CHAPTER X.

THE SEARCH.

"As thy day thy strength shall be! This should be enough for thee; He who knows thy frame will spare Burdens more than thou must bear."

GABRIELLE M'IVOR was an early riser, and on the Spring morning following the evening when Lewis Warner had left his home, she had risen earlier than usual. For she had long ago discovered that if she desired a quiet time for study, she must obtain it ere little busy feet had begun to run about and little voices call out for "Sister Gabrielle."

She had just finished dressing, and had thrown up the window to admit the fresh air, when she saw Austin Warner coming quickly towards their cottage. She was the only member of the household yet astir (even their maid-of-all-work being still in bed); so knowing there was none else to do so, she ran downstairs to open the door.

"What is the matter?" she said, as Austin's pale face told too plainly something was amiss.

"Is Miss Warner ill? Or—"

But he interrupted her courteously but firmly.

"No, no," he said, "they are all well. But there is something wrong. Could I see your father for a moment, Miss Gabrielle?"

"Oh yes," she replied. "But come indoors, and I will get him directly. He is not yet dressed. Is there immediate hurry?"

"There is." And without another word, he followed Gabrielle into the sitting-room, and remained there whilst she went to tell her father.

"Mr. M'Ivor," said Austin, as that gentleman entered the room, "you love my father, I know. For his sake will you help us? Lewis has left his home."

Mr. M'Ivor stood aghast, hardly taking in the full import of the words.

"Left his home!" he repeated. "You don't mean he has run away?"

"Even so," said Austin.

And in a few words he told all he knew. The letter which the headmaster had received telling of Lewis's evil doings; the lecture he had that day given to Lewis, along with the threat of making all known to his father next day; the emptied drawers; the abstracted "photos;" Priscilla's account of his hurried embrace of herself and little Ruth—all was told.

Mr. M'Ivor was a man of deeds, not mere words. He moved towards the door, took his hat, and, followed by Austin, set off at once to the railway station. But there they found difficulty in tracing the fugitives.

The station-master, who knew the young Warners well, said he had not seen any of them for some days.

"What," asked Mr. M'Ivor, "is the hour of any London train after six in the evening?"

"Well," was the reply, "there's one leaves this about eight, and another at two A.M."

"Were there many passengers from Hereford by the eight o'clock one?" queried Austin.

"Well, yes, sir, there were a good many."

"Any young lads?"

"Three or four, I think."

"And Mr. Lewis Warner was not amongst them?"

"Not that I saw, sir."

Just then a porter came up, who said he believed he had seen the young gentleman, but he was not alone. He thought he got into a third-class carriage.

"Had he a bag with him?"

He rather thought so, but could not be sure.

"Do you know the name of the lad with him?"

"No, sir; I did not see his face. He had his cap slouched over his brow, and Mr. Warner wore his in the same way."

And that was all they could find out.

One thing was certain—Dr. Warner must be told all, and his advice taken as to what should be done. Priscilla had told Austin of her conversation with the vicar, and Mr. M'Ivor thought it would be well to get him to come with them and break the sad news to the father.

The professor had just entered his study, ready to begin his early morning reading and writing, when the door opened, and Mr. M'Ivor, followed by the vicar and Austin, entered.

It was Mr. Lascelles who told gently and briefly the tale. The professor sat like one in a dream, then started to his feet.

"Lewis," he said, "my boy, my noble boy, fallen a prey to sharpers! How can it have happened? There must have been great blame somewhere.—Austin, did you know? Did you let your brother be led astray (you know the finest natures have all their weak points, and perhaps even Lewis had his) without trying to help him? And Priscilla—she is no child now. Did she not try?—Spent the evenings, you say, gambling? Why, 'tis impossible. Was he not in the drawing-room every evening? Speak, Austin; tell them it is all a mistake; it could not be."

And the father sunk down into his chair and groaned aloud.

Mr. M'Ivor came forward, saying, "Dr. Warner, you must rouse yourself and act, if you would have your son restored to you. This is no time for throwing blame on others. But I must free Austin. He has acted well towards his brother, and tried all he could to keep him back from evil companions; and even in concealing the matter from yourself (which I fully admit was wrong), Austin meant kindly to his brother. What we have now to do is to decide whether you will at once send some one in search of your son; and if so, where? My own idea, and that of André's as well, is that he will likely have gone to some seaport town to try and get on board some foreign vessel, being anxious to escape the disgrace he knew would fall on him."

Whilst they were thus speaking, Priscilla entered the room, her face pallid and sad, but with a look of energy in it. She seemed during these few hours to have left her girlhood behind her, and stood amongst them as a helpful woman. She went straight to her father, and said, "Father, blame me, not Austin. I have sinned. Had it not been for me, Lewis would not have left his home. I might, had it not been for my own selfish ambition and pursuits, have made the evenings pleasanter for him, and so have prevented all this misery. Of late months I have tried to make things different, but it was too late."

Dr. Warner said not a word; conscience was whispering to him that he too had neglected his fatherly duty. He rose from his chair with a bowed head and trembling limbs; but it was on his daughter's not Austin's shoulder that he leaned for support.

All inquiries were made regarding the name of the lad who had left Hereford along with Lewis, but no clue either to him or the probable destination of the runaways could be obtained.

Telegrams describing Lewis were sent to London and one or two of the seaport towns, and at Dr. Warner's special request, Mr. Pryor himself, accompanied by Austin, went to London and made all inquiries they could concerning the fugitive.

But no trace of Lewis Warner could be found, and no word came from him to the friends whom he knew loved him well.

To the eye of man, the once cherished son and brother had turned his back for ever on his father's house, and gone far astray from the kingdom of God.

From the hour his favourite son had left his home, Dr. Warner became a changed man, and for a while even his loved studies lost their attraction. In vain Austin tried to interest him as of old, bringing many of his difficult problems to him to solve, and in all his varied studies seeking his help. Aid was always given, but the pleasure in so doing which he had once so keenly experienced was gone. And as time went on, both Priscilla and Austin grieved to see that even reading seemed an effort to him, and he would sit for hours with his hand covering his eyes, as if lost in thought.

Poor Priscilla! None can tell how she suffered as she witnessed his grief, and reflected that much of this bitter sorrow was, in part at least, caused by her wrong-doing.

Miss Vernon, to whom she now often turned for counsel, comforted her as best she could. But it was in Mrs. M'Ivor's motherly arms that Prissy sobbed out her grief, and it was Gabrielle's kind words and loving ways that cheered and brightened her path. Whilst the hourly increasing love which little Ruth showed to her was a source of untold pleasure.

And through those long months of trial, those who loved her most could see that the kingdom of God, which "cometh not always with observation, but which is within us," was indeed possessing more and more fully the heart of the talented girl.