ipt collection of garments hastily donned. Will, in his bath
robe, had his collar and tie in his hand, though it is doubtful if he
wore an article of dress to which it could be attached. From the
servants' rooms came frantic demands to know if the house were on fire.

"No, it's all right!" called Mr. Nelson. "Go back to bed, all of you!"

"But what's it all about?" asked Betty. "What is the matter?"

"Oh, I guess it's my fault," Grace said. "I got up to get a drink, and I
saw your father going down the hall, with the box and the package of
diamonds, and I thought--I thought he was a----"

"Burglar! Is that what you thought me?" demanded Mr. Nelson, as a smile
crept over his face.

"Ye--yes," faltered Grace. "I know it was silly of me--dreadfully silly,
but I--I----"

"It's all right, my dear. I don't blame you a bit!" comforted Betty, her
arms around the shrinking figure of Grace. "Go on back, you boys!" she
commanded the others. "Our--our hair isn't fit to be seen!" and the boys
retired, snickering. No girl likes to be looked at in a dressing gown,
when suddenly aroused from sleep. And one's hair doesn't appear half so
becoming in that state as it does even under a bathing cap.

"But what does it all mean?" asked Mrs. Nelson, who had waited to put on
something smarter than a dressing sack before venturing out into the
hall.

"Grace thought papa was a burglar," explained Betty.

"Well--that is, I didn't exactly----" protestingly began Grace.

"Did you have a nightmare?" asked Mrs. Nelson. "I'm afraid the diamond
excitement was too much for you. A little bromide, perhaps, or some----"

"Oh, she doesn't need that," Betty said as the boys "made themselves
small" around a corner, that they might hear the explanation, if unseen.
"She really did think papa was taking the diamonds."

"Why, he is!" cried Mrs. Nelson, as she caught sight of the objects her
husband carried--the mysterious box and the packet of precious stones.
"What are you doing with them?" she asked.

"I was putting them in a safer place," he explained. "Perhaps it was
foolish of me, but, after I had brought them to my room, I got to
thinking it was rather careless to leave them about so. It wasn't so
much the fear of thieves as it was of fire. You know diamonds can't
stand much fire."

"Oh, if they should be melted before we know who owns them!" gasped Mrs.
Nelson.

"So when I found I couldn't sleep, for thinking of them," went on
Betty's fat