A message came right back from France; it said:

"John, received cablegram. Tell wife will come soon, Gene."

Laura Mae laughed and cried when she read it, it was like waking up from a wonderful dream, knowing that it would soon come true. Now, it was November and no further word had been received from Gene. Laura Mae watched the mail closely. She wanted word from him that would tell exactly when he would arrive.

In her room, she picked up the letter she had received from her mother and read it over and over again, meditating upon it. It was hard for her to realize that her father was dead and Philip Dreyer too. She knew that she had failed to read several of the newspapers after she had gotten her darling baby to care for, but she wondered how she had missed reading the account of her father's death. If she had read it at the time, nothing could have kept her from her mother's side. It was unbelievable to think that Philip would do such a thing as stop letters in the Post Office! She thought of the short entreating note he had sent to her asking her to marry him, to give his name to her child. She grew how with anger at the thought of it, but it was like her mother said in her letter, "Let the Maker pass the judgment on his actions since he is no longer with us." Fate had turned against Philip from the time he was hurt in the basketball game. She remembered everything that happened. Now, she could look at all of it with older and better understanding.

As she folded the letter and put it back into the envelope, she heard the patter of little feet in the hallway just outside her door.

"Mony May," the little voice called, "Gamma said to tum up and find you. She is going to west for a while. May I tum in?"

"Of course, you can come in." Laura Mae opened her door and lifted the baby up into her arms and kissed her tenderly.

"Mony May," Laura Gene asked, "When tan we go see Bobby Wandall's baby sister?"

"In a few more days, dear."

"Why don't Gamma get one for us like Bobby's gamma did? Will I have a baby sister to p'ay wif, too?"

"Perhaps, someday you will." The mother wished she could say to her baby, "Yes, of course, dear, you will have a baby sister or a baby brother." She would have to be careful of her promises to a child as bright as Laura Gene.

In the little girl's hands was the book of Fairy Tales that they had brought home from the library. "Will you wead me more stowies?" she asked.

"Surely, Mony May will read to you. It is almost time for your afternoon nap. Are you sleepy?"

"Nope. Not for a long, long time." Laura Mae carried her into the nursery and sat down in the rocking chair with the baby on her lap. She began turning the pages in the book, then closed it gently and asked, "Would you like me to tell you a real fairy tale?"

"A weally, weally twue one?" The little girl's eyes were wide.

"Yes, Laura Gene, a really, really true one."

"Oh, tell me 'bout it." Her face was beaming at the thought of hearing a real story from Mony May's own lips.

"Well," Laura Mae began, slowly rocking the chair back and forth. "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful prince and he lived in a lovely castle. In a little house not far away lived a farmer's daughter. Her father did not like the beautiful prince because he did not know him very well. The prince and the farmer's daughter saw each other often, and by and by they fell in love with each other. Then a big war broke out in a distant land."

"What is a distant land?" Laura Gene asked.

"It means a land many miles away, this one was across a great big sea of water." The little girl nodded and the mother continued. "The gallant prince knew that he would have to go and fight for his country, so he and the farmer's daughter were married before he went to war. Not long afterward, the farmer's daughter had a beautiful baby girl born to her. She looked like both her mother and father so they gave her two names. One was her mother's name and the other was her father's name."

"Have I dot two names, Mony May?"

"Yes, darling, you have two names, Laura is one name and Gene is the other."

"Uh-huh." The girl was satisfied. "Tell me more."

"When the little baby girl came into the world, that made the prince a daddy-prince but he did not know anything about it for a very long time for overtime the mamma wrote a letter to the daddy-prince, somebody stopped it, so it would not reach him."

"That was a bad somebody, wasn't it?" Laura Gene asked when her mother paused a moment to think of a suitable climax for the young little mind.

"Yes, pretty bad," Laura Mae answered.

"I wish I had a daddy-prince to be my weally daddy. Where is the weally daddy-pwince, Mony May?"

"He hasn't come back from the distant land where the big war was yet."

"Oh. Maybe, he has! I know, I bet he is in the library." The baby was growing more and more excited instead of becoming sleepier, as it neared time for her nap. "All of the other pwinces and fa-wees are there. Has the daddy-pwince ever been in a library, Mony May?" The mother could not tell a lie to her baby sitting her on her lap with wide open eyes.

"Yes, dear, the daddy-prince was in the library once, I am sure." She remembered her first visit there as clearly as if it had been yesterday.

"Tan't we go to the library and see if he is there now? Pease, tan't we?" the child begged.

"I am sure he is not there, little sweetheart, because he has not come back from the distant land yet." Her heart beat faster, he must be no his way. She was sure that she would soon see him and John said that the French girls had not been able to make an impression on his buddy.

"Once when I asked Gamma, 'who is my mamma. Tuz Bobby Wandall has a weally mamma' she ist says 'shh, honey' to me. Who is my mamma, Mony May? I want you to be." She patted her mother's cheek softly with her chubby dimpled hand.

Laura Mae wanted to squeeze her little girl and tell her that she was her mamma, but perhaps she had better wait until Gene came, the baby might say something to embarrass Mrs. Chatterton in some way because of the answer the lady had to give the child.

"My father was a farmer and that makes me a farmer's daughter. If the daddy-prince comes back from across the sea, he will be my husband, and you will be our baby girl, and we will build us a lovely castle like the prince's uncle has and we will all live together in it."

"Ooh..." The little eyes grew wider. "I want him to tum! What if we tan't find him?"

"Then you would have to be Gamma's little girl, but I am sure that he will come for us."

"What color are his eyes, bue or bown?"

"They are a pretty blue and his hair is light and wavy, but you must take your nap, now. I will sing to you."

"I don't want to take a nap; I want to find the weally daddy-pwince." There was pleading in the baby's voice.

"We will see if we can find him when you wake from your nap. Come, be my little lady." After the mother took off the little black patent leather slippers, Laura Gene laid her head down on her pillow, just a little reluctantly, while the young woman pulled the rocking chair nearer to the bed and began singing about a sandman. The baby shut her eyes and tried to hold them shut but they quivered and twice she opened them to peek before they were finally sealed in sleep. Laura Mae kissed the little forehead and laid a blanket over the sleeping child, then she tip-toed out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar so she could look in at any time without having to make the lock click in opening the door. It was Celia's afternoon out and John was downtown. Since Mrs. Chatterton was lying down, Laura Mae decided to go back down the carpeted hallway to her own room and take a nap herself, while the baby was asleep.

Little Laura Mae moved restlessly in her sleep and in a few seconds, she opened her eyes, then seeing that 'Mony May' was gone, she turned back the blanket and climbed out of her bed. She fastened her slipper back on her feet and found her wool jacket and pink silk bonnet, this she pulled down over her soft golden curls. Next, she took her little purse from the dresser. Her mother had shown her many times that on the little white card that was in her purse, her address was written plainly. She knew is said, 'Laura Gene, Chatterton Home, 8103, Colonial Heights.' She stepped lightly into the hall, down the stairway and out through the front door. There she stopped and looked around, to see if anyone had noticed her before she hurried down the walk onto the pavement. She heard the dry leaves rustle as she marched through them, block after block toward the town, following the route that she and her mother always took in going to the public library. She was just a little timid in crossing the streets without her mother's hand to hold to, but she seemed intent upon accomplishing something she had planned to do.

Traffic became more crowded as she came nearer to the business section. At a crossing, she stopped and looked to the north and to the south but she did not see a taxi swing around the corner a block away and come toward her at rapid speed. She left the curb and hurried out into the middle of the street. In her haste, she dropped her little purse. As she stopped to pick it up, there was a horrible screeching of brakes and a taxi stopped within a foot of the little girl. Two men sprang from the car in an instant. If the brakes had not been in good condition and the driver very efficient, the child would have been crushed beneath the heavy wheels of the car. A man with kind blue eyes picked the purse up for Laura Gene, who was startled and afraid. He asked, "Where is your mamma?"

"I don't know, but Mony May is home," she answered with a tear beginning to glisten in each eye.

"Did you run away?"

"I dess so, but I am going to the library to find the daddy-pwince," she explained, feeling a trifle more at ease.

"What is your name and where do you live?" he questioned, noting the curly hair and soft brown eyes. Those eyes, where had he seen them before?

"My name is Loa Sjene. I live here," she said as she opened the purse and handed the little white card to the man.

Gene Whitmer read it and knew that she was his baby girl that had been mentioned in the cablegram, those eyes were the same as Laura Mae's, he could not be mistaken. An officer, having heard the squeaking brakes, came to see what was the matter.

"This little girl ran away from the Chatterton home on Colonial Heights, I am taking her back to her mother in this car. If a call comes into headquarters for her, tell them that she has been found and is being returned."

"The address is the same," the driver said, as he glanced at the card.

The officer heard what the diver said. "Move on!" he commanded, then jotted down a note concerning the Chatterton child to pass onto headquarters.

***

Only a few minutes had passed in the home on Colonial Heights before the mother instinct in Laura Gene led her to get up from her lounge and peek into the nursery. The little bed was empty! She gave a startled cry. Her baby was gone! She ran wildly to Mrs. Chatterton's room. The lady had not seen the child; she supposed that Laura Gene was having her nap. Neither the butler nor the cook had seen her, and Carlos and Celia were not there. They rushed to the telephone and called police headquarters. They were frantic for a few minutes until a return call came, saying that the child from the Chatterton home had been found and was being returned in a taxi.

***

Gene helped the pretty little girl into the seat with him and the driver started the engine.

"Who do you mean you were going to fin in the library?" Gene asked the child.

"My daddy-pwince from the weally fa-wee tale. If I find him, he will be my daddy and Mony May will be my weally mamma."

"I see. Would you mind telling me more about him?"

"Well, once upon a time there was a pwince and he loved a farmer's daughter. Nen a big war came and the pwince went away. The farmer's daughter had a baby girl borned to her and that ade the pwince a daddy-pwince." She told the story as she remembered it.

"I understand," Gene said, swallowing hard at the imaginary lump that had come into his throat.

"If he comes back across the sea, he will be my daddy—" she began again.

Gene lifted her onto his ap. "How would you like me to be your 'Daddy-Prince'?" he asked, being sure that she was his own child.

Laura Gene eyed the man critically. "Your eyes are bue. May I see your hair?" Gene removed his hat. "An' light and wavy! Are you the weally daddy-pwince?" she asked eagerly.

"Do you want me to be?"

"Yes, I like you," she answered frankly and cuddled closer to him.

"All right, I will be your daddy prince, if you will give me a big, tight hug."

All wight." Laura Gene put her soft white arms about her father's neck and gave him a tight hug, while he fairly smothered her with kisses. If he had only known what joy awaited him here in America, nothing in the wide world, except death itself, could have kept him in France so long.

When the taxi stopped in front of the beautiful home on Colonial Heights, Laura Mae and Emily Chatterton rushed out to meet it. The driver stepped out and took the little girl from Gene's arms as he handed her out the back door, before stepping the from car himself. Laura Mae caught her baby in her arms and tried to hold back her tears of joy. Gene paid the driver and set down his baggage.

"Baby," Laura Mae sobbed, "Where did you go?"

"To a library to find the daddy-pwince. Here he is!" She pointed to the man with the kind blue eyes. Laura Mae had been so happy to have her baby back safely, that she had not noticed in that moment, who it was that had brought her child back to her. She turned to face her husband.

"Gene!" she cried and handed the baby to Mrs. Chatterton, then she rushed into Gene's outstretched arms. He kissed her lips, her hair, and her eyes. "My bride, my beautiful bride," he breathed softly in her ear. Tears of joy streamed down their faces as the taxi turned around and rolled back down toward the heart of the city.