Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/371



HEN he dismissed the taxi and started up the front walk with the bundle and the suitcase, Jamie was surprised to find the little Scout sitting on the front steps beside a bottle of milk half consumed, with crumb decorations prominently on the face lifted inquiringly in his direction.

“Well, look who’s here!” said the little Scout. “My gracious! you look exactly like Dad when he brought Jimmy home from the hospital!”.

“Well,” said Jamie, “that’s a very good way for me to look. Have you been sitting here ever since I left?”

“No,” said the little Scout. “I went through the back window and lay on the foot of your bed and slept about three hours, and then I was hungry and I went over to Margaret Cameron’s to ask her for something to eat, and I run into her just as she was leaving. She said Molly had telephoned her to come in for a few days. I am waiting at the choich to tell you you’ll have to get your food the best you can until she comes back. Didn’t strike me until after she was gone that I’d forgotten to ask her for something to eat myself, but I knew she wouldn’t care, so I climbed in the back porch window and got a chunk of