ypothetical bread and butter he'll find the reality
preferable to the fancy."

In a short time Anthony again reconnoitred. The garden was empty. He
looked out at the front of the house. No small figure in blue was to be
seen. He went out and took a turn about the place. He called the boy;
there was no response. From past experience and from the statements of
Juliet and the young girls of the neighbourhood, whom, at various times,
she was in the habit of engaging to assist her in the oversight of the
child at his play, he knew that Tony had a trick of getting himself out of
sight in an incredibly brief space of time.

"As a fire chief he may consider himself free to do what he pleases," said
Anthony to himself, and set about a thorough search of the place, having
no doubt that at any moment he should come upon the boy carrying out the
details of his imaginary vocation. After a time he went back into the
house and scoured it from top to bottom. And when, even here, there was to
be discovered no trace of the child, he began to feel a slight
uneasiness.

There was no source of immediate danger to a stray child in the
neighbourhood, of which he was aware, except the electric line, and little
Tony had never manifested the slightest inclination to approach this by
himself. There were no open ponds, no traps of any kind for the incautious
feet of a three-year-old. Everybody knew Tony, and everybody admired and
loved him, so that, as Anthony took up his hat and started upon a more
extended search, he had no doubt whatever of finding the runaway without
delay.

In a very short time it became a rousing of the neighbourhood. It was
Saturday, and all the children who knew Tony were at hand. They were soon
eagerly searching for him near and far, without finding the slightest
trace of his passing. Anthony, now thoroughly alarmed, telephoned in every
direction, warned every police station in the city, and took every
possible step for the discovery of the child. It occurred to him with
tremendous force that the boy might have been stolen. Such things did
happen. It seemed almost the only way to account for such a sudden and
mysterious disappearance.

Before it seemed possible two hours had slipped past. And now, on every
car which whirled by the corner, Anthony began to expect Juliet. He
dreaded yet longed to see her. He turned cold at the thought of telling
her the situation, yet at the same time he felt as if she might have some