Pagina 30 de 416

"Yes, yes," she cried, "his mechanical train. He asked me if I

had got it and I said I had. He must have gone over to the

furniture and found it hadn't been brought down. Oh, Code,

Code--"

"What's the matter, Nellie?"

It was Nat Burns's hard voice as he elbowed roughly past Code and

bent solicitously over the girl. He had heard her last words and

the pleading in them, and his brow was dark with question and

anger.

"Did you find him, Nat?" queried Nellie in an agony of suspense.

"No, I don't know where the little beggar can be," he replied;

"I've--" The girl screamed and fainted.

"What's the matter here?" shouted Burns. "What's the matter with

her?"

"The boy went back into the house for his toy engine and hasn't

come out again," said Code, facing the other and regarding him

with a level eye.