course Rosanna must be in
the house somewhere, and although she felt it was a very undignified
thing to do, she went from room to room making a close and careful
search of every nook where a child could hide. There was not a single
sign of the little girl. Mrs. Horton had hoped to find Rosanna without
calling the servants, but as she looked and looked, and the knowledge
came to her that perhaps Rosanna was not in the house at all, she was
filled with terror. She commenced to press the electric buttons
frantically and, wide-eyed and half dressed, the household commenced to
gather from the servants' wing.

She managed somehow to let them know that Rosanna had disappeared, and
everyone commenced a search that stretched to the playhouse, the pony
stable and the garden.

She staggered up to her room and with shaking hands commenced to dress
herself. The two sad faces on the wall stared at her.

"Oh, mother, mother, where is our baby?" they asked.

"Gone--gone--" said Mrs. Horton.

CHAPTER XVI

Rosanna was gone.
When or where or how no one could tell. By eight o'clock on that
dreadful morning the neighborhood had been scoured, the alleys searched
and the police were talking darkly of kidnapers and of dragging the
river.

Mrs. Horton knew that no one could have entered the house, but she was
at a loss to see how Rosanna could have been taken out or have gone out
without being seen, even if she had not gone before dark. The
neighborhood was full of children, and no one, young or old, had seen
Rosanna, who was well known by sight by everyone on the block.

At quarter past eight, to Mrs. Horton's surprise, Mrs. Hargrave walked
in. It was evident by her distressed look and trembling hands that she
had learned what had happened.

"Well, Virginia, you have done it this time!" she said. "I have been
telling you for the last forty years that your unholy pride would get
you into trouble, and it has. If anything happens to hurt Rosanna--well,
I just won't tell you what I think; I reckon you know without my saying
it. Now begin at the beginning and tell me in as few words as possible
just what you did to her. I don't want to know now what you thought
_she_ had done or what you thought about it yourself. I want to know
_what you did to Rosanna_."

Mrs. Hargrave seated herself on the edge of a chair as though she might
fly off at any moment. She listened intently while Mrs. Horton, still
thinking of the accusing eyes