The children will know.'
But they stood staring at their mother, and we could get nothing out
of them. They would not move from the corpse.
'I think we may appropriate this treasure-trove,' said Falconer,
turning at last to me; and as he spoke, he took the eldest in his
arms. Then, turning to the woman, he gave her a card, saying, 'If
any inquiry is made about them, there is my address.--Will you take
the other, Mr. Gordon?'
I obeyed. The children cried no more. After traversing a few
streets, we found a cab, and drove to a house in Queen Square,
Bloomsbury.
Falconer got out at the door of a large house, and rung the bell;
then got the children out, and dismissed the cab. There we stood in
the middle of the night, in a silent, empty square, each with a
child in his arms. In a few minutes we heard the bolts being
withdrawn. The door opened, and a tall graceful form wrapped in a
dressing-gown, appeared.
'I have brought you two babies, Miss St. John,' said Falconer. 'Can
you take them?'
'To be sure I can,' she answered, and turned to lead the way. 'Bring
them in.'
We followed her into a little back room. She put down her candle,
and went straight to the cupboard, whence she brought a sponge-cake,
from which she cut a large piece for each of the children.
'What a mercy they are, Robert,--those little gates in the face!
Red Lane leads direct to the heart,' she said, smiling, as if she
rejoiced in the idea of taming the little wild angelets.
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