were three cavaliers hiding from Cromwell's soldiers, and really a better place of concealment could not have been found than the loft, where by simply closing a door they were in almost complete darkness. Madge, as captain, neglected no opportunity of ensuring the safety of her followers. She made them crouch down behind the straw, and lie so still that even the most sharp-sighted Roundheads would scarcely have suspected their existence.

"I will steal out to keep watch," she whispered, creeping on her hands and knees towards the closed door. "Posted by the crack of the hinges I can survey the whole country, and watch the march of the rebel troops without being seen. Then when-- Oh!"

The door suddenly flew open in her face, almost knocking her over. A head appeared at the top of the ladder. It was Lewis Brand's!

If the children had really been discovered by Cromwell's soldiers they could hardly have been more frightened. Lewis had time to step off the ladder and come into the loft before they recovered themselves sufficiently to speak.

"You don't seem overjoyed to see a friend?" he remarked sneeringly.

"Oh, do go away!" cried Betty nervously. "Somebody will see you! I know they will!"

"It's very kind of you to be so anxious on my account, but I think I can take care of myself," said Lewis with a disagreeable laugh. "You thought you had all got away from me, did you? Pretty sort of friends, I call you! All going off one day without saying a word, and never coming back."

"After all, we are not obliged to play with you!" exclaimed Madge with some spirit.

"Aren't you indeed? We shall soon see!" replied Lewis. "I'm not at all sure that you can get away from me! I sat on the wall and watched you come down here after dinner, then I seized my opportunity when n.o.body was about, and ran across the fields to join you. It was worth seeing how frightened you all were when I quietly stepped in at the door! And wherever you go to play I shall turn up in just the same way. You see if I don't!"

"What nonsense! We can play in the garden if we like!" said Madge defiantly.

"So you can! And find me hiding in the potting-shed and behind the cuc.u.mber-frames," replied Lewis.

Betty began to cry. It was not very brave of her, but then she had been rejoicing so much at getting rid of Lewis and his mysteries, and was so horribly disappointed when they all returned.

"I won't have you coming back here to tease us all!" cried Madge angrily. "I am sorry we ever spoke to you. It was wrong of us, and I heartily wish we hadn't. If you go on--"

"Mind, you promised faithfully not to tell anybody about me,"

interrupted Lewis. "If you say a single word about my coming over the wall you will have told a lie."

"Yes, that's the worst of it," admitted Madge. "And yet it seems just as untruthful to meet you and pretend we are only playing by ourselves.

Either way it's wrong."

"Very likely," said Lewis carelessly. "That's your affair. It's too late to draw back now."

There was a silence, during which the three Wests heartily repented their naughty folly in having secretly made such an undesirable acquaintance.

Presently there was a heavy footstep in the yard below.

"What's that?" whispered Lewis, in a very different voice to the bullying accents in which he had just been speaking.

"It is Barton driving the cows into the yard to be milked," replied Madge softly. "He always does it about this time."

"But how am I to get down the ladder to go home if he is standing at the bottom?" inquired Lewis nervously.

"I never thought of that! He will be in the yard for the next hour,"

answered Madge. "Of course we don't mind pa.s.sing him, because we are allowed to play up here; only he doesn't like us making the hay as untidy as it is now. But I'm sure you can't get down without being seen."

"You won't all run away and leave me caught like a rat in a trap, will you?" begged Lewis, almost whimpering with fright.

"Is it likely?" replied Madge in her finest tone of scorn. "Stay quiet," she added with contemptuous kindness, "and we will get you out of it somehow."

It is in moments of peril that a true leader shines most. While Lewis lay cowering behind the straw, and the twins waited expectantly for some suggestion, Madge calmly looked round the loft and originated a plan. "I know how you can get away," she said, after some moments of earnest thought. "There is that little door at the back of the loft, it does not look out into the yard but out upon the hay-ricks, in fact that is where they put the hay up into the loft. If you get down that side Barton can't possibly see you while he is milking the cows in the yard."

"Oh, that's a capital idea! I'll go at once!" cried Lewis. "Not that I am really afraid of your old man or anybody," he added, with a return of his customary boastful manner. "Only I don't want to get you all into trouble."

"You have become very brave all of a sudden," said Madge, who by this time heartily despised him for his mixture of bragging and cowardice.

"It's fortunate you are not afraid of anything," she added rather maliciously, "because you see there is no ladder outside this door, so you will have to drop down to the ground as best you can."

"It isn't very far, I suppose?" asked Lewis anxiously. But when the loft door was at last opened--rather a difficult job to accomplish quietly, as the hinges were rusty and would creak,--he declared that he could not possibly get down without a ladder.

"But you must!" exclaimed Madge impatiently. "It's your only chance of getting away without being seen."

"I shall be hurt! I know I shall!" moaned Lewis, as he drew back with a shiver from the open door.

"It isn't so very far," said Betty encouragingly. "Not higher than a room, I think."

Still Lewis hung back. "Oh, dear Madge," he whined, "couldn't you manage to carry the ladder round from the yard to the door at the back?"

"Well, if you can't possibly get down without it I will try!" said Madge desperately. "Betty and John must come with me, as the ladder is so long I can't carry it alone. I am afraid Barton will make a fuss when he sees us moving it, though."

"Oh no, he won't! I dare say he won't notice you," a.s.serted Lewis, only intent on his own safety, and not caring in the least what risks other people ran on his account.

But in the excitement of the moment the children had raised their voices rather loudly, and Barton heard them as he milked the cows in the yard below.