She had listened to their bewildered and agitated little story, and then asking them to sit down and wait for her, she had returned to the parlor.
"Mrs.Flint," she said, "I have been talking to the two elder Mainwaring girls; they are in the hall.

No, Mrs.Mortlock, you can't see Miss Primrose at present.

The girls are in great trouble, for the little one has gone away, and there seems to be a mystery about it all.

Your niece Sarah seems to be the last person who has seen the child, Mrs.Flint, and, of course, Miss Primrose and Miss Jasmine want to talk to her, and she had better go home with them.

The friend they live with, a Miss Egerton, left home this very afternoon to spend a week in the country, and so the girls are quite defenceless, and have nobody to consult.