d upon Billie.

They were all so excited that for a moment they could not speak. And then
they all spoke at once.

"Miss Arbuckle's album!"

"Billie, you must be crazy!"

"I never heard anything----"

"Billie, are you sure?"

These, and a dozen other wild questions like them fairly smothered poor
Billie, and it was a long time before she could get a word in edgewise.

"Please keep still a minute," she cried at last. "You're making so much
noise you'll wake the children."

"Goodness! who cares about the children?" cried Laura impatiently.
"Billie, if you don't say something, I'll scream."

"Well, give me a chance then," retorted Billie.

"What did you mean by saying that you saw them in Miss Arbuckle's album?"
asked Connie.

Billie looked at her soberly and then said very quietly. "Just that!"

"But, Billie, when did this happen?" cried Laura, fairly shaking her in
her impatience. "For goodness sake, tell us everything."

"Why, I know!" Vi broke in excitedly. "Don't you remember what Billie
said about Miss Arbuckle's crying over the pictures of three children in
the album----"

"And said," Connie took up the tale eagerly, "that she had lost her dear
ones, but didn't want to lose their pictures too? Oh, Billie, now it is a
mystery!"

"But if you are sure these are the same children you saw in the album,
Billie," said Laura, walking up and down the room excitedly, "you will
have to do something about it."

"Of course," said Billie, her eyes shining. "I'll write to Miss Arbuckle
and tell her all about it. Oh, girls, I can't wait to see her face when
she sees them. I'm sure it will make her happy again."

They talked about Billie's remarkable discovery late into the night,
until finally sheer weariness forced them to go to bed. But in the
morning they were up with the first ray of sunlight.

They told Connie's mother and father about it at the breakfast table, and
before they got through the meal the two older people were almost as
interested and excited as the girls.

As soon as she could get away Billie flew upstairs to write her letter,
leaving the others still at the table. The children had already had their
breakfast--for like all children they woke up with the birds--and were
out playing on the front porch.

"Why, I never heard anything like it!" said Connie's mother to her
equally astonished husband. "It seems like a fairy tale. But, oh, I do
hope it is true--for the kiddies' sake and for tha