new
scenes. The girls were glad to get into bed.

"We'll have a hard day ahead of us tomorrow, if we want to see
everything we plan on seeing," said Bet as she snuggled down.

Within half an hour they were all asleep.

When Bet opened her eyes it was daylight and she felt ready for the
strenuous day ahead. She scrambled out of bed, gave Kit a shake and
then ran across the hall to see if Shirley and Joy were up.

Shirley was still sleeping. But Joy was not there.

"Why, she's up and dressed! Her clothes are gone!" exclaimed Bet in
vexed tones. "I think she might have wakened us."

Dressing quickly they went down stairs to find Joy.

The lounging rooms and halls and the foyer were empty at this hour. No
one had seen Joy or knew anything about her.

She had simply disappeared.

CHAPTER II

_A STREET LEADING TO THE CAPITOL_

And when breakfast was over there was still no Joy.

Finally one of the porters was found who said he had seen a girl leave
the hotel about seven o'clock. "She walked up the street in front of
you, up toward the Capitol."

"There, didn't I tell you! Joy's all right. Nothing can happen to her
here," said Shirley reassuringly.

"Let's walk up that way. We'll probably meet her coming back." Kit
looked anxiously toward the hill. "I can't imagine why she stayed so
long. She can't get inside any of the buildings."

"Maybe I won't have something to say to that girl!" exclaimed Bet
angrily. "She hasn't any right to run off like this and frighten us."
And if Bet had met her at that minute, the girl would probably have
been told many things about herself.

But they did not meet Joy. There was no sign of her on the street
leading up to the Capitol, and no sign of her on the grounds.

Where was Joy?

Even the Judge looked worried. "Not that I think anything will happen
to her, but I'm responsible and I wish she had not gone out by
herself," he declared.

The girls were seeing the Capitol in a very different way than they had
planned. They were in no mood to be impressed by the majesty of the
building. They were watching for the tiny figure of Joy to appear at
every corner.

"It's no use, we might as well go back to the hotel and wait. Maybe
she's there by this time," suggested Judge Breckenridge.

Still Joy had not returned when the party reached their quarters.

"There may have been an accident!" Bet shivered at the thought. Their
laughing Joy! That would b