All the solace Comfort had was that one little forlorn hope that the
ring might be in that roll of paper, and she should find it when she
got home.

It seemed to her that school never would be done. She thought wildly
of asking Miss Tabitha if she could not go home because she had the
toothache. Indeed, her tooth did begin to ache, and her head too; but
she waited, and sped home like a rabbit when she was let out at last.
She did not wait even to say a word to Matilda. Comfort, when she got
home, went right through the sitting-room and upstairs to her own
chamber.

"Where are you going, Comfort?" her mother called after her.

"What ails the child?" said Grandmother Atkins.

"I'm coming right back," Comfort panted as she fled.

The minute she was in her own cold little chamber she took the pin
from her pocket, drew forth the roll of paper, and smoothed it out.
The ring was not there. Then she turned the pocket and examined it.
There was a little rip in the seam.

"Comfort, Comfort!" called her mother from the foot of the stairs.
"You'll get your death of cold up there," chimed in her grandmother
from the room beyond.

"I'm coming," Comfort gasped in reply. She turned the pocket back and
went downstairs.