ly as I can make out, from
what she says, she started to run at the first clap, and ran away
from her home, instead of toward it. She crossed the line from
Eastshore into Moreland before Jim Doran found her, running as hard
as she could and jerking the express wagon behind her and crying as
though her heart would break. He brought her here and as soon as she
calmed down a bit and told us her name and address, we telephoned
you. Oh, no thanks due us at all--we get a lost child every week or
so. But you ought to break her of running away--the automobile
traffic is so heavy, specially in the summer time, it's dangerous
for a child to be crossing the streets alone."

Doctor Hugh shook hands with the sergeant and turned toward Rosemary
and Shirley.

"Come here, Shirley," he said quietly.

A little frightened, Shirley approached him dubiously. He lifted her
gently and swung her to the top of the table before the sergeant's
desk.

"There's a sand box and a box of sand toys coming to our house
to-morrow," he said unexpectedly, "but I couldn't think of letting a
little runaway girl touch them. Perhaps I had better send them back
to the store."

A sand-box had been one of Shirley's fondest wishes.

"Oh, no, Hugh," she begged, "Don't send them back, please don't. I
won't run away again, ever. Honestly."

"Will you promise not to leave the yard again unless you first ask
Rosemary or Winnie or Aunt Trudy?" asked the doctor.

"Yes," nodded Shirley instantly.

"Well then, if you are not going to run away again, I'll keep the
sand-box," decided Doctor Hugh. "And now we must be getting home for
I have a busy afternoon ahead of me."

The sergeant shook hands with Shirley and told her that she was wise
to make up her mind to play in her own yard. His little girl, he
said, never ran away. The blue-coated man who had taken the bun and
the milk, carried the express wagon down and put it in the car, and
fifteen minutes later Shirley was deposited safely on her own front
porch.

The sand-box and the toys came the next morning and Shirley played
for hours with them. Sometimes she induced Sarah to play with her,
but more often that young person was otherwise engaged. She had a
lame cat to care for now in addition to the rabbits and Winnie
declared that if it came to a choice between cream for her aunt's
tea or the cat, she wouldn't trust Sarah with the bottle.

"I don't think you have a very kind heart, Winnie," said Sarah one