She gave up trying to reason it out, and hoped it was all a joke, and that Jill would come back again at the end of half an hour. But more than half an hour pa.s.sed by, and still she did not come back. Everything suddenly grew very dull. The garden looked more deserted than usual, and after the pony carriage had come round and taken Finny and Auntie Anna and Egbert for a drive, there was not another sound to break the stillness. Babs began to feel neglected; she had not once been left alone like this, ever since she was first taken ill, and she found it extremely depressing. If it was really necessary for the future happiness of Jill that she should be kept in the barn all the afternoon, some one else might have been told off to take her place in the sickroom.

Besides, as the afternoon wore on, the little invalid realised with some sadness that unless Jill did come in, there would be no one to get her tea ready; and she wanted her tea rather badly.

At last, to her intense relief, a thump came at the door, and Kit rushed unceremoniously into the room.

'Where's Jill?' he demanded hurriedly.

'I wish I knew for certain, but I don't,' said Barbara, plaintively.

'Then they've done it!' exclaimed Kit, in a tragic tone, and he dropped into a chair and looked at her.

'Done what?' inquired Babs, eagerly. Kit's behaviour was as remarkable as every one else's to-day, so perhaps she was going to get at the truth at last.

'Locked her up in the barn!' gasped Kit. 'They said they were going to, yesterday, but I thought they were only rotting. I told 'em it wasn't good enough, and I'd have nothing to do with it, so I s'pose that's why they didn't tell me any more. And then, I forgot all about it; and after dinner to-day I went into Finny's study to read a stunning book I'd found there; and I didn't think of anything, till it suddenly struck me how awfully quiet everything was. If she's disappeared, they must have done it, stupid owls!'

'But isn't it all right?' cried Barbara, looking distressed. 'Peter said it was to save her from an awful fate----'

'That's all very well,' returned Kit; 'but the game isn't worth it, and that's what I told them. You see, the Doctor's coming after tea to-day, to fetch Jill and take her over the new infirmary he's so keen about, because Jill is nuts on nursing and all that, don't you know.

Well, Peter overheard them talking about it yesterday and Auntie Anna said at breakfast that she'd come home from her drive in time to go too, if she could. But we all knew that she wouldn't get back in time, most likely; and besides, the Doctor meant business from the look of him, Peter said, so he'd be dead certain to come early enough to go off with Jill alone. Trust him! That was jolly dangerous, you see, because the chap is going away to-morrow, and it's their last chance of being together.'

'Why is that dangerous?' asked Barbara, trying hard to follow his bewildering tale.

'Oh, well, if he's ever going to ask her to marry him, or any of that rot, he must be going to do it to-day,' explained Kit, with a certain contempt in his voice. 'Anyhow, what we've been trying to do all the holidays is to save Jill from the Doctor; so naturally we were rather upset when Peter brought us the news. But I said I'd have nothing to do with locking any one up, 'specially Jill; so they said I could make myself scarce, and I did.'

'Oh, Kit!' exclaimed Barbara, opening her eyes, 'do you think Jill is in that horrible dark barn all this time?'

Kit sprang to his feet and made for the door. 'I'll go and see if I can find those idiots,' he said, but an exclamation from the sofa made him look back. Babs was clapping her hands wildly, and her face had suddenly reddened with excitement.

'It's all right, Kit. It's beautiful,' she was crying joyfully. 'Don't stop them, Kit; don't help her to escape, whatever you do. Leave her alone till the prince comes. Don't you see he'll be able to break the spell at last!'

Kit did not see at all. Indeed, he looked rather alarmed, and came back into the room. 'Look here, Babe, you're not going to get excited again, or anything like that, are you?' he asked her, nervously.

Barbara set his mind at rest by laughing merrily. 'You silly old Kit, of course I'm not!' she said. 'I never felt so jolly in my life!'

Christopher sped away, rea.s.sured, and Barbara lay back on her cushions and waited impatiently for the sound of the Doctor's gig. She did not have to wait long, and she waved her hand gaily in answer to the flourish of his whip with which he greeted her as he drove up to the door.

'Come up here, Dr. Hurst, and be as quick as you possibly can!' she called down to him; and a minute later he was in the room.

The first thing he did was to ask where Jill was, just as Kit had done.

Barbara laughed more merrily than ever. Her small black eyes were glittering with excitement.

'She _has_ been locked up by the cruel old giant, and you can go and rescue her at last,' she told him.

Dr. Hurst frowned slightly. 'What do you mean, child?' he asked a little impatiently. He was evidently not in a mood for joking, and Barbara instantly became grave.

'I didn't mean to play, but it _is_ so like a fairy story,' she said penitently. 'And it's quite true about the locking up. They've put her in the barn, Peter and the others have,--not Kit,--and they mean to keep her there till you've gone away, so that--so that you won't get a chance of marrying and living happily ever after! It's to save Jill from you, they say, but Kit's furious about it, and----'

The Doctor flung his driving-gloves on the table. They were quite new ones, she noticed, and he had even forgotten to take the tissue paper off the b.u.t.tons of one of them. 'Where is the barn?' he asked grimly.

'It's at the far end of the nine-acre field,' explained Barbara, and before she could say any more she found she was alone.

Excitement had made her forget all about her tea, though the hour for it was long past. She wished with all her heart that she could be transported to the scene of the rescue and actually see the princess fall into the prince's arms, while the giant lay stretched at their feet. Then she remembered that the giant was Peter, and perhaps Will and Bobbin too, and she hoped he would not lie stretched there for long.

The minutes crept slowly by, and still no one came in. It was no use looking out of the window, for the nine-acre field was on the other side of the house, beyond the orchard. Then she began to be afraid that something dreadful must have happened. She reminded herself again that Peter was the giant, and that the Doctor was small and slight in comparison, even for a prince. Supposing, contrary though it was to all the laws of fairy tale, that the giant should be too strong for the prince, and the princess should not be rescued after all? At last she heard the welcome sound of footsteps coming along the gallery, and then Jill opened the door softly and hurried up to her. The Doctor was just behind her.

'My dear little Babs!' cried Jill, dropping on her knees beside the sofa, 'have you been wondering what had become of me?'

'Oh, no,' answered the child; 'I knew about the dark and gruesome dungeon.

But I think I'd like my tea, please.'

'Of course you would,' said Jill, in much distress, and she began bustling about the room and making preparations for tea in quite a fl.u.s.tered sort of way. Babs turned to the Doctor. A question was burning on the tip of her tongue, and he smiled encouragingly.

'_Did_ you rescue the princess?' she asked.

'I did,' answered the Doctor, briefly.

She looked anxiously at his tie, which had wandered under his right ear, and at his collar, which was crumpled. 'Did you hurt the giant _much_?'

she asked.

'I found him in three pieces,' answered the Doctor, gravely, 'and I give you my word I did not leave him in more.'

Barbara was not yet satisfied. 'How did you get into the dungeon?' she asked.

'Through the door,' replied the Doctor.

She opened her eyes wide. 'Then you must have stepped over the body of the giant,' she said.

'So I did,' laughed Dr. Hurst. 'But do not let that alarm you, for here he comes.'

The door was pushed open once more, and the three conspirators tumbled into the room. Their ties and collars were in much the same condition as the Doctor's, but they seemed none the worse for that. Indeed, they looked rather cheerful over it than otherwise, until they saw the Doctor sitting there, holding Barbara's hand; and then they stopped short and hesitated.

'Do, do tell me,' implored Babs. 'How did Dr. Hurst rescue Jill?'

'I'll tell you, Babs dear,' cried Robin, suddenly dancing up to the Doctor, and climbing on his knee in quite a friendly manner. 'He came walking with big long steps up to the door of the barn, where we was keeping guard over Jill; and he said, "Who can wrestle, out of you young scamps?" 'Course I said _I_ could, but he just swinged me up in the apple tree an' left me there, which was horrid, but I didn't mind much, 'cause I saw all the fun. An' the others said they could, if he liked; an'

the Doctor said whoever won was to have Jill, an' Peter said "Yes,"

'cos he's lots bigger'n the Doctor and he thought he'd win. But he didn't win, n.o.body did, 'cept only Dr. Hurst; so he got Jill and brought her back here; an' I climbed down from the apple tree all by myself, an' the others shook hands with the Doctor and stopped behind, lookin' scared!'

'I beg to state,' said Jill, severely, from the other side of the room, where she was preparing tea, 'that n.o.body has _got_ me, as you call it.

And the sooner you all go out of this room and leave me alone with my patient, the better.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'So he got Jill']

'I say,' began Wilfred, who was standing first on one leg and then on the other, and trying not to laugh, 'you're not really wild with us, are you, Jill?'

'I'm simply _furious_ with you,' said Jill, and she began cutting bread and b.u.t.ter with vigour.

'We really did it for your good,' added Peter, putting on an air of mock penitence. 'How were we to know you didn't _want_ to be saved from the Doctor?'

Jill tossed her head and went on cutting bread and b.u.t.ter still, with her back turned to them all. 'Next time you try to save any one from any one else,' she remarked, 'you'd better make sure first that she does want saving.'