Mrs. Donovan cried bitterly as she went down the stairs and Larry put his arm around her.

"There, there, Kate," he said. "Crying won't help any."

"If we could only do somethin', Larry!" She wrung her hands. "If we could only do somethin'! It seems awful just to have to wait an' wait.

I--I can't bear it."

"I'll call up the morning paper." Bob Strahan and Miss Carter had slipped down behind the rest and no one noticed that they came in hand in hand. "It won't do any harm to run a little story about Mary Rose and then if she has strayed in anywhere or been found people will know where to take her."

"The mornin' paper!" cried Mrs. Donovan. "I can't wait for the mornin'

paper. I want her now!"

The three men looked at each other and shook their heads. She might have to wait longer than for the morning paper to have news of Mary Rose. They felt so helpless. They had followed every clew, they had the a.s.sistance of the entire police force, but they had discovered nothing. They knew no more about Mary Rose than they knew when they had first discovered that she had disappeared.

Miss Thorley put her arms around Mrs. Donovan and tried to sooth her.

All the red "corpuskles" had left her face now and her eyes had a strained frightened expression. It startled Mr. Jerry to see her show so much emotion. Usually she let one see very plainly that she was interested in only her own affairs. Tonight she had forgotten herself in a sweet sympathy for Mrs. Donovan and in her anxiety for her little friend. It made Mr. Jerry's heart thump to hear her speak to Mrs.

Donovan so gently and so tenderly. It made him more determined to do something. He was just about to suggest that he should telephone to Mifflin although he was positive that Mary Rose had not run away, when he heard a child's laugh on the street above them.

Kate Donovan heard it, too, and pushed Miss Thorley from her.

"It's Mary Rose!" she cried. "Thank G.o.d! It's Mary Rose!"

Before she could reach the door a burly policeman stood on the threshold. He held a bundle in his arms that struggled to reach the floor. Jimmie Bronson stumbled wearily behind them.

"Here's a very tired little girl for you," the policeman said, as he dropped Mary Rose into Mrs. Donovan's hungry arms.

"Mary Rose! Mary Rose!" Mrs. Donovan was so happy that she cried and cried. The tears fell on Mary Rose's face. "Where have you been?

Where have you been?"

"Yes, Mary Rose, where have you been?" demanded an eager chorus. The tears had rushed to Miss Thorley's eyes also and when she discovered that, she discovered also that the hand with which she would have wiped them away was held fast in the firm grasp of Jerry Longworthy. How it had found its way there she never knew. She s.n.a.t.c.hed it from him, her face aflame, and there were no longer tears in her eyes.

Mary Rose hugged her aunt and beamed on her friends. Her eyes were like stars.

"How glad you'll be to hear what I've found!" she cried jubilantly.

"I've been in the most wonderful place, a big flat building like this, only not so grand, but it has children! And pets, too! Dogs and cats!

It has, Uncle Larry! I've seen them with my own eyes. Lots and lots of children! Babies and all kinds!" Her cheeks were scarlet. "I couldn't believe it myself at first but Anna Paulovitch said it was true and that it had always been like that. I asked her all about it so I could tell you, Uncle Larry, and you could tell the owner of the Washington. He can't know!"

"Never mind that, Mary Rose." Aunt Kate gave her a shake. "I want to know where you've been. Why didn't you come straight home from school as I've told you to, time an' again? You've frightened us all to death stayin' away so long."

Mary Rose looked regretfully at the people she had frightened to death and then she smiled radiantly.

"Well, you see it was this way. You know there was a story in the newspaper last night about Anna Paulovitch's bald head and when she went to school the boys made fun of her and teased her to show them if she really was bald. It hurt her feelings dreadfully and she was afraid to go home alone so I said I'd go with her. It's a long way from here but I'm glad I went because I helped my friend and I found Jenny Lind."

"You found Jenny Lind!" Everyone was as astonished as Mary Rose could wish.

Bob Strahan and Miss Carter looked at each other and Bob dropped the piece of bra.s.s wire he had found in Mr. Wells' kitchen.

"Yes, I did. Isn't it just like a fairy story? You see if you do a kind thing a kind thing's done to you. I've told all of you that and you wouldn't believe me but now you've got to. Anna Paulovitch lives in this big friendly house I was telling you about. It isn't splendid and beautiful like this but it is friendly and there are a lot of children and pets. The law lets them live there. I didn't suppose there was a house like that in all Waloo! Anna's mother goes out washing and her father's dead like mine. She has seven brothers and sisters that Mrs. Paulovitch has to find clothes and bread for. It's a good deal for one woman she said and I think it is, too. And right across the hall from the Paulovitch's, just like across the hall from Mrs. Bracken's to Mrs. Schuneman's, lives John Kalich. He's a messenger boy and his sister Becky's been in bed for seven years.

She's nine now and Johnny's crazy about her. He came here with a message and when he saw Jenny Lind all by herself in the hall he thought how much Becky would like her. And Becky did like her. She hadn't ever seen a canary bird before. I told her she could borrow Jenny Lind for a while longer though I did want to bring her home tonight. But I thought, Aunt Kate, that since George Washington's supporting himself and I haven't spent the money I earned washing Mrs.

Bracken's dishes and playing with the squirrels with Grandma Johnson I'd buy a bird for Becky for her very own. I'm going to let her keep Jenny Lind until then. It seems as if I was always lending Jenny Lind, doesn't it? Aunt Kate," she stopped suddenly and looked appealingly at her aunt. "I'm so hungry! Can't I have some supper?"

"Haven't you had any?" Aunt Kate was horrified.

"I couldn't eat any at Mrs. Paulovitch's because she only had enough to go around once and anyway I don't think I care for Russian cooking, bread and lard. I'm an American, you know, and that's why I like American cooking best."

Miss Thorley leaned over and took Mary Rose as Aunt Kate jumped up murmuring: "Bread an' lard! My soul an' body!"

"Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?" Miss Thorley asked when she had Mary Rose cuddled in her arms. She couldn't remember when she had held a child before. It was odd but she had suddenly found that she wanted to hold Mary Rose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?' Miss Thorley asked."]

"I got lost." Mary Rose blushed with shame. "I thought I was so smart I could come right home but I turned the wrong corner. I was away over on the other side of Waloo when a kind lady found me and put me on a street car and gave me a nickel and told the conductor to keep his eye on me. But I forgot to tell her it was East Twenty-sixth Street and she sent me west. And then Jimmie found me."

"Good for you, James!" Mr. Jerry reached over to slap Jimmie on the back. "How did you do that?"

"I was just looking round," Jimmie answered vaguely. "I couldn't sit down and do nothing with Mary Rose lost. I had to look till she was found and I was lucky and ran across her. Gee, Mary Rose, but you did give me a scare! I was afraid you'd been kidnapped!"

"You know, Mary Rose, I told you always to come straight home from school," called Aunt Kate from the kitchen.

"I know," in a shamed voice. "And I always did until today, and today--why, I didn't. But I found Jenny Lind and I've made lots of new friends. Mr. Strahan," she peered around at Bob Strahan, "how did that story of Anna's curls get into the newspaper? Did you write it?"

Bob Strahan blushed until he was redder than any tomato that ever ripened. "Yes, Mary Rose, I did," he acknowledged. "I thought it was a dandy little story of a brave girl and that it would be good for people to read."

"Of course, you didn't know that it would hurt Anna Paulovitch's feelings. She says she can't ever hold up her head again but I told her she hadn't done anything to be ashamed of and I'd stand by her."

"I'll stand by her, too!" Bob Strahan promised quickly. He had never thought of a story but as a story. The consequences it might have had not occurred to him. "And a lot of other people will stand by her.

You should see the letters that came to the office to day with offers of help for Anna and her mother."

"Did they!" Mary Rose was delighted. "Then Mrs. Paulovitch won't have to work so hard. Oh, Miss Thorley," she drew the red-brown head down so that she could whisper in a pink ear, "if you could just talk to Anna's mother for a minute you'd know you wouldn't have to stop work to make a home for a family. She says it takes more than one pair of hands no matter how busy you keep them. Will you go with me when I take the bird to Becky and talk to Mrs. Paulovitch?"

"Perhaps I will," stammered Miss Thorley, as she kissed the eager little face, feeling that the room was suddenly filled with Jerry Longworthy's eyes.

"Oh," Mary Rose jumped down and stood looking from one to the other, "but I am glad to be home again! It does seem a hundred years since I had my dinner. I don't think any girl ever had such a nice home or such nice friends as I have and it's just because I have a friendly heart!"

CHAPTER XXV

When Mary Rose went to school the next morning Mrs. Donovan had half a mind to walk with her and make sure that she arrived there safely.

After the day before it seemed to her that many dangers might lie in wait for Mary Rose and Mrs. Donovan had discovered that Mary Rose was very rare and precious. She watched her from the window and her eyes opened wide in astonishment when she saw Mary Rose stop and wait for Mr. Wells. He looked twice as grim and twice as cross as he had ever looked before to Mrs. Donovan as he came down the steps. But it was no wonder that he looked grim and cross. His experience of the night before, when he learned how his neighbors regarded him, could not have been pleasant. A cold shiver ran the full length of Mrs. Donovan's spine as she remembered that experience. If she had had any hope of remaining in the cozy bas.e.m.e.nt flat and keeping Mary Rose, it vanished at the sight of that scowling face. Mr. Wells would surely insist on having Larry discharged. She just knew he would.

Even Mary Rose's staunch and friendly soul was a bit daunted by Mr.

Wells' very unfriendly appearance but she tried to speak to him as usual.

"Good morning, sir."

He looked down at her and his s.h.a.ggy brows drew nearer together. Mary Rose had thought he could not look crosser but he managed to look considerably crosser as he grunted: "So you're back?" It almost sounded as if he wished she hadn't come back.

She blushed. "Did you hear that I was lost? I was so ashamed. I thought I could find my way anywhere in Waloo just as I could in Mifflin. But you couldn't get lost in Mifflin, no matter how hard you tried. You'd be sure to find yourself in the cemetery or at the post office or the lumber yard." She looked up at the cross face and ventured a smile. "You'll be glad to hear that I've found Jenny Lind,"