of the
other girl's face.

"I--I----Oh, Bobby! It's gone!" wailed Betty.

"Not your locket?"

"Yes, my locket!" sobbed Betty, and she sat down on the floor and wept.

"Why, it can't be! Who would take it? When did you see it last? Nobody
here in the house would have stolen it, Betty."

"It--it must have dropped out of my bag. Oh! what shall I do? I can't tell
Uncle Dick."

"He won't punish you for losing it, will he?"

"But think how he'll feel! And how I'll feel!" wailed Betty. "He advised
me to put it somewhere for safe keeping until I got my chain. And I
wouldn't. I--I wanted it with me."

"You should have put it downstairs in daddy's safe," said Bobby
thoughtfully.

"But that doesn't do me a bit of good now," sobbed Betty Gordon.

"Don't you remember where you had it last?" asked her friend slowly.

"In my bag, of course. And I carried my bag to town to-day. Yes! I
remember seeing the paper it was in at the bottom of my bag more than
once while I was shopping. Oh, dear! what shall I do?"

"Then you are quite sure it was not stolen?" Bobby suggested.

"No. I don't suppose it was. It just hopped out somehow. But where? That
is the question, Bobby. I can't answer it."

She rose finally and finished her preparations for bed. Bobby was very
sympathetic; but there did not seem to be anything she could say that
would really relieve Betty's heart, or help in any way. The locket was
gone and no trace of how it had gone had been left in Betty's mind.

When the light was out Bobby crept into Betty's bed and held her tightly
in her arms.

"Don't cry, Betty dear!" the other girl whispered. "Maybe your Uncle Dick
will know how to find the locket."

"Oh, Bobby! I can't tell him. I'm ashamed to," sighed Betty. "It looks as
though I had not cared enough about his present to be careful with it. And
I thought if I carried it about with me that there would be no chance of
my losing it. And now----"

"Then tell Bob," suggested her chum, hugging Betty tightly.

"Bob?"

"Tell him all about it," said Bobby Littell. "Perhaps he will know what
to do. You can't really have lost that beautiful locket forever, Betty!"

"Oh, I don't know! It's gone, anyway!" sobbed Betty.

"Don't give up. That isn't like you, Betty," went on Bobby. "Maybe Bob can
help. We can ask him, at least."

"Yes, we can do that," was Betty's not very hopeful reply.

CHAPTER VII

ALL MRS. STAPLES COULD SAY

The two girls sought out