Mr. Brown had seen Mr. Ward several mornings on his way to work, and, knowing him to be the man next door, had nodded, and said:  “Good morning!” And Mr. Ward had said the same thing.  They, too, would soon be better acquainted.

“I know the Wards are nice people,” said Sue, as she trotted along beside her mother.

“What makes you think so?” asked Mrs. Brown, as she walked slowly across her lawn toward the house next door.

“’Cause they have a nice dog named Dix, and he and Splash are good friends.  First they sort of growled at each other, and then they smelled noses and now they always wag their tails when they meet.”

“Well, that’s a good sign,” laughed Sue’s mother.

“But I wonder what can be the matter with the boy next door,” said Sue to her brother.  “Are you sure you heard Mr. and Mrs. Ward talking about Fred?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” answered Bunny.

“Well, I didn’t hear that part,” said Sue.  “But we’ll soon find out what the matter is.”

As the Browns walked across the lawn, a dog came running out of the house where lived “the boy next door,” as Bunny and Sue called Fred Ward, even though they knew his name.  They had spoken several times to him.

“Is that dog savage?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“No, Momsie,” replied Sue.  “He’s just as nice as he can be.  He and Splash are good friends.  Here Dix!” she called.

With a joyful bark the dog bounded toward Sue.  He evidently knew the children, and soon made friends with Mrs. Brown.

“He’s a strong dog,” she said to the children.

“And he’s good, too!” exclaimed Bunny.  “I was talking to Fred one day and he told me that his dog Dix saved him from drowning when they lived in another city, near a river.”

“That was fine!” cried Mrs. Brown.  “I think I shall like Dix.”

By this time they were under the dining-room windows of the Ward house, and Mrs. Brown and the children heard the sound of a woman sobbing, and a man trying to comfort her.

“Now don’t worry, Martha,” said the man.  “Everything will come out right, I’m sure, and we’ll find Fred.”

“Oh, I hope so!” moaned the woman.  And she kept on crying.

“Excuse me,” said Mrs. Brown, calling in through the open window.  “But I fear you have trouble, and I have come over to see if I may not help you.”

Mr. Ward looked out of the window.

“It’s Mrs. Brown,” he said, evidently speaking to his wife in the room behind him.

“I have been intending to come over to see you,” went on Mrs. Brown.  “But you know how it is I suppose, Mrs. Ward,” for now the other lady had come to the window.  “We keep putting such things off.  And really I have been so busy since we came back from our camp in the big woods that I haven’t had time to set my house to rights.”

“I know how it is, Mrs. Brown,” replied Mrs. Ward, wiping the tears from her eyes, “and I am glad to see you now.  Won’t you come in?”