'Why is that dangerous?' asked Barbara, trying hard to follow his bewildering tale.
'Oh, well, if he's ever going to ask her to marry him, or any of that rot, he must be going to do it to-day,' explained Kit, with a certain contempt in his voice. 'Anyhow, what we've been trying to do all the holidays is to save Jill from the Doctor; so naturally we were rather upset when Peter brought us the news. But I said I'd have nothing to do with locking any one up, 'specially Jill; so they said I could make myself scarce, and I did.'
'Oh, Kit!' exclaimed Barbara, opening her eyes, 'do you think Jill is in that horrible dark barn all this time?'
Kit sprang to his feet and made for the door. 'I'll go and see if I can find those idiots,' he said, but an exclamation from the sofa made him look back. Babs was clapping her hands wildly, and her face had suddenly reddened with excitement.
'It's all right, Kit. It's beautiful,' she was crying joyfully. 'Don't stop them, Kit; don't help her to escape, whatever you do. Leave her alone till the prince comes. Don't you see he'll be able to break the spell at last!'
Kit did not see at all. Indeed, he looked rather alarmed, and came back into the room. 'Look here, Babe, you're not going to get excited again, or anything like that, are you?' he asked her, nervously.
Barbara set his mind at rest by laughing merrily. 'You silly old Kit, of course I'm not!' she said. 'I never felt so jolly in my life!'
Christopher sped away, reassured, and Barbara lay back on her cushions and waited impatiently for the sound of the Doctor's gig. She did not have to wait long, and she waved her hand gaily in answer to the flourish of his whip with which he greeted her as he drove up to the door.
'Come up here, Dr. Hurst, and be as quick as you possibly can!' she called down to him; and a minute later he was in the room.
The first thing he did was to ask where Jill was, just as Kit had done. Barbara laughed more merrily than ever. Her small black eyes were glittering with excitement.
'She _has_ been locked up by the cruel old giant, and you can go and rescue her at last,' she told him.
Dr. Hurst frowned slightly. 'What do you mean, child?' he asked a little impatiently. He was evidently not in a mood for joking, and Barbara instantly became grave.