t in the house! Jane began at the top and I began at the
bottom, and we searched every hole and corner. I have looked in the
very cupboards and wardrobes! I even searched the cistern-room, but she
is not to be found. I don't know what to do next. It seems impossible
that she can have disappeared--yet where can she be?"

"Have you looked in the cloak-room to see if any of her outdoor things
are missing?"

"I went in, but I never thought of looking at her clothes. Outdoor?
What on earth should take the child out at this hour in the dark and
rain?"

"I can't tell you that, dear, but we must think of every possibility.
Esther, you know best what Peggy had in the cloak-room--see if anything
is missing. Mellicent, run upstairs and find if any hats or jackets
have been taken from their places. If she is not in the house, she must
have gone out. It was most thoughtless and foolish to go without asking
permission, and at such an hour; but, as Arthur says, there is not much
chance of any harm befalling her. Try not to work yourself up into a
state of anxiety, dear; we shall soon find your truant for you. Well,
Esther, what is it?"

"Her mackintosh has gone, father, and her red tam-o'-shanter, and her
snow-shoes. Her peg is next to mine, and there is nothing on it but her
check golf cape."

"She has gone out, then! What can it mean?--to-night of all nights,
when she was so happy, when Arthur had just arrived, when she promised
to be downstairs in ten minutes--"

"It is most extraordinary! It must have been something of great
importance, one would say. Does anyone know if Peggy had any special
interest on hand at present? Was there any gift which she wished to
buy? It does not happen to be anyone's birthday to-morrow, does it?
Yours, Arthur, for instance? No? The birthday of a school-friend,
then? She might suddenly have remembered such an occasion, and rushed
out to post a letter--"

"But there is no post until to-morrow morning, so she would gain no time
by doing that. The postman called at five o'clock, and the letters were
on the hall-table waiting for him as usual. I do not know of any work
that she had on hand, but the girls have complained that she has spent
all her spare time in her room lately, and when I spoke to her about it
she said she was writing--"

"Perhaps she is writing a book," suggested Mellicent thoughtfully. "She
says she is going to be an authoress when she grows up. I think