time they had circled the park twice every one felt decidedly
more cheerful. Even Oliver had managed a smile, though it would be
some time before he could see a policeman and not want to run.

Sunny Boy had so much to tell Mother at lunch that he almost forgot to
inform her of the loss of his hat. Seeing her trying on a new hat
before the hall mirror after lunch reminded him.

"And how can I go to New York without a hat?" he finished sadly, when
he had described to her how the colored boy had run off with his
beautiful new, round, blue hat.

"You can't, of course," said Mother. "I'll have to take you down town
again to-morrow and buy you another. Harriet, here's Sunny Boy losing
his new hat before he's had it three days."

"Dear, dear! Do tell!" said Harriet, who was passing through the hall
on her way upstairs. She sat down to listen.

"I might take Sunny down through the River Section," she suggested to
Mrs. Horton. "We could go this afternoon. All the colored folks live
there, you know, and Sunny might see the boy. I'd make him give the
hat back, drat him!"

Mrs. Horton had little faith in their finding boy or hat, but she was
willing they should go, and so Harriet and Sunny Boy set out half an
hour later, bound for the River Section, which was over on the other
side of the city from where the Hortons lived.

They decided to walk there and then ride home if they were tired, and
Sunny Boy found much to interest him along the way. They passed a
horse that had lost his nosebag before he had eaten all his oats and
who was regarding it hungrily as it lay on the ground at his feet.

"Fix it, Harriet," implored Sunny. "He hasn't had all his dinner."

So Harriet stopped and picked up the nosebag and fixed it nicely on
the horse's nose. He went right to eating the moment she had it in
place, but Sunny Boy was sure his wise brown eyes thanked them
gratefully.

"Look, Harriet!" they were crossing another street when Sunny Boy's
quick eyes spied something else that interested him. "See, little
desks."

A man was carrying desks into a brown stone house, and a large number
of similar desks were propped up on the walk.

"'Miss May Ford's School for Boys and Girls.'" Harriet read the
shining brass plate on the side of the house as they walked slowly
past. "Why, Sunny, that must be the Miss May your mother talks about.
I guess that's where you'll be going to school this winter."

Sunny Boy stared at the building with