It seems almost as bad as if it had been one of us boys that was killed." Ranald and Rob joined in with praise of his many lovable traits, talking of his death as if it were a lifelong friend they had lost; but Malcolm turned away with an anxious glance to the woods, where he could hear the laughing voices of the girls.
"Poor little Princess Winsome," he thought.

"It will nearly break her heart," and he wished with all the earnestness of the real Sir Feal, that by some knightly service, no matter how hard, he could save his little friend from this sorrow.
The girls came strolling up, presently, so occupied with their spoils that no one noticed the boy's serious faces but Lloyd.

The moment she caught Malcolm's sympathetic glance she was sure something had happened to Hero.
"Oh, what is it ?" she began, the tears gathering in her eyes as she felt the unspoken, sympathy of the little group.

Leaving Mrs.Walton to tell the other girls, Miss Allison drew Lloyd aside, saying as she led her down toward the spring, an arm around her waist, "I have a message for you, Lloyd, from Colonel Wayne.

Let's go down to the rocks by ourselves." A sympathetic silence fell on the little circle left behind as they heard Lloyd cry out, "Shot my dog?
Shot _Hero ?_ Oh, he ought to be killed! How could he do such a cruel thing!" "But he feels dreadfully about it," said Miss Allison.