Though it was late, he saw his aunt was astir, for the lights were burning brightly.  Before he could utter the greeting on his tongue, he was terrified by the scared face of his relative.

“Why, aunt, what is the matter?  Are you ill?”

“Oh, Harvey!” she wailed; “haven’t you brought Dollie with you?”

“Dollie!” repeated the other; “I haven’t seen her since I left home.”

“Then you will never see her again,” and, overcome by her terrible grief, the good woman sank into the nearest chair, covered her face with her apron and wept.

Harvey Bradley stood petrified.  Bright-eyed Dollie, whom he had left a few hours before, rosy, happy, overflowing with bounding spirits, was gone, and the sobbing Aunt Maria declared she would never be seen again.

Stepping into the room, Harvey laid his hand on his aunt’s shoulder and in a trembling voice said: 

“Why, aunt, what does this mean?  Are you in earnest?  What has become of Dollie?  Tell me, I beseech you.”

“She is lost; she is lost!  Oh, why did we ever bring her to this dreadful country?  I wish none of us had ever seen it.”

“But what about Dollie?  Where is she?  How long has she been gone?  Compose yourself and tell.”

It was not until he spoke sharply that the hysterical woman was able to make known that the child had been absent for hours, no one knew where.  When she learned that noon that her big brother would not be back till night, Dollie had pouted because he had gone off without telling her.  She was not sure she could ever forgive him.  However, she ate her dinner, and soon after went out to play.  Some hours later her aunt went to the door to call her, but she was not within sight or hearing.  Maggie was sent to look for her, but soon came back with word that she could not be found.

The child had been seen a couple of hours before, running in the direction of the path that led into the mountains, as if she was fleeing from some one, Maggie had gone as far as she dared in quest of her, but her loudest shouts brought no reply and she returned.

The word brought by the servant, as may well be believed, filled the aunt with the wildest grief.  Beyond all doubt, Dollie had formed a sudden resolve to hunt up her brother Harvey, who had gone away and left her at home.  She had strayed so far into the mountains that she was lost.  Fortunately, she was warmly dressed at the time, but exposed as she must be to the wintry winds and cold, she could not hold out until morning unless rescued very soon.

Harvey was stricken with an anguish such as he had never known before, but he knew that not a minute was to be lost.  Dollie must be found at once or it would be too late.  It added a poignancy to his woe to know that in coming down the mountain path, he must have passed close to her, who was in sore need of the help he was eager to give.