was all eagerness as she picked
the old-fashioned volume up and began turning over the pages. She was
thinking of poor Miss Arbuckle's red nose and eyes of that morning and of
how different the teacher's face would look when she, Billie, returned
the album.

"Oh, I'm so glad," she said. "I felt awfully sorry for Miss Arbuckle this
morning."

"Well, I wish I knew what you were talking about," said Vi plaintively,
and Billie briefly told of her meeting with Miss Arbuckle in the morning
and of the teacher's grief at losing her precious album.

"Humph! I don't see anything very precious about it," sniffed Laura.
"Look--the corners are all worn through."

"Silly, it doesn't make any difference how old it is," said Vi as they
started back along the path, Billie holding on tight to the book. "It may
have pictures in it she wants to save. It may be--what is it they call
'em?--an heirloom or something. And Mother says heirlooms are precious."

"Well, I know one that isn't," said Laura, with a little grimace. "Mother
has a wreath made out of hair of different members of the family. She
says it's precious, too; but I notice she keeps it in the darkest corner
of the attic."

"Well, this isn't a hair wreath, it's an album," Billie pointed out. "And
I don't blame Miss Arbuckle for not wanting to lose an album with family
pictures in it."

"But how did she come to lose it there?" asked Laura, as the road could
be seen dimly through the trees. "The woods seem a funny place. Girls,"
and Laura's eyes began to shine excitedly, "it's a mystery!"

"Oh, dear," sighed Vi plaintively, "there she goes again. Everything has
to be a mystery, whether it is or not."

"But it is, isn't it?" insisted Laura, turning to Billie for support. "A
lady says she has lost an album. In a little while we find that same
album----"

"I suppose it's the same," put in Billie, looking at the album as if it
had not occurred to her before that this might not be Miss Arbuckle's
album, after all.

"Of course it is, silly," Laura went on impatiently. "It isn't likely
that two people would be foolish enough to lose albums on the same day.
If it had been a stick pin now, or a purse----"

"Yes, yes, go on," Billie interrupted. "You were talking about
mysteries."

"Well, it is, isn't it?" demanded Laura, becoming so excited she could
not talk straight. "What was Miss Arbuckle doing in the woods with her
album, in the first place?"

"She might have been loo