"Where'd you lose it?"

"I felt of my pocket after I got back to school yesterday, after we'd
been up to the old Loomis house, and I couldn't find the ring."

"My!" said Matilda.

Comfort gave a stifled sob.

Matilda turned short around with a jerk. "Le'ss go up that road and
hunt again," said she; "there's plenty of time before the bell rings.
Come along, Comfort Pease."

So the two little girls went up the road and hunted, but they did not
find the ring. "Nobody would have picked it up and kept it; everybody
around here is honest," said Matilda. "It's dreadfully funny."

Comfort wept painfully under the folds of her mother's green shawl as
they went back.

"Did your mother scold you?" asked Matilda. There was something very
innocent and sympathizing and honest about Matilda's black eyes as
she asked the question.

"No," faltered Comfort. She did not dare tell Matilda that her mother
knew nothing at all about it.

Matilda, as they went along, put an arm around Comfort under her
shawl. "Don't cry; it's too bad," said she. But Comfort wept harder.