ather lose him--handsome," he said. "Or find him--_plain_?"

Mrs. Bent seemed to think that she'd rather find him plain.

She found him within two days! He was awful plain. His shoes were all
worn out. And his stomach was flat. He was at a meeting of men who sell
bicycles to China. The men were feeling pretty sick. They'd sent
hundreds and hundreds of he-bicycles to China and the Chinamen couldn't
ride 'em on account of their skirts!--It was the smell of an apple in a
man's pocket that made Tommy Bent follow the man to the meeting.--And he
answered to every name except 'Tommy Bent' so they knew it was he!

"Mercy! What this experience has cost me!" sobbed Mrs. Bent.

"One dollar, please!" said Old Man Smith.

"It's a perfect miracle!" said everybody.

"It 'tain't neither!" said Old Man Smith. "It's plain Hoss Sense!
There's laws about findin' things same as there is about losin' 'em!
Things has got regular habits and haunts same as Folks! And Folks has
got regular haunts and habits same as birds and beasts! It ain't the
Possible Places that I'm arguin' about!--The world is full of 'em! But
the _Probable Places_ can be reckoned most any time on the fingers of
one hand!--That's the trouble with folks! They're always wearin'
themselves out on the Possible Places and never gettin' round at all to
the _Probable_ ones!--Now, it's perfectly possible, of course," said Old
Man Smith, "that you might find a trout in a dust-pan or a hummin' bird
in an Aquarium--or meet a panther in your Mother's parlor!--But the
chances are," said Old Man Smith, "that if you really set out to
organize a troutin' expedition or a hummin' bird collection or a
panther hunt--you wouldn't look in the dust pan or the Aquarium or your
Mother's parlor _first_!--When you lose something that _ain't got_ no
_Probable Place_--then I sure _am_ stumped!" said Old Man Smith.

But when Annie Halliway lost her _mind_, everybody in the village was
stumped about it. And everything was all mixed up. It was Annie
Halliway's mother and Annie Halliway's father and Annie Halliway's
uncles and aunts and cousins and friends who did all the worrying about
it! While Annie Halliway herself didn't seem to care at all! But just
sat braiding things into her hair!

Some people said it was a railroad accident that she lost her mind in.
Some said it was because she'd studied too hard in Europe. Some said it
was an earthquake. Everybody said something.

Annie Halliway's fath