her empty room,
"I never knew you to go back on your word before! And you said you'd
come to Sand Court as soon as you could!"

He looked in the veranda hammock, and in the library, and any place
where he thought Midget might be, absorbed in a book; he inquired of the
servants; and at last he went back to his mother.

"I can't find Mopsy," he said.

"Then she _must_ be over at Cousin Ethel's. She does love to go over
there."

"Well, she oughtn't to go when she's promised to come out with us. I
never knew old Midge to break a promise before."

"Perhaps Cousin Ethel telephoned for her," suggested Mrs. Maynard.
"Though in that case, she should have told me she was going. Run over
there and see, son."

"I'll telephone over, that'll be quicker," said King, and ran back into
the house.

"Nope," he said, returning; "she isn't there, and hasn't been there
to-day. Mother, don't you think it's queer?"

"Why, yes, King, it is a little queer. But she can't be far away.
Perhaps she walked down to the train to meet Father."

"Oh, Mother, that would be a crazy thing to do, when she knew we were
waiting for her."

"Well, maybe she went walking with Rosamond and Nurse Nannie. She's
certainly somewhere around. Run away now, King. Mrs. Corey and I are
busy."

King walked slowly away.

"It's pretty queer," he said to Hester and the Craig boys; "Mops is
nowhere to be found."

"Well, don't look so scared," said Tom; "she can't be kidnapped. If it
was your baby sister, that would be different. But Midget has just gone
off on some wild-goose chase,--or she is hiding to tease us."

"Perhaps she wrote to Kitty," suggested Hester, "and went down to the
post-office to mail it."

"Not likely," said King. "She knows the postman collects at six o'clock.
Well, I s'pose she _is_ hiding somewhere, reading a book. Won't I give
it to her when I catch her! For she _said_ she'd come out here, right
after her practice hour."

A dullness seemed to fall on the Sand Club members present. Not only was
Marjorie their ringleader and moving spirit, but somehow King's
uneasiness impressed all of them, and soon Dick Craig said, "I'm going
home."

King raised no objection, and, after sitting listlessly around for a few
moments, the others all went home.

But Tom turned back.

"I say," he began, "you know Mopsy is somewhere, all right."

"Of course she's somewhere, Tom, but she never did anything like this
before, and I can't understand it