I have hunted all over. We searched everything before we
came to you with the news. We didn't want to bother you till we were
sure that we hadn't merely mislaid it."

"Are you sure, dear, you have looked all over everything you have?"
questioned Aunt Betty.

"Yes, and there is no trace of it anywhere," replied the girl. "And
it's the only locket I have and has the pictures of mother and father
in it. The only pictures we have of them."

"Well, dear, don't let's give up hope yet. Let me go with you and
look," answered her aunt.

"Dear Aunt Betty, I am sure it isn't in there. I always wear it. You
know I do. Ever since you gave it to me it has been my most cherished
possession," bewailed Dorothy.

"No, it isn't anywhere in there," said Alfy, decidedly, walking into
the room at that moment. "I, myself, have searched everywhere, and you
know how thorough I am, Mrs. Calvert."

"Maybe it's upstairs in our old rooms," suggested Aunt Betty. "They
might have mislaid it."

"I will ring for a maid and then Alfy and I will go up with her and
look," answered Dorothy, immediately acting on the suggestion.

"It must be up there, dear, as everything else came down safely, and
all my jewelry is intact," added Mrs. Calvert.

"I do hope it is. It has given me such a scare," rejoined Alfy.

"Come along, Alfy; we are going up now," said Dorothy, as the maid
appeared in answer to her summons.

"We'll be right down, Aunt Betty." And with that the girls departed.

In a few moments they came back, and by just glancing at them Aunt
Betty knew that the quest had failed.

"No, it is nowhere there," said Dorothy sadly, "nowhere there."

"Ring for the manager, dear, and I will see him and see what he
suggests doing. The locket is of no value to anyone else. Its main
value is in the pictures. I am very sorry I have no other copy of
them. I have a picture of your father when he was younger, a mere boy
at our Baltimore home, Bellevieu, but I never had another picture of
your mother, dear," said Aunt Betty.

The manager came now in response to their call, and Aunt Betty told
him of the loss of the locket, and wherein its value lay. He was very
sorry indeed to hear of the loss, but felt hopeful that he could
restore the locket to them in the course of an hour or two.

Dorothy turned to Aunt Betty as the manager left the room, and flung
herself weeping into her lap.

"Dear, dear child," soothed Aunt Betty, "don't be foolish, dear. Th