"Hullo, Moll!" he said cheerfully as he passed.
There was no answer, and he saw her shoulders shake a little; she was crying. He turned back.
"Why, what's wrong? Uncle been nagging again?"
She lifted up a tear-stained face.
"I'm to stop in... all the afternoon! And I did want to go and take Daisy to bathe: Dr. Jenkins ordered her sea-baths!"
Daisy, the broken-nosed doll lying on the grass beside her, was too far gone for any sea-baths to help, or, for that matter, to injure; but Molly could scarcely be expected to realise that.
"It's a jolly shame!" said Jack indignantly; he had been kept in so often himself that he could feel for her. "Poor old girl! What had you been doing?"
The question brought a burst of tears.
"I hadn't done anything! I wouldn't mind if I'd been naughty, but I hadn't! It's only because Mary Anne's cooking, and uncle says I mustn't go alone."
"But you don't go out with Mary Anne other days. Where are those girls you always play with?"
"Emma's away from home, and Janey Scott couldn't come. I can't help that! If I'd been naughty it would have been just the same. It's not fair."
Jack's forehead contracted; this was an echo of his own grievance. Either things should be arranged according to convenience, and there should be no rewards and punishments at all, or people should be punished only when they were to blame. Uncle, and, apparently, uncle's God, had a very elaborate system for dealing with offenders according to their deserts; but the practical result of it seemed always to be that, if you were unlucky, you were punished for your misfortunes. He glanced at the sunlit cliffs with a sigh; he had been counting so on a perfect holiday alone.
"Don't cry, old girl," he said. "Let's go and ask Aunt Sarah whether you may come with me."