“Oh, mum!” Clara gasped. “What have you done? You can’t just take him! What will the Home say?”
“I know what I’m doing, Clara. Just hold on to him.”
“Oh, mum!” Clara wailed. “They’ll be after us!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll have him back in a few days. There are so many children running around in there that they’ll never miss him.” What sounded like a sob from the backseat irritated Eugenia. “For goodness’ sake, Clara, stop that sniffling! If you must know, I’ve already talked to Mr. Lehman about taking the boy.”
It seemed unnecessary at this point to add that Mr. Lehman had refused permission. She didn’t need a terror-stricken servant on her hands for the rest of the week.
Little Will Cooper shrieked and jumped with delight as the car gathered speed and the wind rushed through his hair. Clara had her hands full keeping him from falling over the side in his excitement.
Chapter Nine
Ethan Learns to Trust
By the time Ethan and Bert emerged from the river, they were shivering and blue with cold. Suddenly a meeting with Matron didn’t seem like such a bad thing to look forward to.
“I don’t care what happens,” Ethan declared. “I’m going in to get some other clothes. Come on, let’s run.” The boys raced across the field toward the house.
“If we go in through the kitchen and up the back stairs, maybe no one will see us,” Bert said, panting. “The cook will be too busy to notice.”
As they neared the back steps, Ethan slowed down and grabbed Bert’s arm. “Oh no. Look who’s on the porch waiting for us.”
It was Hugh. The older boy grinned and sauntered toward them. “What happened to you guys? Fall in the horse trough? I wouldn’t go in there if I were you. Matron is in the kitchen.” He looked directly at Ethan. “She’s looking for you. And so is your little sister.”
Ethan forgot about the water dripping from the legs of his overalls and the cold, wet hair plastered to his head. He charged blindly into Hugh with both fists beating furiously. “What did you do to my sister?” he shouted. “Did you hurt her? Where is she?”
Bert grabbed the back of Ethan’s shirt and tried to drag him away from Hugh. “Hey! What are you doing? Cut it out, Ethan!”
Hugh held Ethan at arm’s length. “Take it easy, kid. I didn’t do nothin’ to your sister. I just heard her yelling for you. And I heard Matron ask where you were. You’d better go back to the barn until you dry off a little. Whatever she wants you for will be twice as bad if she sees you looking like that.”
Hugh’s advice came too late. Just then Matron opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. She spied the two soaked boys standing in the yard.
“Oh my,” she exclaimed. “Look at you. I hope Will doesn’t look that bad.” She surveyed the area and then her gaze returned to Ethan. “He was with you, wasn’t he?”
Ethan backed off from Hugh and stared at her blankly.
Matron hurried down the steps and shook Ethan’s shoulder. “Wasn’t Will with you? Where is he?”
“No, ma’am,” Bert answered for him. “Nobody was with us. We’ve been—”
But Matron had swiftly reentered the house.
Ethan seemed rooted to the spot until Bert yanked at him. “Come on. Let’s find Alice. She knows where Will is.”
“I think Ethan knows where he is too,’’ Hugh said. “I heard you talking about hiding something. What else would it be if you ain’t stole nothin’? Guess I better go up and tell Mr. Lehman about it. There’s several things I could tell him, you know.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned away.
“No! No!” Ethan ran after him. “You can’t tell him! I never took anything, and I didn’t hide anything. I don’t know where Will is.”
Hugh stopped and tilted his head toward Bert. “Why don’t you run and find Alice?” he suggested. “Tell her that Ethan is back here.” Bert took off, and Hugh turned back to Ethan. “Well, maybe I will go up to his office and maybe I won’t. It all depends.”
“Depends on what?” Ethan inquired nervously.
“I could use a little help with something I’m planning.” Hugh rubbed his chin. “I might forget what I heard if you was willing to help me.” Then he shook his head. “Naw … I probably wouldn’t be able to trust you. After all, I did find you sneaking around the bedroom the other day.”
Ethan didn’t even consider reminding Hugh that he, not Ethan, had been the one sneaking around. Mr. Lehman must not hear anything that would cause him to send Ethan away. But if he had to go, he was determined to take the others with him.
“You can trust me,” Ethan insisted. “You can. I’ll do anything you say. But I have to find Will first.”
Bert and Alice raced toward them, and Hugh turned away again. “I dunno. I’ll have to think about it,” he said, and then he disappeared around the corner of the house.
Alice grabbed Ethan around the waist. “I can’t find Will,” she sobbed. “He was playing out there on the grass, and then he was gone. I’ve called and called him. You have to find him, Ethan. You have to!”
“We will,” Ethan assured her. “We’ll find him in no time. He’s too little to go very far. Where did you see him last?”
Before Alice could answer, Matron reappeared. “Boys, come in this instant and change your clothes. We have enough trouble around here without two cases of pneumonia.”
“But Will,” Ethan protested. “I have to find Will.”
Matron took both boys by the arm and headed for the porch. “No buts. We’ve got folks looking for him. He’s probably fallen asleep out there in the haymow, and he’ll be back here before you’re dressed. Now get upstairs.”
Ethan was in despair. Why did he always have to worry about two things at once? If only he had remembered to make his bed, this never would have happened. He wouldn’t have caught Hugh going through the cupboards, and Hugh wouldn’t have anything to tell Mr. Lehman.
And why hadn’t he kept a better eye on Will? Then, too, what if Otis decided to report that the hog had been painted? How had Ethan gotten himself into so much trouble without even knowing he was doing it?
Bert’s voice broke into his dismal thoughts. “Ethan, what if that lady came back in the big car and got Will?”
Ethan had almost forgotten about her. His eyes widened. “No, she couldn’t have. We’d have seen her.”
“Not from the river,” Bert reminded him. “We weren’t in sight of the road the whole time.”
“We’ve got to tell someone you heard her say she was going to take him!” Ethan exclaimed. “We can tell Matron, and she’ll let Mr. Lehman know.”
Bert sat on the edge of the bed with a worried look on his face. “I don’t think we can do that, Ethan. I wasn’t supposed to hear that, and Matron doesn’t like listening in. We’d be in big trouble with Mr. Lehman.”
Ethan sank onto his own bed. “Yeah. That’s right. We’ll have to think of something else.”
When Will was nowhere to be found, the rest of the afternoon turned into a frantic search of the grounds around the house. The barn was searched from top to bottom. The older boys walked through the woods calling for Will. By suppertime everyone was tired and discouraged. The only thing that had been found was the little stick horse with the leather strap. It lay beside the fence where its small owner had dropped it.
Ethan had trouble eating his supper, and it was even harder to fall asleep. If Will were out wandering around, he would be frightened and crying. Even if the lady had taken him, he would be lonely and afraid. Ethan rolled over and buried his face in his pillow so none of the boys would awaken and hear him crying.
A gentle hand was laid on his shoulder. “Ethan,” Matron said softly, “I came to tell you that everything will be all right. Mr. Lehman will find him. Shall we pray about it together?”
Ethan nodded. When Matron asked the Lord to protect Will and bring him back safely, Ethan wondered if the Lord was really listening. After all, his life had gotten a lot more complicated since he found out that God was interested in him. Was Matron sure that prayers were answered? He figured it might not be a good thing to ask, so he remained silent.
“Ethan, have you heard the story that Jesus told in the Bible about the good shepherd?”
“No.”
“Do you want me to tell it to you?”
Ethan nodded again, and Matron settled on the edge of his bed. “There was a man who had a hundred sheep, like the ones out here on the farm,” she began. “Every morning he would take them out to the pasture to eat, and he would watch them carefully. Every evening he brought them back to their pen. The shepherd would stand by the gate and count them as they went in. When he had counted one hundred, he would lock the gate and go home for his supper.
“One night the shepherd counted only ninety-nine sheep. He looked around closely, for he knew them all very well, and discovered that the very smallest one was missing. Quickly he locked the gate and then went back to look for the lost sheep. He searched for a long time. He didn’t give up, even though it was dark and lonely out in the pasture. Finally, after many hours, he found the little one who had wandered away. The shepherd carried him back and put him in the pen with the others. Then he could go home.”
Matron paused. “Jesus told that story because He wants us to know that He is the Good Shepherd, and we are His sheep. He knows about Will. He knows right where Will is. The Good Shepherd wants us to trust Him. Do you think you can do that?”
“I’ll try,” Ethan said. “I like that story. If someone is taking care of Will, I guess I can sleep.”
Matron patted his head and then left. Ethan, comforted, turned over and slept.
Chapter Ten
Yes, Mr. Quincy Gets Involved
The morning after Will’s disappearance, Ethan and Bert retreated to the old wagon stored behind the bam. There they sat, bare legs swinging over the tailgate as they pondered the best way to proceed with their day. Aside from Matron’s chores, they had been assigned no job for the morning. Everyone was concerned about the missing boy, and the most judicious plan seemed to be to keep out of their way. The older fellows had again been dispatched to the fields and the woods to search.
“The only place no one has looked is the house that lady with the big car came from,” Bert remarked finally. “They don’t know about that.”
“Maybe we should do that ourselves,” Ethan suggested. “If we found him there, they’d be so glad, they’d forget to ask how we knew.”
Bert’s eyes sparkled. “Hey, that’s a great idea! Let’s do it!”
The boys jumped from the wagon and took off toward the road.
“Where are we going?” Ethan was breathing hard as he tried to keep up with Bert.
At the question, Bert stopped. “I don’t know.”
“You mean you don’t know where she lives?”
“Nope. All I know is she said her name was Mrs. Quincy.” Bert looked discouraged for a moment and then brightened. “Shala! She’ll know. She’s been here since she was little, and she knows everything. We’ll ask her.”
“You ask her,” Ethan said. “I’ll wait here for you.”
He sank to the ground as Bert sped off. Shala hadn’t been overly cordial to him since the day they arrived. She probably wouldn’t give him any information if he did ask her.
Bert soon returned with the good news that Shala knew exactly where the Quincy house was. She had demanded to know why Bert was interested.
“The only reason I could think to tell her was that we wanted to see that big car up close. That would be no lie. I would like to look it over, wouldn’t you?”
Ethan nodded, and they hurried on their way to the edge of town. Their steps slowed when they came in sight of the house, surrounded by green lawn and trees. It was an awesome sight. A broad porch encircled the entire structure, and wide steps led to the big front doors. Sunlight danced and sparkled from every window, and white paint gleamed in the morning brightness.
“Wow!” Ethan breathed. “That’s almost as big as the Briars. I wonder how many kids live here?”
Bert didn’t answer. He was frowning as if busy wondering whether they should approach the front door or go around to the back.
“What are we going to say when she comes to the door?” Ethan asked. “Just ask if we can see Will?”
“We better find out if he’s here or not. Maybe the one who has door duty today will know.”
They pulled the bell, and it seemed a long time before the door opened, revealing a large woman wrapped in a big white apron. She gaped in surprise at the two boys standing before her with dusty, bare feet and overalls cut off at the knee.
“Are you Mrs. Quincy?” Ethan blurted.
“Naw!” Bert tugged at his arm. “That ain’t Mrs. Quincy. That’s the Matron.”
“Now that you have that settled, boys,” the woman said, “I’m Greta. What is it you want?”
“We want to see Mrs. Quincy,” Bert answered. “We want to ask her something.”
“Well, I’m afraid you can’t do that,” Greta replied. “Mrs. Quincy left town yesterday, and I don’t know when she’ll be back.”
Ethan’s shoulders sagged with disappointment. “Did she take Will with her?”
“Will? Who’s Will? Clara’s the only one who went along.”
“Will’s my little brother, ma’am. We can’t find him, and we heard—”
A sharp poke from Bert’s elbow reminded Ethan that they weren’t to mention anything they’d heard.
Greta eyed them sharply, her forehead wrinkled in puzzlement. “I’m sorry, boys. I can’t help you. I don’t know anything about your little brother.”
She stepped back into the house, and two dejected boys trudged back to the road. What were they going to do now?
The two unhappy boys sat beside the road to think over their situation. The problem seemed to be bigger than they could handle.
“Matron said that the Good Shepherd knows where Will is,” Ethan said. “I wonder why He doesn’t tell us?”
“I don’t think He talks out loud to people,” Bert offered. “In the story, He brought the lost sheep back Himself. So He’ll bring Will back too. We might as well go home and wait.”
Ethan nodded, but neither boy moved. The sun was warm on their backs, and the breeze carried the smell of new grass and lilacs. After being so sure that they were going to the right place, disappointment seemed to leave them motionless.
“If the lady didn’t take Will, who do you suppose did?” Ethan wondered. “Somebody must have. He was too little to go alone.”
“I don’t know.” Bert sighed. “Not a whole lot of people go by our road. Only folks on the way out of town.” Bert sat up straighter. “We can go look in town and ask people if they saw him. Someone might have noticed a little boy they hadn’t seen before.”
Ethan was willing to agree with this theory, and they headed right away for the center of the little town. Horses and buggies were lined up along the main street, and people walked back and forth in front of the stores. The excitement of seeing all this activity slowed the boys down a bit.
“I remember coming past here from the trolley station,” Ethan said. “It’s better to come this way. You can stop and look in the store windows.”
This they did, lingering long over a display of bicycles and toy wagons. They dared not venture inside the stores, since they had no money to spend, but there was much to see from the street.
“Look, Ethan!” Bert grabbed his arm. “There’s a lady with a little boy! He looks something like Will!”
Bert pointed across the road, where two figures moved rapidly away from them.
Without looking
either way, Ethan darted into the dusty street.
Bert grabbed the straps of Ethan’s overalls and yanked him back. “You gotta watch out, or you’ll get run down,” he warned. “Look what’s coming.”
A large wagon pulled by a team of horses lumbered by. Buckets hung from the back, and ladders were strapped on the sides. Something that looked like a huge barrel lay in the bed of the wagon. The boys watched in fascination as it passed them in a cloud of dust.
“That’s a fire wagon,” Bert informed Ethan. “They can come in a hurry if something is burning.”
“Did you ever see them do it?” Ethan asked.
“Well, no. We never had a fire out at the Home. We’d probably see it a lot if we lived in town.”
“I think I like where I am better,” Ethan decided. “There’s more stuff to keep us busy.”
Suddenly he remembered what they had started out to do. Squinting down the street, he saw that the woman and the little boy had disappeared.
“Come on,” Bert said. “If we run, maybe we can catch them.”
Several minutes later they slowed down. It was no use. The pair was nowhere in sight. The boys began to walk again.
“I think we’ve looked everywhere we can,” Bert said. “We might as well go back home.”
But Ethan was fascinated by the big building closest to them. “That’s the seat,” he informed Bert.
“The seat of what?”
“I don’t know.” Ethan shrugged. “That’s what the stationmaster told us. I wonder who lives there?”
Bert surveyed the building. “I don’t think anyone does.” Men and women were going in and out the front doors. “It looks more like people work there. Nobody seems to be watching who goes in. Want to go see?”
Since he couldn’t think of anyplace else to look for Will, Ethan followed Bert through the large doors.
The boys knew better than to enter a closed room, but if a door stood open, they didn’t hesitate to stop and look it over from the hallway. An endless number of things seemed to be going on in this building. Typewriters clacked and telephones rang. Young men with bundles of papers hurried by. People entered a big room whose swinging doors revealed long rows of seats and a big desk at the front.
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