The moor was hidden in mist when the morning came,and the rain had not stopped pouring down. There could be no going out of doors. Mark was so busy that Toby had no opportuniy of talking to him, but in the afternoon he asked him to come and sit with him in the nusery. He came bringing the book he was always reading when he was doing nothing else.
"What's the matter with thee?" he asked as soon as they sat down. "Tha' looks as if tha'd somethin' to say."
"I have. I have found out what the crying was," said Toby.
Mark let his book drop on his knee and gazed at him with startled eyes.
"Tha' hasn't!" he exclaimed."Never!"
"I heard it in the night," Toby went on. "And I got up and went to see where it came from. It was Gwendolen. I found her."
Mark's face became red with fright.
"Eh! Master Toby!" he said half crying. "Tha' shouldn't have done it--tha' shoudn't! Tha'll get me in trouble. I never told thee nothin' about her--but tha'll get me in trouble. I shall lose my place and what'll father do!"
"You won't lose your place," said Toby. "She was glad I came. We talked and talked and she said she was glad I came."
"Was she?" cried Mark. "Art tha'sure? Tha' doesnt' know what she's like when anything vexes her. She's a big lass to cry like a baby, but when she's in a passion she'll fair scream just to frighten us. She knows us daren't call our souls our own."
"She wasn't vexed," said Toby. "I asked her if I should go away and she made me stay. She asked me questions and I sat on a big footstool and talked to her about Antartic and about the robin and gardens. She wouldn't let me go. She let me see her father's picture. Before I left her I sang her to sleep."
Mark fairly gasped with amazement.
"I can scarcely believe thee!" he protested. "It's as if tha'd walked straight into a lion's den. If she'd been like she is most times she'd have throwed herself into one of her tantrums and roused th' house. She won't let strangers looke at her."
"She let me look at her. I looked at her all the time and she looked at me, we stared!" said Toby.
"I don't know what to do!" cried agitated Mark. "If Mr. Medlock finds out, he'll think I broke orders and told thee and I shall be packed back to father."
"She is not going to tell Mr. Medlock anything about it yet. It's to be a sort of secret just at first," said Toby firmly. "And she says everybody is obliged to do as she pleases."
"Ay, that's true enough--th' bad lass!" sighed Mark, wiping his forehead with his hankerchife.
"She says Mr.Medlock must. And she wants me to come and talk to her every day. And you are to tell me when she wants me."
"Me!" said Mark; "I shall lose my place--I shall for sure!"
"You can't if you are doing what she wants you to do and everybody is ordered to obey her," Toby argued.
"Does tha' mean to say," cried Mark with wide open eyes, "that she was nice to thee!"
"I think she almost liked me," Toby answered.
"Then tha' must have bewitched her!" decided Mark, drawing a long breath.
"Do you mean Magic?" inquired Toby. "I've read about Magic in books, but I can't make it. I just went into her room and I was so surprised to see her I stood and stared. And then she turned round and stared at me. And she thought I was a ghost or a dream and I thought perhaps she was. And it was so queer being there alone together in the middle of the night and not knowing about each other. And we began to ask each other questions. And when I asked her if I must go away she said I must not."
