and his
granddaughter, and through this experience the two girls had become
friends. Josie O'Gorman was devoted to Mary Louise, who knew she could
rely on Josie's judgment in this emergency but had scarcely expected
her to come all the way from Washington to Chicago to render her
personal assistance.

In appearance the young girl--who was destined some day to become a
great detective--was not especially prepossessing. She was short of
form and inclined to be stout--"chubby," she called herself. She had
red hair, a freckled face and a turned-up nose. But her eyes, round and
blue and innocent in expression as those of a baby, dominated her
features and to an extent redeemed their plainness.

Mary Louise hurried to the Colonel.

"Gran'pa Jim," she cried excitedly, "Josie is coming!"

"That is very good of her," replied the Colonel, highly pleased. "Josie
is very resourceful and while she may not be able to trace Alora she
will at least do all in her power, and perhaps her clever little brain
will be able to fathom the mystery of the girl's disappearance."

"She tells us to notify the police, but we did that at once. I don't
know of anything else we can do, Gran'pa, until Josie comes."

Colonel Hathaway communicated with the police office several times that
day and found the officials courteous but calm--prolific of assurances,
but not especially concerned. This was but one of a number of peculiar
cases that daily claimed their attention.

"I should hire a private detective, were not Josie coming," he told
Mary Louise; "but of course it is possible we shall hear of Alora,
directly or indirectly, before morning."

But they did not hear, and both passed a miserable, wakeful, anxious
night.

"There is no use in our consulting Alora'a father, for the present,"
remarked the old gentleman, next morning. "The news would only worry
him. You remember how very particular he was in charging me to guard
his daughter's safety."

"Yes, and I know why," replied Mary Louise. "Alora has told me that if
she is lost, strayed or stolen for sixty days, her father might be
relieved of his guardianship and lose the income he enjoys. Now, I
wonder, Gran'pa Jim, if Alora has purposely lost herself, with
mischievous intent, so as to get rid of her father, whom she abhors?"

The Colonel considered this thoughtfully.

"I think not," he decided. "The girl is impulsive and at times
reckless, and doubtless she would like to be free from h