uin of her pretty bonnet, complimented
Gilbert and Winifred on the success of the play; and not until she had
chatted for a few moments with Mrs. Merrill did she go to rescue her
valued mantle and the treasured velvet coat. She hoped the English
officer's coat was none the worse for its part in the play; and, like
Betty, she hoped to return it before it was missed by its rightful
owner; for it would be no easy matter to explain why it had been
borrowed, and she knew its loss would make serious trouble.

She noticed that her mantle was dusty and wrinkled, and that the lace on
the velvet coat was torn. The scarlet coat, however, was not to be
found, and Betty had also disappeared.

Deciding that she would find her little daughter and the coat safely at
home Mrs. Hastings bade her friends good-bye and started for her walk
home. But she did not find Betty there. Supper time came, and still no
Betty. A servant was sent to Mrs. Merrill's to inquire for the little
girl, but came hurrying back with the tidings that Betty had not been
seen since the end of the play.

Mrs. Merrill now looked through every room, but Betty was not to be
found. She inquired at the homes of her neighbors, but no one had seen
the little girl.

The April twilight deepened to dusk; the stars shone out and found Mrs.
Hastings anxious and troubled, for she could find no trace of Betty.

When Betty ran down the alley she had thought it would be an easy matter
to reach home with the red coat; but she had forgotten that Philadelphia
was full of the King's soldiers, and that a bareheaded little girl
racing down the street with the coat of an English officer over her arm
would not escape notice; and she had only reached Second Street when a
passing soldier called to her. His call only made her run the faster,
and the soldier sped after her. If Betty had stopped at once, told her
own name and address, and the name of the owner of the coat, the soldier
would doubtless have taken her directly home and made sure that she had
told him the truth, and it is probable that her troubles would have been
at an end. But Betty was now too frightened to think clearly. She did
not even know the direction in which she ran was straight away from her
home. The English soldier ran clumsily, and Betty, turning quickly into
another street, soon distanced him; but only to run straight into
another soldier, who seized her firmly by both arms, swung her about,
and without a word