"Where is Gabriel-Ernest?" he almost screamed.
"He is taking the little Toop child home," said his aunt. "It was
getting so late, I thought it wasn't safe to let it go back alone.
What a lovely sunset, isn't it?"
But Van Cheele, although not oblivious of the glow in the western
sky, did not stay to discuss its beauties. At a speed for which he
was scarcely geared he raced along the narrow lane that led to the
home of the Toops. On one side ran the swift current of the mill-
stream, on the other rose the stretch of bare hillside. A dwindling
rim of red sun showed still on the skyline, and the next turning
must bring him in view of the ill-assorted couple he was pursuing.
Then the colour went suddenly out of things, and a grey light
settled itself with a quick shiver over the landscape. Van Cheele
heard a shrill wail of fear, and stopped running.
Nothing was ever seen again of the Toop child or Gabriel-Ernest, but
the latter's discarded garments were found lying in the road so it
was assumed that the child had fallen into the water, and that the
boy had stripped and jumped in, in a vain endeavour to save it. Van
Cheele and some workmen who were near by at the time testified to
having heard a child scream loudly just near the spot where the
clothes were found. Mrs. Toop, who had eleven other children, was
decently resigned to her bereavement, but Miss Van Cheele sincerely
mourned her lost foundling. It was on her initiative that a
memorial brass was put up in the parish church to "Gabriel-Ernest,
an unknown boy, who bravely sacrificed his life for another.
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