“Perhaps Cousin Ethel telephoned for her,” suggested Mrs. Maynard.  “Though in that case, she should have told me she was going.  Run over there and see, son.”

“I’ll telephone over, that’ll be quicker,” said King, and ran back into the house.

“Nope,” he said, returning; “she isn’t there, and hasn’t been there to-day.  Mother, don’t you think it’s queer?”

“Why, yes, King, it is a little queer.  But she can’t be far away.  Perhaps she walked down to the train to meet Father.”

“Oh, Mother, that would be a crazy thing to do, when she knew we were waiting for her.”

“Well, maybe she went walking with Rosamond and Nurse Nannie.  She’s certainly somewhere around.  Run away now, King.  Mrs. Corey and I are busy.”

King walked slowly away.

“It’s pretty queer,” he said to Hester and the Craig boys; “Mops is nowhere to be found.”

“Well, don’t look so scared,” said Tom; “she can’t be kidnapped.  If it was your baby sister, that would be different.  But Midget has just gone off on some wild-goose chase,—­or she is hiding to tease us.”

“Perhaps she wrote to Kitty,” suggested Hester, “and went down to the post-office to mail it.”

“Not likely,” said King.  “She knows the postman collects at six o’clock.  Well, I s’pose she is hiding somewhere, reading a book.  Won’t I give it to her when I catch her!  For she said she’d come out here, right after her practice hour.”

A dullness seemed to fall on the Sand Club members present.  Not only was Marjorie their ringleader and moving spirit, but somehow King’s uneasiness impressed all of them, and soon Dick Craig said, “I’m going home.”

King raised no objection, and, after sitting listlessly around for a few moments, the others all went home.

But Tom turned back.

“I say,” he began, “you know Mopsy is somewhere, all right.”

“Of course she’s somewhere, Tom, but she never did anything like this before, and I can’t understand it.  The only thing I can think of is, that she’s gone down on the pier.  But she never goes there alone.”

“Well, there’s lots of things she might be doing.  Come on, let’s go down on the pier and take a look.”

The two boys walked out to the end of the pier and back again, but saw no sign of Marjorie.

On their way home, Tom turned in at his own house.

“Good-by, old chap,” he said; “don’t look so worried.  Midget will be sitting up laughing at you when you get home.”

King said good-by, and went on.  He felt a strange depression of heart, as if something must have happened to Midget.  He knew his mother felt no alarm, and perhaps it was foolish, but the fact remained that Midge had never acted like that before.  Mr. Maynard came home at six o’clock, and Marjorie had not yet made an appearance.

He looked very much alarmed, and at sight of his anxiety, Mrs. Maynard grew worried.