Sara went to the shops five or six times a day, and when she walked
past the house next door, she often thought about the Indian gentleman.
She felt sorry for him. He had no wife or family, and the doctor visited
the house everyday. Mr Carmichale the lawyer often visited, too, and
sometimes the Carmichale children went with him. Sara was pleased about
that. "It's nice to see friendly faces when you are ill," she thought.
The Indian gentleman thought that, too. He liked children very much, but
he was a very unhappy man. Mr Carmichael was his friend, and he talked
to him a lot. But they talked about only one thing.
"I must find the child," said the Indian gentleman, whose name was
Mr Carrisford. "I must find her and take care of her. But where is her?
Here I am, with all this money from the diamond mines and half of it is
Ralph Creewe's money. Oh, Carmichale, why did I leave my friend and run
away when things looked bad? Why?"
"You ran away because you were ill with a fever," said Mr Carmichael.
"It nearly killed you, remember?"
"And it did kill poor Ralph," said Mr Carrisford. "He put all his money
into the mines because I was his friend. But at first we didn't find any
diamonds, and all Ralph's moneey money was gone. I was sfraid to tell him,
so I ran away. And later, when we did find diamonds, Ralph was dead." He
laughed, angrily. "What a brave friend I was!"
"It's not easy to be brave," Mr Carmichale said quietly, "when you're ill
with a fear." Mr Carrisford looked into the fire. "Ram Dass tells me," he
said, "about a little servant girl next door. The monkey ran away, and Ram
Dass went across the roof to get him back from her room. The poor child
sleeps in a cold, dirty attic, and works about sixteen hours a day. Is
Ralph's daughter living like that? I can't stop thinking about it."
"We're going to find her one day," said Mr Carmichael.
"But now?" said Mr Carrisford. He put his head in his hand. "I never saw
her. I don't know her name! Ralph always called her his "Little Missus".
We talked all the time about the mines. He never told me the name of her
school. Her mother was French, so did he take her to school in France? Or
was it in England?"
"Well, we know there was a child at a school in Paris," said Mr Carmichael,
"with the name of Carew or Crewe. Her father died suddenly, and a Russian
family took her away with them, because she was a friend of their daughter.
Perhaps this girl is Ralph Crewe's child. Next week I'm going to Moscow to
look for her."
"I want to go with you, but I'm not well," said Mr Carrisford. "I must find
her, Carmichael. I must. Every night, in my dreams, I see Ralph Crewe's face,
and he says:"Tom, Tom, where is my Little Missues? And I have no answer for
him." Mr Carrisford took his friend's hand. "Help me to find her. Help me."