ke a nappy now," he murmured, and in
five minutes was sleeping as soundly as a dormouse. Two striped
squirrels, which may or may not have been the same which he had seen in
the early morning, came out on a bough not a yard from his head,
chattered, winked, put their paws to their noses and made disrespectful
remarks to each other about the motionless figure. Birds flew and sang,
bees hummed, the wind went to and fro in the branches like the notes of
a low song. But Archie heard none of these things. The hen herself might
have come back, cackled her best, and flapped her wings in his very face
without arousing him, so deep was his slumber.

Meantime at home, two miles away, there was great commotion over the
disappearance of Master Archie. Marianne had lingered quite a long time
at the back gate. The milkman was a widower, looking out for a wife,
and Marianne, as she said, could skim cream with anybody; so it was
only natural that they should have a great deal to say to each other,
and that measuring the milk at that particular gate should be a slow
business. This morning their talk was so interesting that twenty minutes
at least went by before Marianne, with very rosy cheeks and very bright
eyes, came back, pail in hand, along the garden walk. As she took up the
broom to finish her sweeping, she heard a great commotion overhead,
steps running about, voices exclaiming; but her mind was full of the
milkman, and she paid no attention, till Louisa came flying downstairs,
half-dressed, and crying,--

"Sake's alive, Marianne, where's Master Archie?"

"How should I know? Not down here, anyway," was Marianne's reply.

"But he _must_ be down here," persisted Louisa. "He's gone out of the
nursery, and so are his clothes. Whatever's taken him I can't imagine.
I've searched the closets, and looked under the beds, and up in the
attic, and I took Mr. Gray his hot water, and he isn't there. His
spade's gone too, and his ap-- Oh, mercy! there's his story-book now,"
and she pounced on "Robinson Crusoe," where it lay on the table. "He's
been down here certain sure, for that book was on his bed when he went
to sleep last night. Don't stand there, Marianne, but come and help me
find him."

Into the parlor, the dining-room, the pantry, ran the maids, calling
"Archie! Archie!" at the tops of their voices. But Archie, who as we
know was a good mile away by that time, did not hear them. They searched
the kitchen, the cellar, the wood-shed