, and
little Lem knew very little or nothing about his early life or
parents. All that he knew was that he was bound out to this harsh and
cruel man whom he called uncle, and made to work very hard, too hard,
indeed, for a child, for his board," remarked Aunt Betty.

"I do hope we can find out something about his people. He is such a
good boy, and now he goes to school and he is such an apt pupil,"
added Dorothy.

"Come now, we must dress and arrange our things and see what we need.
You girls please dress as quickly as possible and each make out a list
of what you have lost. In that way I can tell at a glance what is
needed, and we can go shopping this afternoon. I will also send Jim to
my lawyer with a note, and this sampler," remarked Aunt Betty. And
they all hurried away to dress.

Aunt Betty, finishing first, rang for Jim. Jim came to her and she
said, "Jim, here is a sampler that Ma Babcock had and let Alfy bring
to me. It was made by a girl named Hannah Woodrow, who married a man
named Haley, who was cruel to her. It is supposed that the unfortunate
woman died. The girl was a Baltimore girl who spent a year with Mrs.
Babcock's mother and attended school with Ma Babcock. She is thought
to have been rich. I wonder if in any way she could have been related
to little Lem Haley. We must try to trace up all facts and get to the
bottom of things. I have written a letter, and I thought you would not
mind taking it and the sampler to my lawyer."

"Where is it?" asked Jim. "I will go gladly."

"You go to Mr. Van Zandt, at 115 Broadway," replied Mrs. Calvert.
"Give him the package and the letter and tell him I am going out of
town to-morrow at noon to Washington, and that I will send him a
complete route list later on as soon as all our plans are made."

"All right," answered Jim, taking the package and putting the letter
into his coat pocket. "I will not be back directly, if that makes no
difference to you. I have a little shopping I should like to do this
afternoon." So saying, Jim left on his errand.

At Mrs. Calvert's suggestion the girls began making out a list of
things that were missing so that they could replace them that
afternoon if possible.

Suddenly Dorothy rushed into the room where Aunt Betty was quietly
seated reading and trying to collect her nerves that she said had been
shattered by the experiences of the night before.

"Aunt Betty, dear Aunt Betty, I can't find my locket!" she cried.
"Alfy and