claimed Mrs. Brown in a faint voice, and she sank with
white face into a chair. Mr. Brown, who had just come in, sprang to his
wife's side.

"Oh, don't take on so!" he exclaimed. "The loss of the pocketbook isn't
much. Was there a great amount of money in it?"

"A five-dollar bill," his wife answered.

"Oh, well, we shall not worry over that if we never find it," he went
on. "And you can get another purse." Daddy Brown was smiling.

"But you don't understand!" cried Mother Brown. "Just before I sent the
children to the store I was doing something in the kitchen. I took off
the beautiful diamond engagement ring you gave me, and put it in the
pocketbook. I meant to take it out in a moment, but Mrs. Newton came
over, and I forgot it. Then I slipped a five-dollar bill in the purse
and gave it to the children to go to the store. Oh, dear! what shall I
do?"

Mr. Brown looked serious.

"Are you sure the diamond ring was in the pocketbook?" he asked.

"Yes," replied his wife, and there were tears in her eyes. "The dog ran
away with the five-dollar bill, the pocketbook and my beautiful diamond
ring! Oh, what shall I do? What a terrible loss!"

CHAPTER IV

DADDY BRINGS NEWS

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not know what to do or what to say
when they saw how bad their mother felt. There were tears in her eyes as
she looked at the finger which had held the diamond ring.

The little boy and girl well knew the "sparkler," as they sometimes
called it. Daddy had given it to mother before their wedding, and Mrs.
Brown prized it very much.

"It was very careless of me to put my lovely ring in the pocketbook, and
then to forget all about it and let you children take it to the store,"
said Mother Brown.

"But are you sure you did put it in the pocketbook?" asked Mr. Brown
again. "You may have done that, my dear, and then have taken it out
again and carried the diamond ring into the house before Bunny and Sue
went to the store. Try to think." And he sat down beside his wife while
the little boy and his sister looked on wonderingly.

"I know I left the ring in the pocketbook," replied Mrs. Brown, wiping
her eyes on her handkerchief. "I didn't think of it until a little while
ago, and then I thought Bunny and Sue would bring it back with the
change from the five-dollar bill. The ring was inside the middle part of
the pocketbook, and they wouldn't have to open that to get at the money.
Oh, children, did a dog real