for the nurse's lying statement had misled us; we were out at sea before
we knew positively that Mabel had disappeared, and my long illness in
Europe, followed by my husband's death kept me from instituting a
thorough search of New York City.

"I was bound for New York in answer to a summons from the men engaged on
the case, when this accident occurred. Mr. Gibson had offered to make
the journey for me, but I felt that I alone must hear the first
news--and to think that through that blessed accident I stumbled upon my
little girl." She ceased speaking and with streaming eyes again clasped
Mabel in a fond embrace.

The chums found their own eyes wet, during this recital, but of the
four, Jessica appeared to be the most deeply moved. Mabel had meant more
to her than to the others, and she found herself facing the severest
trial that had so far entered her young life. She drew a deep breath,
then went bravely over to Mrs. Allison, saying with quivering lips:

"It is very, very hard to give Mabel up. She is the child of our
sorority, but she belongs most of all to me. She is the dearest girl
imaginable, and neither hardship nor poverty have marred her. She is
sweet, unselfish and wholesome, and always will be. I am glad, glad,
glad that her dream has at last been realized, and I should be the most
selfish girl in the world if I didn't rejoice at her good fortune."

She smiled through her tears at Mabel, who rushed over to her and
exclaimed:

"Jessica, dearest, you know perfectly well how much I do and always
shall love you, and Grace and Anne and Nora, too."

The four girls lingered a few moments, then said good-bye to Mrs.
Allison and Mabel, who was to remain for the present with her mother.
She kissed her friends tenderly, promising to see them the next day.

"I'll be in school to-morrow unless mother needs me here," she said with
such a world of fond pride in her voice that the girls who had so
willingly befriended her felt that their loss was a matter of small
consequence when compared with the glorious fact that Mabel had come
into her own.

CHAPTER IV

GRACE TURNS IN THE FIRE ALARM

"I wonder what sort of excitement we shall have next?" remarked Grace
Harlowe to her three friends one afternoon as they gathered in the
senior locker-room, before leaving school.

Three weeks had elapsed since Mabel Allison and her mother had met in
Room 47 of the hospital, and many events had transpired in that shor