“Well,” said Fortune, “well—­then that’s all right.  It was a trouble, but it’s over, thank the good God.  I could fall on my knees this moment and offer up a prayer; that I could, Matty Bell.”

Fortune’s small, twinkling eyes were full of tears; she caught her neighbor’s hand and wrung it hard.

“And I bless you, Matty,” she continued, “for you have put me on the right trail.  I’ll never blame a gossiping neighbor again, never as long as I live.”

“But you haven’t heard me out to the end,” said Matty, “for one of the little ’uns is very ill.  You have found ’em, it is true; but it isn’t all beer and skittles, Fortune Squeers.”

“One of the children ill?” said Fortune.

“Yes; little Miss Diana.  You come along and see her at once.  They say she fell on her head out of a ring at the circus, and she must have hurt herself rather bad.  Anyhow, she don’t know a word she is saying, poor little dear.”

When Fortune heard this news she shut up her mouth very tight, tied her bonnet-strings, and followed her neighbor out of the house.

The Darlings’ humble little domicile happened to be in the next street, and in less than five minutes Fortune was standing over little Diana’s bed.  The child was tossing from side to side, her big eyes were wide open; she was gazing straight before her, talking eagerly and incessantly.

“Is it to be a pwivate funeral?” she said, when Fortune entered the room, and, falling on her knees, clasped the hot little hands in hers.

“Oh, my little darling!” said the good woman, “and have I really found you at last?”

She sank down by the child and burst into more bitter tears than she had even shed when Mrs. Delaney went away.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE LITTLE MOTHER TO THE RESCUE.

Yes, the lost children were found, but little Diana was very ill.  The blow she had received on her head had developed into inflammation of the brain.  She was highly feverish, and did not in the least know what she was saying.  Fortune immediately made up her mind not to leave her.  After standing by her bedside for a minute or two, she went into the next room and asked Mrs. Darling if she would take a fly and go with little Orion to Delaney Manor.

“You are going to your own home, my poor little boy,” said the nurse, “and please tell your uncle and Iris and Apollo that I am staying here to look after Diana.”

The little boy was so excited at the prospect of being home once more that he forgot any small anxieties which he had experienced with regard to Diana.  He started off, therefore, with Mrs. Darling in the highest spirits, and Fortune returned to the bedside of the sick child.  Within a couple of hours after Orion’s departure, Mr. Dolman arrived in person.  When he saw Diana he immediately insisted on the best doctor in the place being sent for to see her.