. Freeman said that Lady had now had a
good rest and would be quite ready to start on, the girls reluctantly
left the beach and walked slowly toward the chaise.

"I wonder where father and Lady are?" said Rose, and as she spoke Mr.
Freeman came running across the little green field.

"Lady is gone! Stolen, I'm afraid," he called out.

The girls looked at him in amazement.

"She was securely fastened, and even if she got loose would not have
gone far," he continued, "and there is no trace of her." Mr. Freeman's
face was very anxious, and Rose exclaimed:

"But who could take Lady, father? We have not seen a person since we
left Plymouth."

"Some strolling person," answered Mr. Freeman; "perhaps some frightened
Tory from one of the loyal settlements on his way toward a place of
safety."

Anne stood silent, holding up the skirt of her dress filled with the
pretty shells.

"And shall we have to walk to Boston?" asked Rose.

"And leave this good chaise? I think not; though I hardly know how we
can remain here," said Mr. Freeman.

For an hour or more they searched the near-by woods and up and down the
road, but there was no trace to be found of Lady, nor did they find
anything to tell them of how she had vanished.

"Your mother told me that it was no time for a visit so far from home,"
said Mr. Freeman, "and if Lady is indeed stolen I shall have good reason
to wish that I had stayed at home. I hardly dare send you girls along
the road alone, but if I leave this chaise it may disappear as Lady has
done."

"Where could we go, father?"

"We are not far from Scituate, and any of the settlers who have a horse
would come back and get the chaise," he answered. "I do not know of any
harm that could befall you if you keep in the highway."

"Of course we must go," Rose decided quickly, and Anne looked at her
friend admiringly, thinking, as she so often did, that she would like to
be exactly like Rose Freeman.

In the excitement of discovering that Lady had disappeared Rose had
dropped all the pretty shells she had gathered, but Anne was holding
her skirt tightly clasped.

"Put your shells in the lunch basket, Anne," said Mr. Freeman; "I'll
pick up those you have dropped, Rose. We shall reach Boston some time,
and you will be glad of these to remind you of an adventurous journey,"
and his smile made the girls ready to start off with better courage.

"Stop at the first house on the road," directed Mr. Freeman; "tell