"Are you quite sure of that?" she asked gently.

"Oh, yes, I _know_ I left it there, and I came back on purpose to get
it," he said, his blue eyes wide with surprise, "and now it is getting
late to hunt for it, 'sides, I don't know where to hunt."

His lip quivered, and there was something very like tears in his eyes,
although he blinked very hard to hide them.

"I will search for the ball, and keep it for you to-morrow morning,"
Aunt Charlotte said; "it may have dropped to the floor, and rolled away
into some shadowy corner, or behind the draperies. It is almost twilight
now, but the lamplight to-night or the bright daylight to-morrow will
help me to find it for you."

Thus comforted, Reginald left the cottage, but although he ran nearly
all the way home, he saw neither of his schoolmates. He had hunted so
long for the coveted ball that they had reached their homes before he
was even in sight.

"We can't wait for him," Katie had said, as she looked down the road to
see if he were coming, and then they had become so interested in talking
of their dialogue that they forgot all about him.

Usually Reginald called for his cousin Katie, but the next morning he
was so eager to learn if his ball had been found, that he started early,
intending to be the first at school, and hurried past Katie's house lest
she might call to him to wait. He had almost reached the cottage when
he remembered that he had left both his spelling-book and reader at