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 passed 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.
'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.'