rmured, pushing aside his saucer of ice-cream, "may I--may
I be excused?"

There was no answer; his mother had not heard him.

"Mamma," in a louder tone, "oh, mamma!"

"What is it, my son?"

Seeing by his unhappy face that something was wrong, she nodded
permission for him to leave the table; and at the same time arose and
followed him into the hall.

"Dear child, what is the matter?"

"Papa's watch," he moaned. "I'm afraid somebody will steal it."

As Mrs. Dunlee knew nothing whatever about the watch this sounded very
strange. She wondered if Jimmy had really been hurt by his fall and was
out of his head.

"Why, my precious little boy," said she, taking his hot hand in hers.
"Papa's watch is safe in his vest pocket. Nobody is going to steal it."

Jimmy looked immensely relieved.

"Oh, has he got it back again? I'm so glad! Where did he find it?"

"Darling," said Mrs. Dunlee, now really alarmed. "Come upstairs with
mamma. Does your head ache? I think it will be best for you to go right
to bed."

But Jimmy persisted in talking about the watch.

"Where did papa find it? He let Lucy have it; don't you know?"

"No, I did not know."

"And I took it away from Lucy. I was afraid she'd lose it. And
then,--oh, dear, oh, dear,--then I went and lost it myself!"

Mrs. Dunlee understood it all now. Jimmy's head was clear enough; he
knew perfectly well what he was talking about. The watch was gone, a
very valuable one. Search must be made for it at once. Without waiting
to speak to her husband, Mrs. Dunlee put on her hat and went with Jimmy
up the hill. He limped a little from the bruise of his fall and she
steadied him with her arm as they walked.

IX

"CHICKEN LITTLE" AND JOE

The man and woman who lived in the green cottage had gone to a
neighbor's to stay till their chimney should be fastened on again. There
was no one in sight.

"Here's the place where I went up," said Jimmy, laying his hand on one
of the ridge-poles. "And here's the place where I came down," pointing
to another ridge-pole.

Mrs. Dunlee was stooping and looking around carefully. There was not a
tuft of grass or a clump of weeds behind which even a small article
could be hidden, much less a large bright object like a gold watch. She
took a wooden pencil from her pocket and scraped the earth with it; but
only disturbed a few ants and beetles. If the watch had ever been
dropped here, it certainly was not here now. She and Jimmy t