ANXIETY AT THE VILLAGE. 
435 
Antoinette was greatly comforted; but she 
could not help crying afresh every time she 
thought of what might have happened, and 
Miss Winston was obliged to speak with 
some authority before she became suf¬ 
ficiently composed to leave her with Miss 
Taylor and go back to Annie, whose head 
now ached terribly, as it was only too apt 
to do under any excitement. 
Meantime the party at the village were in 
no small wonderment as to what had become 
of the girls, who should have arrived before 
them and who had agreed to meet them at 
Mr. Barton’s. At first the boys only laughed 
and said they had lingered by the way to 
talk sentiment; but, when more than an hour 
passed on and still they did not come, 
Richard became seriously uneasy. 
“ What can have happened to the girls, 
to keep them so long ?” he said to Kate. 
“ Perhaps they have gone to walk by 
themselves,” suggested Matilda. 
“They would hardly do that,” said Kate. 
“ Antoinette wanted very much to see the 
bear; and, besides, they would know that we 
were waiting for them. I cannot think of 
any accident that could possibly happen be- 
