pine, and contracted the muscles about her mouth. For a
second she positively grinned, then quickly her face regained its
customary calm. With a clever, if slightly tardy, movement, her hand
went up to her throat.

"Yes, sir--shoor, it's mine! Now what do you think of that! Me losin'
somethin' I think the world an' all of, an' have wore for, I do' know
how long, an' never missin' it!"

Mr. Ronald's eyes shot out a quick, quizzical gleam.

"O, you have been accustomed to wear it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Mrs. Sherman tells me she never remembers to have seen you with any
sort of ornament, even a gold pin. She thought the locket could not
possibly belong to you."

"Well, it does. An' the reason she hasn't noticed me wearin' it is, I
wear it under my waist, see?"

Again Mr. Ronald fixed her with his keen eyes. "I see. You wear it under
your waist. Of course, that explains why she hasn't noticed it. Yet,
_if_ you wear it under your waist, how came it to get out from under and
be on my desk?"

Martha's face did not change beneath his scrutiny. During a rather long
moment she was silent, then her answer came glibly enough.

"When I'm workin' I'm ap' to get het-up, an' then I sometimes undoes the
neck o' my waist, an' turns it back to give me breathin'-room."

Mr. Ronald accepted it gravely. "Well, it is a very pretty locket,
Martha--and a very pretty face inside it. Of course, as the trinket was
in my room, and as there was no name or sign on the outside to identify
it, I opened it. I hope you don't mind."

"Certainly not," Martha assured him. "Certainly not!"

"The inscription on the inside puzzles me. 'Dear Daddy, from Claire.'
Now, assuredly, you're not _dear Daddy,_ Martha."

Mrs. Slawson laughed. "Not on your life, I ain't _Dear Daddy,_ sir. Dear
Daddy was Judge Lang of Grand Rapids--you know, where the furnitur' an'
the carpet-sweepers comes from--He died about a year ago, an' Miss
Claire, knowin' how much store I set by her, an' how I'd prize her
picture, she give me the locket, as you see it."

"You say Grand Rapids?--the young lady, Miss Claire, as you call her,
lives in Grand Rapids?"

"Yes, sir."

"I suppose you think I am very inquisitive, asking so many questions,
but the fact is, I am extremely interested. You will see why, when I
explain that several weeks ago, one day downtown, I saw a little girl--a
young lady--who might have been the original of this very picture, the
resemblance is so marked. Bu