"The dump lot!" ejaculated the doctor. "Is that where Shirley is in the habit of going? Suppose you tell me about this and how long it has been going on." The shrill ring of the telephone bell interrupted Rosemary's recital. Doctor Hugh answered it. He came back to the dining-room frowning, yet oddly enough looking relieved. "Shirley is in the Moreland police station," he announced. "She was picked up during the height of the storm with her express wagon. I'll go over in the car and bring her home. Want to come, Rosemary?" Rosemary did, and the sun was shining out again as they took their places in the roadster. "Don't look so sober, dear," said Doctor Hugh, glancing at the grave face close to his shoulder. "I'm not blaming you, except that I wish you had told me at once. This experience will probably quite cure Shirley from running off. Heigh-o, I wonder what you girls will think of to do next?" Moreland was the town adjoining Eastshore, and ten minutes' ride brought them to the door of the police station. Rosemary clung tightly to her brother's arm as they went up the steps. "There is nothing to be afraid of," he assured her. Then someone folded back one of the heavy oak doors and they found themselves in a large, bare room. CHAPTER VIII SARAH IN DISGRACE The first person Rosemary saw was Shirley, looking very small and forlorn. She sat on a chair so high that her little feet dangled in mid-air. One hand clutched a half eaten bun, the other held a scarcely tasted glass of milk. "Oh Rosemary!" cried the familiar little voice. "I'm so glad you've come!" An obliging man in a blue uniform took the bun and the glass of milk and Rosemary hugged Shirley tightly. "How could you run away again, darling?" the older sister whispered reproachfully. "You worried us so! Were you out in the rain?" "Only a little," said Shirley, restored to cheerfulness now that Rosemary was here to take care of her. "She got frightened when it began to thunder," the sergeant at the desk was saying to Doctor Hugh. "As nearly as I can make out, from what she says, she started to run at the first clap, and ran away from her home, instead of toward it. She crossed the line from Eastshore into Moreland before Jim Doran found her, running as hard as she could and jerking the express wagon behind her and crying as though her heart would break. He brought her here and as soon as she calmed down a bit and told us her name and address, we telephoned you. Oh, no thanks due us at all--we get a lost child every week or so. But you ought to break her of running away--the automobile traffic is so heavy, specially in the summer time, it's dangerous for a child to be crossing the streets alone." Doctor Hugh shook hands with the sergeant and turned toward Rosemary and Shirley. "Come here, Shirley," he said quietly. A little frightened, Shirley approached him dubiously. He lifted her gently and swung her to the top of the table before the sergeant's desk.