1 files changed, 7693 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/6998.txt b/6998.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b7dccf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/6998.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7693 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spanish Chest, by Edna A. Brown
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The Spanish Chest
+
+Author: Edna A. Brown
+
+Posting Date: September 14, 2014 [EBook #6998]
+Release Date: November, 2004
+First Posted: February 20, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPANISH CHEST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Vital Debroey, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "WHAT IS IS THIS TINY DOTTED LINE ACROSS THE GROUNDS?"
+WIN INQUIRED]
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SPANISH CHEST
+
+BY
+
+EDNA A. BROWN
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN GOSS AND FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
+
+
+DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF FLORENCE AND CLARA
+
+who shared a winter spent in the Channel Islands and have now gone on a
+longer journey.
+
+ This little book I wrote for thee
+ Thy friendly eyes will never see.
+ It was not meant for critics' reading,
+ Nor for the world that scans unheeding.
+ For there are lines washed in with tears,
+ As well as nonsense, mocking fears.
+ Alas! thine eyes will never see
+ This little book I wrote for thee.
+
+
+
+
+THE SPANISH CHEST
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+Once upon a time a clever Japanese artist drew a sketch of a man who
+sat industriously painting, when, to his great amazement, all the
+little figures on his canvas came to life and began to walk out of the
+picture.
+
+Something like that happened to this book. Books grow, you know,
+because somebody thinks so hard about the different characters that
+gradually they turn into lifelike people, who often insist on doing
+things that weren't expected. When this especial book began to grow,
+two persons who hadn't been invited, came and wanted to be in the story.
+
+The author politely remarked that they were grown-up and couldn't
+expect to be in a book for young people.
+
+They said that they were not so very grown-up, only twenty-three and a
+half and that they still knew how to play.
+
+Connie said that her home was in the Island of Jersey where the story
+was going to be, and if she came in, she could make things much more
+pleasant for the other characters.
+
+Max said that the story would go to smash without him, because he
+should be needed at an important moment.
+
+So, because they looked most wistful and promised very earnestly to
+behave as though they were nice children, and not be silly, the author
+said they might have a share in the story.
+
+Connie at once offered to lend her collie. So that is how the beach dog
+happens to be in the book.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I.  AT ROSE VILLA
+    II.  FRAN ENGAGES LODGINGS
+   III.  ST. HELIER'S
+    IV.  THE BEACH DOG
+     V.  MONT ORGUEIL
+    VI.  A RACE WITH THE TIDE
+   VII.  MR. MAX
+  VIII.  RICHARD LISLE'S LETTER
+    IX.  CHRISTMAS IN JERSEY
+     X.  THE BUN WORRY
+    XI.  THE MANOR CAVE
+   XII.  WIN VISITS THE LIBRARY
+  XIII.  ABOUT THE SPANISH CHEST
+   XIV.  IN THE VAULTS
+    XV.  THE HAUNTED ROOM
+   XVI.  THE MANOR GHOST
+  XVII.  THE DOTTED LINE
+ XVIII.  ROGER THE MAROONED
+   XIX.  AT CORBIERE
+    XX.  WIN WONDERS
+   XXI.  THE TWO CHAINS
+  XXII.  THE CHEST ITSELF
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+"What is this tiny dotted line across the grounds?" Win inquired
+
+The Village of St. Aubin's
+
+"For a long time people supposed they were called Martello towers from
+the man who built them"
+
+Above and behind towered the ruined castle of Orgueil
+
+"Look there is a Jersey cow among the cabbages"
+
+"He'll come for us! He means us to climb this rock and wait"
+
+A most interesting little Church almost on the water's edge
+
+The old Norman gateway leading to Vinchelez Manor
+
+They came upon the loveliest of little beaches
+
+Plemont is the spot where the cable comes in from England
+
+Win's plan of the Manor cellars
+
+What was undoubtedly the Spanish Chest
+
+
+
+
+THE SPANISH CHEST
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+AT ROSE VILLA
+
+
+The silence in the little drawing-room had lasted for some moments
+before being broken by the man seated in the big wicker chair. His
+dress indicated a clergyman of the Church of England, his face betrayed
+lines of kindliness and forbearance, but its present expression showed
+a perplexity not unmixed with disapproval.
+
+"I suppose, Miss Pearce," he said at length, "there is no use in trying
+further to dissuade you from your plan, and of course it may work out
+for the best. But--you will excuse me, my dear, for I have daughters of
+my own--you seem too young to undertake a lodging-house. Now a position
+as governess in a nice family--"
+
+Estelle Pearce interrupted him quickly.
+
+"There is Edith, you know. Should I try teaching, it would mean
+separation from her. And I _must_ keep Edith with me. We have only each
+other now. No, Mr. Angus, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for
+your interest in us, but I am sure it is best to try my plan. You see I
+have the house on my hands. When we came to Jersey, Father leased it
+for the winter and I can't afford to forfeit thirty pounds. And there
+is Nurse as well as Annette. Surely Nurse lends dignity to any family.
+But I am older than you think," she ended with a smile and a pretty
+blush. "I am twenty-four, Mr. Angus."
+
+A kindly look came into the eyes bent on her slender, black-robed
+figure. "You do not look it, my dear," her visitor said after a pause.
+"Well, with two good servants, the plan may be successful. Much depends
+on what class of lodgers comes your way. I am told that Americans are
+rather desirable inmates, that they pay well and are not exacting. If
+you could let your rooms to some refined American ladies, things might
+adjust themselves very satisfactorily. To be sure, few Americans visit
+the Channel Islands; they are given to wandering farther afield. But I
+will speak of your plans to the postmaster and one or two others. It
+might be advisable to put a card in the circulating library at St.
+Helier's. Rest assured that both Mrs. Angus and I will do all we can
+for your father's girls. Lionel and I were good friends at Oxford
+though we saw so little of each other afterwards. I did not think when
+he wrote me scarcely six weeks ago that it was to be Hail and Farewell.
+
+"I must go," he added quickly, seeing that Estelle's eyes were
+brimming. "Where is Edith? I hoped to see her also."
+
+"She has gone to the sands," replied Estelle. "It is dull for her,
+moping here, so I sent her for an errand and told her to run down and
+see whether the tide had turned. She begins school on Monday."
+
+Mr. Angus took his leave, and still looking doubtful, went down the
+steps of Rose Villa, a quaint little house, covered with tinted
+plaster, as is the pretty custom of the Channel Islands, and appearing
+even to a masculine ignorance of details much more neat and attractive
+than its neighbors.
+
+So Mr. Angus thought, as he turned from his puzzled survey of its
+exterior, to walk slowly down the short street at the end of which
+glittered the waters of the English Channel.
+
+The tide was on the turn but the expanse of sandy beach lay yet broad.
+Far toward St. Helier's the curve of the port showed the high sea-wall,
+for this same innocent-looking tide that ebbs and leaves behind miles
+of sandy stretches and rocks, can return with force sufficient to dash
+over even the lofty breakwater and surprise the placid Jerseymen at
+times, by scattering large stones in the esplanade.
+
+But here at St. Aubin's the curve of Noirmont Point sheltered the
+little town from the full force of the waves. Dr. Angus looked from the
+end of Noirmont Terrace straight down to the sands and saw in the
+distance the sunset air filled with wheeling gulls, a group of boys
+playing football on the wide level, and somewhat nearer, a slender girl
+of fourteen, dressed in black, with long fair hair floating over her
+shoulders.
+
+She was walking slowly and the kind clergyman attributed her leisurely
+pace to dejection, but as a matter of fact, Edith was feeling quite
+happy and much interested in the tiny bright yellow snail shells the
+beach was providing for entertainment. She had been spared all that was
+possible of the depression and sorrow of the past weeks. Daddy had been
+poorly for years and Edith could not remember him as ever well and
+strong. His loss affected her more because it grieved Estelle, the only
+mother she had known.
+
+There had been a few sad confused days when nothing seemed real, and
+strangers had been kind in a way that Estelle accepted with a sort of
+resentful patience, plain even to Edith. But since then, life had been
+rather cheerful, with a great deal of attention from Nurse, and
+Estelle's time almost wholly given to her. It was gratifying to share
+Sister's confidence and to help arrange the rooms attractively for the
+possible delightful people who ought to come to lodge with them.
+
+That they might not be delightful, Sister would not admit for a moment,
+so of course they would be. St. Aubin's itself was far more desirable
+as a place of residence than the noisy Exeter street where Edith had
+spent much of her life. Far back in the past she could just remember a
+charming Surrey village with a pretty vine-covered church where Daddy
+used to preach. She could recall exactly how her fat legs dangled
+helplessly from the high pew seat. Directly behind sat a stout farmer
+with four sons. The boys made faces at Edith on the sly; their mother
+sometimes gave her peppermints.
+
+Edith's thoughts had wandered rather far afield, though still alert for
+any gleam of the yellow shells, when she arrived opposite Noirmont
+Terrace and reluctantly left the sands. A light shone from the
+drawing-room and she knew that Annette would be bringing in supper, and
+Sister would be found poring over a little account book with a "don't
+speak just now" look in her eyes.
+
+But Estelle proved to be waiting at the open door and as Edith began to
+run on catching sight of her, she thought that Sister somehow looked
+happier.
+
+"Did you meet Mr. Angus?" Estelle inquired. "He went toward the sands."
+
+"I saw him in the distance," replied Edith. "Why, Star, you look
+like--like a star," she ended laughing. "Was Mr. Angus agreeable? Did
+he say you oughtn't to take people?"
+
+"I think he doesn't wholly disapprove now," answered Estelle gently.
+"And he is going to do what he can toward sending pleasant lodgers.
+Wouldn't it be nice if some dear old ladies should come and want to
+stay with us all winter?"
+
+"Just ladies?" queried Edith. "Do they have to be old?"
+
+"I shouldn't take gentlemen," said Estelle. "Nurse wouldn't approve,
+and ladies would be pleasanter. Perhaps there might be a young mother
+and some ducky little children. How would you like that?"
+
+"Much better," responded Edith. "I don't want any fussy old freaks with
+false fronts and shawls. They'd expect to be read aloud to and waited
+on within an inch of their lives. I'd like some babies to take down to
+dig and paddle. Do say you'll have children, Sister."
+
+"Well, as a matter of fact, I think we'll have to take the people who
+want to come," replied Estelle sensibly. "Let's just hope that somebody
+very nice will think we'd be nice to stay with. Come in now, Edith.
+Annette has shrimps for supper and after we are finished, we will put a
+card in the window and see what happens next."
+
+But the little white card that most modestly announced "Lodgings"
+remained in the drawing-room casement for a week, and every day as
+Edith came from school, she looked anxiously to see whether it was
+gone. Its absence would mean that some one had looked at the rooms with
+approval.
+
+One afternoon as she came up the Terrace, the sight of an unknown face
+at an upper window sent a thrill down her back. The card was yet in
+evidence but the presence of strangers indicated that some one had felt
+attracted by Rose Villa. Yes, there was a cab at the door.
+
+As Edith entered quietly a voice struck her ear, struck it
+unpleasantly, an English voice, high-pitched and rather supercilious.
+
+"I should require to see your kitchen, Miss Pearce, and your servants.
+I am most particular. In fact, I must be free at any time to inspect
+the scullery. There must be a definite arrangement about Marmaduke's
+meals. He likes a light breakfast with plenty of cream, and for dinner
+a chop or a bit of chicken. His dinner must be served with my luncheon.
+Then for tea--"
+
+"I am afraid my servants would be unwilling to cook especially for a
+dog," interposed Estelle's voice, courteous but with a chilling tone
+Edith had never suspected it possessed. "It is useless for you to
+consider the lodgings."
+
+"Oh, your rooms are very passable," said the voice. "Small, of course,
+and underfurnished, but some pictures and antimacassars would take off
+that bare look. And Marmaduke is adorable. Your cook would soon be
+devotion itself. Why, at my last lodgings--"
+
+"I really cannot undertake the care of a pet animal," said Estelle
+firmly. "I hope to have other lodgers and his presence might be
+objectionable to them. You will excuse me now, as I have an engagement.
+I will ring for Nurse to show you out."
+
+"Well, really, Miss Pearce," began the voice, but Nurse appeared on the
+scene so promptly that one might have suspected her of being all the
+time within hearing distance. Edith scuttled into the drawing-room,
+just avoiding a very large, over-dressed person, who came ponderously
+down the stairs, a moppy white dog festooned over one arm. Her face was
+red and perspiring and she seemed to be indignantly struggling with
+feelings too strong for words. Edith could not suppress a stifled laugh
+as she was ushered from the house in Nurse's grandest manner.
+
+Emerging from her refuge, Edith saw Estelle on the landing, her face
+pale except for a tiny red spot on either cheek, her eyes unnaturally
+bright.
+
+"My word, Star!" said Edith, giggling, "didn't you get rid of her
+finely? What a fearful person!"
+
+"She was impossible," said Estelle. "Oh, Nurse," she exclaimed
+impetuously, seeing the old family servant still lingering in the hall,
+"do you suppose only people like that will want lodgings?"
+
+"No, indeed, my lamb," replied Nurse, casting a glance of satisfaction
+after the cab disappearing from the terrace. "Don't you fret, Miss
+Star, and don't you take the first people who come. Just bide your
+time, and there'll be some quality who will be what you ought to have."
+
+"Mr. Angus thought Americans might be rather desirable," said Estelle
+hesitatingly. To prepare Nurse for such a possibility might be wise.
+
+Nurse pursed her lips significantly. "Well, it's not for me to disagree
+with the reverend gentleman," she remarked. "And I haven't been in
+contact with Americans. No doubt they're well enough in their country,
+but I hope, Miss Star, it'll be some of our people that want to come.
+Now an elderly couple or some middle-aged ladies would be quite
+suitable and proper, but Americans--Well, I don't know."
+
+Nurse shook her head dubiously as she left the room. Edith came to put
+her arms about Estelle.
+
+"What a fearful woman that was!" she repeated, drawing her sister
+toward the window. "Poor Star, I'm sorry you had to talk to her. Rooms
+underfurnished, indeed! And you tried so hard not to have them crowded
+and messed with frightful crocheted wool things. She'd want a tidy on
+every chair and extra ones for Sunday. And you've made things so
+pretty, Star!"
+
+"We think so, don't we!" replied Estelle, kissing her little comforter.
+"Somebody may yet come who will agree with us. We won't give up hope."
+
+Estelle was silent for a moment. She did not want Edith to suspect how
+very necessary it was that those rooms should prove attractive to
+somebody.
+
+"Is that the Southampton boat just rounding the point?" she added.
+"She's extremely late."
+
+"They must have had a rough passage," agreed Edith, looking at the
+steamer ploughing into the smooth water of St. Aubin's bay. "Let's put
+a wish on her, Star. Let's wish, _hard_, that she has on board the
+nicest people that ever were and that they're coming straight out here
+and say they'd like to spend the winter with us!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+FRAN ENGAGES LODGINGS
+
+
+"I positively refuse," said Mrs. Thayne, "to go out again to-day. And I
+wish you wouldn't go either, Wingate," she added to her older son.
+"That steamer trip was frightful. What a night we did have! As for you
+two," she went on to Frances and Roger, "I suppose you won't be happy
+until you are off for an exploring expedition, but I don't see how you
+can feel like it."
+
+"Why, Mother, I wasn't seasick," said Roger, a handsome,
+mischievous-looking boy about twelve. "I slept like a log till I heard
+Win being--hmm--unhappy. That woke me but I turned over and didn't know
+anything more till daylight."
+
+"I shouldn't have been sick if you hadn't begun it, Mother," observed
+Frances, turning from the window overlooking the esplanade. "I feel all
+right now. Mayn't Roger and I go down on the beach or take a car ride?"
+she asked, eagerly.
+
+"I don't imagine there are any electric cars on the island," said Mrs.
+Thayne.
+
+"But out here is a funny little steam tram marked St. Aubin's,"
+interposed Frances. "It's going somewhere. Look at the dinky cars with
+a kind of balcony and that speck of an engine."
+
+"That's a pony engine for sure," drawled Win, joining his sister at the
+window. Except that he was thin and fragile no one could have known
+from Win's clever, merry dark face, how greatly he was handicapped by a
+serious heart trouble. But the contrast between his tall, loosely-knit
+figure and Fran's compact little person brought a wistful expression
+into Mrs. Thayne's observant eyes. Win was seventeen and had never been
+able to play as other boys did. Probably all his life would be
+different, yet he was so plucky and brave over his limitations.
+
+"There's the _Lydia_ down in the harbor," exclaimed Frances. "My,
+didn't she wiggle around last night!"
+
+  "Lydia, Lydia, why dost thou tremble?
+     Answer me true.
+  Traveler, traveler, I'll not dissemble,
+     'Tis but the screw.
+
+  Lydia, Lydia, why this commotion?
+     Answer me quick.
+  Traveler, traveler, 'tis but a notion.
+     You must be sick!"
+
+drawled Win, following the direction of his sister's glance.
+
+"Win, how bright of you!" she exclaimed. "I wish I could think of
+things like that. But, Mother, mayn't we go out and take that little
+train wherever it's going?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," agreed Mrs. Thayne. "Take care of Fran, Roger, and
+don't get separated. You might notice any attractive places offering
+lodgings. We don't want to stay in this hotel all winter and the sooner
+we are settled the better."
+
+"Come along, Fran," exclaimed Roger. "That infant train is getting a
+move on."
+
+The two tore impetuously from the sitting-room. "Such energy!" Mrs.
+Thayne remarked with a sigh. "Will you lie down here, Win?"
+
+"No, I think I'll write a bit," replied her son. "I'm not so done up as
+you are, Mother."
+
+"Why Roger wasn't ill after the strange combination of food he ate at
+Winchester last evening is a miracle," remarked Mrs. Thayne. "Were you
+planning to write to Father?"
+
+"I will," replied her son. "Mother, do go and rest. You look like the
+latter end of a wasted life. But I hope the kids will light on some
+lodgings. I've had enough of hotels. Nothing on earth is so deadly dull
+and so deadly respectable as a first-class English hotel."
+
+"Why, of course it is respectable," said Mrs. Thayne, looking rather
+puzzled.
+
+"Thunder, yes! But it's so _fearfully_ proper! That head-waiter
+down-stairs, with his side-whiskers and his velvet tread and his
+confidential voice--why, when he came to take my order, I wanted to
+pull his hair or do something to turn him into a human being."
+
+Mrs. Thayne smiled. Much as she loved Win, she did not always
+understand him. Shut out from active sports, Win had early taken refuge
+in the world of books and his quick perceptions were often those of a
+mature mind.
+
+When his mother had gone into her room, Win settled himself by the west
+window overlooking the bay where Castle Elizabeth rose on its rock in
+the middle distance. Win looked at it approvingly, promising himself
+later the fun of finding out its history and present use. Just now, he
+would devote himself to getting the family journal up to date for
+Father, on duty with the _Philadelphia_, somewhere near Constantinople.
+It was to be on the same side of the Atlantic that the Thaynes had come
+to England and a slight attack of bronchitis on Win's part had resulted
+in this additional trip. Jersey was reported to possess a mild climate
+as well as good schools where Roger and Frances might have new and
+probably interesting experiences. Win himself was not equal to school
+routine, but there would doubtless be some tutor available to give him
+an hour or two every day, a pleasant and easy task for some young man,
+for Win was always eager to study when health permitted.
+
+Deep in his heart was the ever-present regret that he could not enter
+Annapolis nor follow in the footsteps of his father, but if an elder
+brother had any influence, Roger was going into the naval service. At
+present, Roger showed no inclination to such a future, and was but
+mildly interested in his father's career, but Captain Thayne and Win
+shared an unspoken hope that a change would come with the passing years.
+
+For some time after finishing his letter, Win sat with eyes on Castle
+Elizabeth, idly speculating about the coming winter. This old-world
+island, with its differing customs and ancient traditions seemed a
+place where most interesting things might happen, a land of romance and
+fairy gold, offering possibilities of strange adventure. Just because
+Win was debarred from most boyish fun, his mind turned eagerly to deeds
+of daring. Visions of pirates, smugglers, and buried hoards often
+danced through his brain, and the least suggestion of any mystery was
+enough to excite his keen interest. That hoary old castle on its island
+proved a source of many romantic ideas to Win, who presently fell into
+a day-dream.
+
+The sun set in crimson splendor behind the castle towers and Win's
+reverie changed to genuine slumber from which he was roused by the
+reappearance of Mrs. Thayne.
+
+"I'm sorry I waked you," she said. "I didn't notice that you were
+asleep."
+
+"Why, I didn't know I was," said Win lazily. "I must have been dreaming
+and yet I thought I was awake. It was such an odd dream about a young
+man or rather a boy, in queer clothes ornamented with silver buttons
+and wearing his hair in curls over his shoulders. I was following him
+somewhere through a passage, very dark and narrow. Then suddenly we
+were in a room with a big fireplace and books around the walls. It was
+a beautiful old room but I never remember seeing a place like it. Some
+other people came, all men, also in queer clothes and very quiet and
+serious. On a table was food of some kind and this boy I had been
+following began to eat but the others stood about, apparently
+consulting over something. Then I woke. Wasn't it a crazy dream? Oh,
+the reason we were in that passage was because something was lost. I
+don't know what it was nor how I knew it was lost but we were trying to
+find it."
+
+"That was odd. You must have read something that suggested it," Mrs.
+Thayne began, just as Fran and Roger came into the room, bursting with
+suppressed excitement. For a few moments they talked in a duet.
+
+"Mother, it's lovely over at St. Aubin's, ever so much nicer than
+here," Fran began breathlessly, her brown eyes sparkling. "And such a
+funny little train running along the esplanade!"
+
+"You couldn't believe there was such a beach," put in Roger. "Why, the
+tide goes out forever, clear to the horizon! Fellows were playing
+football down there, two games. How much does this tide rise, Win?"
+
+"This book I've been reading says forty feet," replied his brother.
+
+"And the houses!" Fran went on breathlessly, "all colors, cream and
+brown and blue and pink."
+
+"Oh, draw it mild, Sis," interrupted Win. "I should admire a pink
+house."
+
+"It's out there," said Frances, "and what's more, it's very pretty!"
+
+"That's right," corroborated Roger. "Wouldn't a pink house look
+something fierce at home? But here it's swell and kind of--of
+appropriate," he ended lamely.
+
+"And flowers, Mother," Frances took up the tale. "_Hedges_ of fuchsia,
+real live tall hedges, not measly little potted plants. Geraniums as
+tall as I am, and ever so many roses and violets. Oh, and we've found
+some lodgings. You're to see them to-morrow."
+
+"Frances!" exclaimed her horrified mother. "You haven't been in strange
+houses, inspecting rooms?"
+
+"Why, you told us to look for them, didn't you, Mother?" replied her
+astonished and literal daughter. "Roger was with me. It was perfectly
+all right."
+
+"I simply meant you to notice from the outside any attractive houses
+that advertised lodgings," explained Mrs. Thayne. "Well--" she ended
+helplessly, "I suppose there's no harm done."
+
+"Why, no," Frances agreed. "What could happen? Let me tell you about
+them. We took the baby cars and got off at St. Aubin's because that
+especial train didn't go any farther. It's lovely there, Mother, and
+plenty of lodgings to let. We walked along and saw one house that
+looked pleasant, so we went up and rang and a maid showed us into a
+parlor. We knew right off we didn't want to come there, because the
+place was so dark and stuffy and there were fourteen hundred family
+photographs and knit woolen mats and such things around. I was going to
+sit down but just as I got near the chair,--it was rather dark, you
+see,--something said 'Hello!' and there was a horrid great parrot
+sitting on the back of the chair. I jumped about a foot."
+
+"You screamed, too," said Roger.
+
+"I may have exclaimed," admitted Frances judicially. "It was not a
+scream. If I had yelled, you would have known it. Well, a messy old
+woman came who called me 'dear,' but when I said I didn't believe my
+mother would care for the rooms, she got huffy and said she was
+accustomed to rent her rooms to ladies, only she pronounced it _lydies_.
+
+"We left that place," went on Frances, paying no attention to the look
+of silent endurance on her mother's face, "and walked some distance
+without seeing anything we liked. But suddenly we came to a tiny street
+going down to the sea. There were only six houses and one had a card in
+the window. They faced the bay and just big rocks were on the other
+side of the street. Now, listen."
+
+Frances went on dramatically. "The house with the card was the dearest
+thing, all cream-color and green, with a pink rambler rose perfectly
+enormous, growing 'way up to the eaves, and a rough roof of red tiles
+and steep gables. The windows were that dinky kind that open outward
+and had little bits of panes. Everything was clean as clean, the steps
+and the curtains and the glass. While we were looking, the door opened
+and a girl came out. She was about my age, Mother, but _so_ pretty,
+with gray eyes and yellow hair and _such_ a complexion. I'd give
+anything to look like her."
+
+Frances shook her head with disapproval over her own brown hair and
+eyes. To be sure the one was curly and the others straightforward and
+earnest, while her gipsy little face and figure were considered
+attractive by most people and by those who loved her, very satisfactory
+indeed.
+
+"Well, this girl came out and we sort of smiled at each other and I
+asked if that card meant that there were rooms to let. I told her you
+were seasick, and at the hotel, and my brother and I saw the card and
+we were looking for lodgings and all the rest, you know. She said yes,
+there were rooms and she'd call Sister.
+
+"Sister came and she was a love, tall and sweet and just beautiful,
+only she looked sad and wore a black dress. The younger girl went away
+but Sister showed us the rooms and they are just what we'd like, I'm
+sure. There wasn't any messy wool stuff nor ugly vases,--I forgot to
+mention that in the other place there were eight pair of vases on the
+mantel, truly, for Roger counted them. These rooms were clean and
+rather bare, with painted floors and washable rugs and fresh curtains
+and flowers, just one vase in each room and a clear glass vase at that.
+The beds had iron frames and good springs and mattresses, for I punched
+them to see. Aren't you proud to think I knew enough to do that?" Fran
+interrupted her story.
+
+"Two bedrooms had the furniture painted white and the rest had some old
+mahogany," she went on.
+
+"How many rooms were there?" inquired Mrs. Thayne, attracted by Fran's
+enthusiasm and interested by the pleasant picture she was describing.
+
+"On the first floor is the drawing-room, which will be at our
+disposal," began Frances, evidently quoting "Sister." "It's pretty and
+sweet, Mother dear, very simple with a little upright piano and quite a
+number of books and a fireplace. Just behind is a room where we can
+have our meals. We can use as many bedrooms as we like; there are five
+and Sister said if we wished, one could be made into an
+up-stairs-sitting-room. The bathroom was really up-to-date, and looking
+_very_ clean."
+
+"And how much does Sister expect for all this?" inquired her mother.
+
+"Well," admitted Frances, "I asked and she smiled so sweetly and said
+it depended upon how much service we required and whether we wanted to
+do our own marketing and perhaps it would be better to discuss the
+terms after you saw whether you liked the rooms. I told her we were
+Americans and she said yes, she had thought so. I don't see why,"
+Frances ended reflectively.
+
+Win gave a chuckle. "Easy enough to guess," he remarked. "I imagine
+English girls of fourteen don't go around on their own hook, engaging
+lodgings for the family."
+
+"I am almost fifteen," said his sister severely. "And I understood that
+Mother wanted me to look for rooms, so I did, but of course she will
+make the final arrangements. I thanked Sister and said I'd try to bring
+my mother in the morning, for I felt sure she would like the rooms. And
+Sister said she'd be very glad to have young people in the house and
+that if you wanted references, Mother, you could apply to some
+clergyman,--I forget his name,--but I know it's all right. You'll think
+so, too, the minute you see Sister. I fell in love with her. Oh, her
+name is Pearce, Estelle Pearce. She gave me her card."
+
+Frances produced it. "You will come and see the rooms to-morrow, won't
+you, Mother? Win can come too, for that tiny train is very comfortable
+and the walk to the house is short. Rose Villa, Noirmont Terrace. Isn't
+that a sweet name?"
+
+[Illustration: THE VILLAGE OF ST. AUBIN'S]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ST. HELIER'S
+
+
+The moment she entered Rose Villa, Mrs. Thayne heartily agreed with
+Frances as to its desirability. To Estelle's amazement, she proceeded
+to engage all the rooms, offering to pay for the privilege of having
+the whole house for her family.
+
+This was better fortune than Estelle had dreamed of and scarcely two
+days passed before she realized that a kindly star was favoring her.
+Frances and Edith became friends on the spot; Nurse, who might have
+proved a problem, took an instant fancy to delicate Win and started on
+a course of coddling that luckily amused Win quite as much as it
+satisfied Nurse. Blunt, downright Roger appealed especially to Estelle,
+who also found Mrs. Thayne charming.
+
+"Aren't we in luck, little sister?" she confided to Edith. "Even our
+wildest expectations couldn't have pictured anything more pleasant than
+this. If they only stop the winter! But where are you going now?"
+
+"On the sands with the others," said Edith happily. "Fran asked me. The
+boys have gone ahead to the end of the terrace."
+
+Win was singing softly to himself as he stood looking down upon the
+sandy beach that stretched for miles towards St. Helier's at the left,
+and on the right, though showing more warm red granite rocks, to
+Noirmont Point. "Britannia needs no bulwarks, no towers along the
+steeps," he hummed just above his breath.
+
+"There's a tower right in front of you," commented Roger, between the
+throwing of two stones.
+
+Win cast a glance at the deserted castle of St. Aubin's, a miniature
+Castle Elizabeth on its isolated rock off shore, another at the
+martello tower on the point.
+
+"I was talking to a man about those little towers," he remarked. "One
+can be rented for a pound a year, and there are thirty-two of them
+around the island. But they didn't amount to much when it came to
+actual fighting. The rocks and tides are what makes Jersey safe. That's
+what I meant by this place needing no bulwarks."
+
+"One of those martello towers would make a fine wireless station,"
+commented Roger. "Why did they build them if they aren't any use?"
+
+"They thought they were going to be," replied Win, looking to see
+whether the girls were coming. "About two centuries ago there was a
+battle down in the Mediterranean that was decided by the possession of
+one of those little towers, so England built a good many. But they
+weren't much use after all."
+
+"I never knew that before," said Edith, as she and Frances joined the
+boys.
+
+"England wasn't the only nation that was taken in by them," Win went
+on. "Italy has a number on her southern coast. For a long time people
+supposed they were called martello towers from the man who built them,
+but I found in a book that the name came from a vine that grew over
+this one in Corsica. Before many moons pass I'm going to get into one
+of them. Smugglers must have used them and there may be things left
+behind."
+
+Frances cast a glance at the tower in question. At first inspection it
+looked like a stony mushroom sprouting from the rocks. Some distance
+above the base opened a rough entrance and a low parapet encircled the
+top. To scramble over the exposed rocks to the base of this especial
+tower appeared a hard climb, to say nothing of the difficulties of
+ascending. The feat looked beyond Win's accomplishment but Frances said
+nothing. To argue with Win about whether he could or ought to attempt
+anything was never wise. Left to himself he would stop within the
+bounds of prudence but resented solicitude from others.
+
+"Well, where are we going?" she asked.
+
+"Let's take the train into St. Helier's," suggested Win. "We've
+scarcely seen the town."
+
+Edith looked doubtful. "I ought to ask Sister," she said. "Star thought
+we were just going on the sands."
+
+"And so we are," replied Roger. "We're taking a train that runs on the
+sands," he mimicked in a teasing, boyish way. "Why don't you call it a
+beach?"
+
+"Because it _is_ sands," retorted Edith with a pretty flash of spirit
+that Roger already delighted to arouse. "The tram-line is far beyond
+the shingle."
+
+[Illustration: "FOR A LONG TIME PEOPLE SUPPOSED THEY WERE CALLED
+MARTELLO TOWERS FROM THE MAN WHO BUILT THEM."]
+
+"Shingle!" gasped Roger, staring in that direction. "I don't see any."
+
+"The pebbles, cobbles, beyond the sands," explained Edith.
+
+"Oh, excuse _me_," chuckled Roger. "I thought they were plain stones.
+Didn't see anything particularly wooden about them."
+
+Edith looked at him. A few days had made her feel very well acquainted
+with these friendly young people, but Roger was often surprising.
+
+"Oh, cut it short, Roger," drawled Win. "Run back, will you, and tell
+Mother that we want to go into town. She won't care and I don't believe
+Miss Estelle will either, but we ought to mention it. Hustle, because I
+think that train is coming."
+
+Roger obligingly bolted back, received a nod of possible comprehension
+from a mother very much absorbed in an important letter, and arrived
+just as the others boarded the steam tram, a funny affair with a kind
+of balcony along one side where people who preferred the air could stay
+instead of going inside. Edith and Frances exchanged smiles of
+happiness.
+
+"I haven't been to St. Helier's often," Edith confided. "Just to market
+once with Nurse, and once to choose curtains with Sister. We thought
+the drapers' shops quite excellent."
+
+Fran's attention was held for an instant, but after all it seemed only
+reasonable that draperies should be purchased at a draper's.
+
+"Isn't the beach lovely?" she confided. "It would be fun to walk back."
+
+"We might," said Edith. "Would Win care if we did? Or could he do it
+too?"
+
+"He couldn't walk so far," said Fran, "but he won't mind if we want to.
+Win is angelic about not stopping us from doing things he can't do
+himself."
+
+"Has he always had to be so careful?" asked Edith. She and Frances sat
+at a little distance from the boys. Roger was peering around into the
+cab of the tiny engine; Win watched the water as it broke on the beach.
+
+"Always," said Frances. "He was just a tiny baby when they knew
+something was wrong with his heart. It isn't painful and may never be
+any worse. Only he must take great care not to get over-tired. Ever so
+many doctors have seen him and they all say the same thing,--that if he
+is prudent and never does too much, he may outlive us all. Just now in
+London, he and Mother went to a specialist but all he told Win was that
+he must cultivate the art of being lazy. Mother says the worst was when
+he was too little to realize that he mustn't do things. Now, of course,
+he understands and takes care of himself. It's hard on Win but Mother
+says it's good for Roger and me. It does make Roger more thoughtful. He
+says anything he likes to Win and pretends to tease him, but if you
+notice, you'll see that he does every single thing Win wants and always
+looks to see if he's all right. It helps me too, for I'm ashamed to
+fuss over trifles when Win has so much to bear."
+
+The little tram was traveling at a moderate pace toward town, stopping
+at several tiny stations where more and more people entered.
+
+"I can't get used to hearing people talk French," said Frances. "It
+seems so odd when Jersey is a part of England."
+
+"The French spoken here isn't that of Paris," remarked her brother,
+rising from his seat. "It's Norman French."
+
+"I know I can't understand it easily," confessed Edith, "and Sister has
+always taken pains to teach me. I'm glad it isn't all my fault."
+
+The train came to a stand on the esplanade of St. Helier's. The four
+stopped to look over the sea-wall, to the beach far below, across to
+the long stone piers forming the artificial sea basin and up to Fort
+Regent overhanging the town like a war-cloud.
+
+"That fort looks stuck on the cliff like a swallow's nest," commented
+Roger. "Look, there's a snow-white sea-gull!"
+
+"There's another with a black tail," exclaimed Edith. "Oh, aren't they
+beautiful!"
+
+"In the United States is a city that put up a monument to the
+sea-gulls," said Win. "Salt Lake City, ever so far inland. A fearful
+plague of grasshoppers ate everything green and turned the place into a
+desert. They came the second summer, but something else came too. Over
+the Rocky Mountains, away from the Pacific Ocean, flew a great flock of
+gulls and ate the grasshoppers. Their coming seemed so like a miracle
+that the city erected a beautiful monument to them."
+
+"Did they ever come again?" asked Edith, greatly impressed.
+
+"No," said Win. "Just that once."
+
+"Without doubt it was a miracle," said Edith so reverently that the
+three looked at her.
+
+Roger gave a little snort, started to say something, looked again at
+Edith's rapt face and changed his mind. "Boston ought to put up a
+monument, too," he remarked at length. "Miracles happen every summer in
+Boston. The city swelters with the mercury out of sight and then along
+steps the east wind. In ten minutes, everybody puts on coats and stops
+drinking ice-water. Some tidy miracle-worker, our east wind."
+
+"Especially in winter," said Win laughing. "I'm afraid a monument to
+the east wind wouldn't be popular along in January. Shall we come on?
+Let's go up this street. I've a map, but things look rather crooked, so
+we'd better keep together."
+
+The quartette started, Roger and Win leading the way. St. Helier's
+streets are indeed crooked, and paved with cobble stones of alarming
+size and sonorous qualities. Numerous men and boys tramped along in
+wooden sabots which made a most unearthly clatter. Even little girls
+wore them, though otherwise their dress was not unusual. Outside one
+shop hung many of the clumsy foot-gear, the price explaining their
+evident popularity.
+
+Signs over shops were as often French as English and sometimes both. At
+one corner, the party met a man ringing a bell and uttering a
+proclamation in French. At the next corner he stopped to announce it in
+English and the interested boys found that he was advertising a public
+auction. No one else seemed in the least attentive to his remarks.
+
+Fifteen minutes' loitering through narrow, ill-paved streets, crowded
+with hurrying people and a great number of dogs, brought the four to an
+open square of irregular shape with a gilded statue at one end. Its
+curious draperies caught Win's observant eye and he walked around it
+thoughtfully.
+
+"What a very queer costume!" he remarked as he completed his circuit.
+"What is it doing on a statue of an English king?"
+
+Win spoke aloud, not noticing that the others were beyond hearing, but
+his inquiry was answered by a gentleman who chanced to be passing.
+
+"It is a Roman statue," he volunteered, "rescued from a shipwreck. The
+thrifty Jerseymen considered it too good to be wasted, so they gilded
+it and placed it here in the Royal Square in honor of George the
+Second."
+
+Win smiled as he turned to the speaker, a tall, thin Englishman in
+riding dress. His bearing suggested a military training and a second
+glance showed an empty coat-sleeve.
+
+"This group of buildings may interest you," the speaker added. "They
+contain the Court House, Parliament rooms and a small public library."
+
+Touching his riding-crop to his hat in response to Win's thanks, he
+turned into a side street where a young man mounted on a handsome horse
+sat holding the bridle of another. With interest Win watched them ride
+away. Even from a distance, something about the younger man struck a
+chord of recollection in Win's usually reliable memory. He was almost
+certain that somewhere, at some time, they had met. Yet he could not
+think of any American acquaintance of that age who would be at all
+likely to be riding about the island of Jersey, his companion not only
+an Englishman, but obviously an ex-army officer.
+
+Still, the impression of familiarity was strong and Win was yet
+wondering about it as he slowly climbed the stairs leading to the
+public library.
+
+Protesting somewhat, the others followed to look at a rather uninviting
+room, appealing to them far less than to Win, already on the trail for
+local history. The attendant proved obliging and after supplying Win
+with several books brought out a shabby brown volume.
+
+"We have one of your writers on our shelves," he remarked with a smile,
+offering the book to Frances.
+
+"Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes," she read aloud. "Haven't you any
+other American authors?" she demanded in amazement. "And how did you
+know I was an American?"
+
+The librarian shook his head. "I have often thought we should have more
+American books," he replied, "but they are so extremely dear as
+compared with those published on this side of the Atlantic that we have
+not afforded them. How did I know your nationality? By the way you
+speak."
+
+Frances looked disgusted. She said little more, but soon persuaded the
+reluctant Win to postpone his investigations and come down again into
+the Royal Square.
+
+"Now, Sis, what's the matter with you?" Win inquired on seeing her
+flushed face.
+
+"Oh, you didn't hear that man say he knew I was an American by the way
+I talked," sniffed Frances indignantly.
+
+"Anybody would think you didn't want to be one," commented Roger
+bluntly.
+
+"I wouldn't be anything else," retorted Frances, "only I don't care to
+have fun poked at the way I talk."
+
+Win's glance traveled from his sister's annoyed face to Edith's, which
+wore a look of perplexity.
+
+"We're polite," he remarked. "Here's Edith, who wouldn't be anything
+but English."
+
+"No," said Edith gravely. "One always feels that way about one's
+country. But I understand what Frances means. And I see why people know
+you are not English. It isn't so much your pronunciation, but you put
+words in odd places in the sentence and some of your expressions are
+most unusual," she ended apologetically. "I like them. It is
+interesting to hear things called by new names. Just now Fran said
+'poke fun' when she meant 'criticise,' and Roger says a thing is 'fine
+and dandy' when I should call it 'top-hole.' That is the difference, is
+it not?"
+
+The others laughed and Edith's attempt to bridge a dangerous situation
+ended successfully. Presently their whereabouts absorbed their
+attention for Win had left the map behind him on the library table.
+
+For a time they wandered at random, following one narrow street after
+another, seeing interesting shop windows, but presently discovered that
+they did not know where they were.
+
+"The esplanade must lie at our left," said Win. "If we keep turning in
+that direction we shall surely strike it."
+
+"Look at that candy," exclaimed Roger, attaching himself to a
+confectioner's window. "Here's a chance to acquire some choice English.
+What is black-jack, Edith? Looks like liquorice. Bismarck marble,
+Gladstone rock, toffy,--what's toffy?"
+
+"It is sweets made of treacle instead of sugar," explained Edith,
+turning surprised eyes upon him.
+
+"Sweets! treacle!" exclaimed Roger after a petrified instant. "Bring me
+a fan! Give me air!"
+
+"Why," said Frances, a sudden light dawning on her. "Treacle! I never
+knew before what Alice in Wonderland meant by her treacle well. It's
+molasses, Edith. There are some chocolate peppermints!"
+
+Without stopping for further speech Frances dashed into the shop.
+Presently she emerged, carrying a white paper bag, or "sack" as Edith
+designated it, and with an odd expression of face.
+
+"Joke?" inquired Win. "What did you ask for?" he demanded, accepting a
+piece of candy.
+
+"I got what I wanted," said Fran evasively. "It's always possible to
+walk behind a counter and help yourself if you don't know the names of
+things."
+
+Later she drew Edith aside. "What do you call these?" she asked
+confidentially.
+
+"Peppermint chocolate drops," replied Edith. "What else could they be?"
+
+Turning constantly to the left did not bring them to the sea. Instead
+they walked a long distance only to find themselves in a poorer part of
+the town, with increasing crowds of children inclined to follow. Their
+appearance seemed a source of interest to older people as well and
+presently Win was induced to inquire his way to the boulevard.
+
+To his surprise the reply came in French, but between his own knowledge
+and that of Edith, they made out that they were traveling inland
+instead of toward the shore. This sounded impossible unless they had
+completely lost all sense of direction.
+
+But a second inquiry brought the same answer, so they followed the
+offered advice, coming at last to the bay of St. Aubin's more than a
+mile below St. Helier's, fortunately near one of the tram
+stopping-places. Edith was good for a walk home and Roger would have
+gone also if challenged, but both Win and Frances were tired so Edith
+did not propose to return by the beach. Indeed, the tide was now so
+high that they would have been forced to go part of the way by the road.
+
+"School for us to-morrow," said Frances dismally. "But I think we
+should plan to do something very interesting every holiday all winter."
+
+"We will take a tea-basket and lunch out of doors," replied Edith
+happily. "There are beautiful spots to visit in Jersey."
+
+Win looked up suddenly. "Fran," he asked, "did you notice those
+gentlemen who rode out of the square while we were looking at the
+statue? Had you ever seen the younger one before?"
+
+Fran shook her head. "I noticed only the one who spoke to you," she
+replied. "I was looking at their horses."
+
+"All the same," mused Win thoughtfully, "I've seen that young fellow
+before and it must have been in the United States, for I know I should
+remember encountering him over here."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE BEACH DOG
+
+
+"You would certainly smile if you could see the school I am going to,"
+Frances wrote to her chum, Marjorie Benton, "but when I think of you
+and the other girls back at the dear old Boston Latin, I feel more like
+crying.
+
+"First I must tell you about Edith Pearce, the girl in the house where
+we are staying. She has long flaxen hair which hangs over her shoulders
+in the most childish way, though she's our age. Her eyes are gray with
+dark lashes and when she looks at you they are like surprised stars.
+And she has the most beautiful complexion in the world, just pink and
+white. She is lovely to look at and I feel like a tanned, homely gipsy
+beside her. She's sweet too, but very easily shocked and I'm afraid
+she's not only good but pious. She can never take your place so don't
+worry, only, as I have to be here, I might as well have some fun with
+her.
+
+"I go to school with Edith and it is as unlike the Latin School as the
+North Pole and Boston Common. There are about thirty boarders, some of
+them little bits of things--Edith calls them 'tinies'--who have been
+sent home from India where their parents couldn't keep them any longer.
+About fifty day-scholars attend, from kindergarten age up.
+
+"I'm the only American and I can tell you I was well stared at. At
+first the girls couldn't believe it, insisted that I must be Scotch or
+at least Canadian, so now I wear a little United States flag pin all
+the time. Gracious, but things are different, especially clothes! Mine
+are the prettiest in school, if I do say it, and Edith thinks so too.
+She says my 'frocks' are 'chic.'
+
+"Most of the girls, even the big ones almost eighteen, wear their hair
+hanging and have _such_ dresses,--frocks, I mean. They fit like meal
+bags, and being combinations of many colors, look perfectly dreadful.
+And yet the girls are very nice, some of them from really important
+families.
+
+"To cap the climax, most of them sport ugly black mohair aprons which
+they call 'alpaca pinnies.' Marjorie, can you imagine what they look
+like? I told Mother if she wanted me to be English to the extent of
+wearing a pinafore, I should lie down and die and I'm thankful to say
+that she simply grinned. But many of the girls have wonderful yellow or
+red-gold hair and stunning peachy complexions, so they aren't such
+frights as you'd think.
+
+"Instead of going around from one class to another as in any sensible
+school, the girls stay in one room and teacher after teacher,--I mean
+mistress, comes to them. I get so everlastingly tired sitting still.
+Never before did I realize what a rest it was to walk from class to
+class and get a chat on the way. The only exceptions to this rule are
+preparation, when we sit at desks under the eye of a monitress, and
+gymnasium work.
+
+"Marjorie, when I first beheld that gymnasium teacher, I nearly
+fainted. Her molasses-colored hair was frizzed hard in front and pinned
+in a round bun at the back of her head. She had on tight-fitting knee
+trousers, not bloomers, believe me. Over these she wore a white sweater
+of a very fancy weave. Over this was a weird tunic of alpaca with two
+box-plaits in front and three in back. This fell an inch or so below
+her knees, and every time she bent over or stretched up, those queer
+tight trousers showed. Her shoes were ordinary ones with heels. The
+girls wear either their usual frocks or an arrangement like this. I can
+tell you my pretty brown gym suit was the event of the day when I
+appeared in it.
+
+"Everybody wears slippers at school, puts them on when she first comes
+and no wonder, because the English shoes are the worst-looking and
+clumsiest things ever invented by man. Edith's feet look twice as big
+in her boots as in slippers. You'd think by their appearance that
+English feet were a different shape from ours, but they are not; it is
+only the shoes. They make them so thick and stout that they last for
+years. Edith was plainly shocked when I told her I had a new pair every
+few months. She thinks mine suitable only for the house. Well, I will
+admit that English girls can out-walk me.
+
+"The other mistresses aren't so queer as the gym teacher but look more
+like other people except that they wear too much jewelry. Everybody
+wears a great deal and you know what we think at home of ladies who
+appear on the street with rings and chains and lockets. Edith and her
+sister Estelle don't dress so, but Mother says they are quite
+exceptional.
+
+"As for lessons, we have to study. They expect a lot of grammar and
+parsing, and dates in history and solid facts in geography and all
+that. Mother approves; she thinks the English system much less faddy
+than at home. We have Bible instruction in regular lessons. I'll admit
+that these English girls know more than I do about things in books, but
+they haven't any idea what's going on in the present world. They didn't
+know much about the Panama canal and the tolls. Win howled when I said
+I explained it to them and vowed he'd give a dollar to have heard me.
+And several didn't know who was president of the United States. Imagine
+that, when we're the most important republic in the world! I knew their
+old king.
+
+"We begin school at half-past eight and have prayers and a Bible
+exercise. Different classes follow until eleven when a gong rings and
+everybody rushes into the garden, a lovely place with box-edged beds
+and a sun dial and gravel walks. There are myrtles and geraniums, great
+big bushes of them, and japonicas and heavenly wall-flowers and _trees_
+of lemon verbena and fuchsias up to the eaves. This is solid truth, and
+in November, too.
+
+"In the garden we find a table with jugs of milk,--notice my English,
+please--and biscuit, that is, crackers, and we gobble and faith, we
+have reason! Studying so hard makes one famished. Then recreation
+follows for half an hour and we play ball or tennis. Some of the girls
+are splendid players. School again until two, when we day-scholars
+leave.
+
+"Three afternoons a week, we have to go back for gym work and English
+composition, which is beastly. On Wednesday there is no school.
+
+"Do you want to know what I've learned in one week of school in Jersey?
+
+"Well, I can speak three sentences in French. I'll write you in French
+next time.
+
+"I know that Amos and Hosea and Isaiah were all prophets and said that
+Israel was a very bad place.
+
+"I know that Paleolithic man was probably the first inhabitant of Great
+Britain.
+
+"I know how few people like to join mission study classes.
+
+"And I know that I love you."
+
+Fran finished her letter, directed and sealed the envelope, affixed a
+stamp, sniffing slightly at the head of King George instead of George
+Washington, and ran down-stairs.
+
+"Do you know where Edith is?" she asked of Nurse.
+
+"She is out in front, Miss Frances," replied Nurse. "Are you going for
+a walk?"
+
+"Just to the beach. We'll be back for tea."
+
+Edith stood at the gate and the two ran down to the shore. The tide,
+half-way out, left bare a tremendous expanse of wet sand, iridescent
+under the sun's rays. The water showed wonderful shades of blue, green
+and turquoise, and in the edge of the retreating waves walked hundreds
+of gulls, searching for food.
+
+The girls started up the beach toward St. Helier's, chatting happily as
+they watched the water and the birds. Little sandpipers appeared and
+some huge gray cormorants.
+
+Presently a handsome collie ran up to them, dropped a stone before
+Frances and stood looking at her, his head cocked on one side, all but
+speaking.
+
+"You darling," said Frances, picking up the pebble. "Does he want to be
+played with? Well, he shall."
+
+She threw the stone down the beach and the collie shot after it at full
+speed, his beautiful tawny coat shining in the sunlight.
+
+"Twice before," said Edith, "when I've been on the sands, he has begged
+me to throw stones for him to chase. He's a thorough-bred. Such fine
+markings! He looks like one of the Westmoreland sheep dogs. You've
+heard of them, haven't you? They are so intelligent about taking care
+of sheep and they understand everything their masters want. We saw one
+once that separated and brought to his master three sheep out of a big
+flock and the man didn't say one word, only motioned to him. He wants
+you to throw it again."
+
+"I can't throw stones for you all night," said Fran at last. "You take
+a turn, Edith."
+
+Edith threw a pebble picked up at random. The collie raced for it and
+after a sniff, returned without it.
+
+"He wants his own stone and no other," laughed Frances. "See, he's
+hunting all about. There, he's found it!"
+
+For a good mile down the beach the collie accompanied them, till both
+were tired of play. Convinced that they would throw his stone no
+longer, the dog reluctantly left them. Looking back, they saw him
+accosting a young man, who promptly yielded to the mute coaxing.
+
+"I wonder whose dog he is," said Edith. "He didn't seem to belong to
+any one we passed. I fancy he's here on his own."
+
+"We really ought to go over to Castle Elizabeth soon," observed
+Frances. "Doesn't it look like a huge monster stranded out there in the
+harbor?"
+
+"Sister is afraid of the tides," replied Edith. "A soldier was drowned
+there the other day, trying to cross the causeway after the tide had
+turned. Look, Fran, I believe that must be his funeral up on the road
+now. It is a military one at any rate."
+
+Frances looked with interest. First marched a guard of soldiers, two by
+two, then a band with muffled drums, playing the Dead March. After the
+band came a gun-carriage drawn by four horses and bearing the coffin,
+over which was draped the English flag. Several barouches followed with
+officers in uniform, and then the rest of the regiment, walking very
+slowly, their guns reversed.
+
+As the procession approached, every man on the route uncovered and did
+not replace his hat until it had passed, a mark of respect which struck
+Frances forcibly. "They have better manners than we have," she
+acknowledged half to herself.
+
+Edith looked surprised. "Men always uncover on meeting a funeral," she
+remarked. "This was a private, but if he had been an officer, his
+helmet and sword would be on the flag, and directly behind the
+gun-carriage, his orderly would lead his riderless horse. A military
+wedding is so pretty, Frances. I saw one once in Bath Abbey. The
+officers were all in full uniform and after the ceremony they formed in
+the aisle, two lines going way down out of the church and at a signal,
+drew their swords and crossed them with a clash above their heads and
+the bride and groom came down this path through the glittering swords.
+I was just a tiny then, but I decided I'd marry a soldier so I could
+have the arch of swords."
+
+"It must have been very pretty," Frances agreed. "Why, what are those?
+See, like immense horseshoes in the water."
+
+"The bathing pools," explained Edith. "They show only when the tide is
+very low. They keep back water for bathing."
+
+"And a good job, too, when you have a tide that goes out of sight,"
+commented Frances approvingly, as she looked at the two huge masonry
+walls near St. Helier's, set in the expanse of wet sand. "Look at the
+boys sailing boats."
+
+"Sometimes there are real races with little model yachts," said Edith.
+"There's a club of the young officers and some of the townspeople and
+they have the prettiest little miniature boats with keels about a metre
+long, rigged exactly like real racing yachts. It's great sport to see
+them. But ought we not to go back?"
+
+The girls turned for they were already far from home. To their surprise
+they were presently greeted again by the collie who tore up to hail
+them rapturously.
+
+"Still chewing your stone?" Frances inquired. "Come along. I suppose
+we'll have to take you part way back."
+
+The collie flew for the pebble as though for the first time of the
+afternoon. Before they had gone more than a quarter of a mile, a pretty
+young lady came up.
+
+"I'm afraid my bad Tylo has been bothering you," she said
+apologetically. "He is forever coming on the sands and badgering people
+into playing with him."
+
+"Oh, we liked to play," said Frances, smiling. "I think he's a brick.
+What did you call him?"
+
+"Tylo," replied the young lady. "After the dog in the 'Blue Bird,' you
+know."
+
+Edith also smiled. Their new acquaintance was looking from one to
+another, a charming and rather mischievous expression lighting a sweet
+face.
+
+"You're a little sister compatriot," she said to Edith; "but I fancy
+this little lady comes from across the ocean."
+
+"Yes, I do," said Frances, "but how did you know?"
+
+The young lady laughed merrily. "Oh, I've knocked about a good bit. And
+I happen to have known one American boy very well. Indeed, we really
+grew up together in Italy and England. 'Brick' is rather an American
+word, isn't it? I've surely heard my friend use it. Americans seldom
+find their way to Jersey. Are you stopping long?"
+
+"Perhaps all winter," replied Frances.
+
+"There are many delightful excursions to make in the island," said the
+young lady. "Come along, Tylo. We must go home to tea. Oh," she added
+to the girls, "when you go on picnics, don't forget to look for caves."
+
+With another smile and a charming little nod, she left them.
+
+"I wonder who she is," said Frances, frankly looking after her. The
+erect lithe figure was crowned by a finely poised head and a wealth of
+beautiful fair hair, prettily arranged. Something in her face suggested
+possibilities of good comradeship, and her dress, while simplicity
+itself, betrayed a French origin.
+
+"She looks nice enough and ladylike enough to be an American," thought
+Frances approvingly and with a sudden stab of homesickness.
+
+"I wish she'd told us her name," she went on aloud, "and who the
+American boy was. Perhaps we might know him."
+
+"He can scarcely be a boy now if they grew up together," observed
+Edith. "Wasn't she sweet? I hope we'll see her again."
+
+"And what did she mean by caves?" Frances continued, pursuing her train
+of thought. "That sounded very interesting and mysterious."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+MONT ORGUEIL
+
+
+To find a tutor for the boys proved less easy than Mrs. Thayne
+anticipated. There seemed a dearth of available young men in Jersey and
+she had about decided to send Roger to the best school and let Win work
+as he chose by himself, when Mr. Angus heard of a young Scotchman,
+already acting as secretary to a gentleman in St. Helier's and who
+could give the boys his afternoons.
+
+Such an arrangement was not ideal, but Win took an instant liking to
+the tall raw-boned person, who announced himself in a delightful manner
+as "Weelyum Feesher."
+
+Roger promptly dubbed him Bill Fish and refused to speak of him by any
+other term, causing his mother to live in terror lest Mr. Fisher should
+in some way learn of the disrespectful abbreviation. Roger was not at
+all enthusiastic about Bill Fish but liked still less the two schools
+he visited. To accept the tutor seemed the lesser of two evils.
+
+The chief drawback proved that the boys were occupied at just the time
+when the girls were free, with the exception of Wednesday, a holiday
+for all.
+
+The result was that Edith and Frances were thrown much together.
+Frances found it fortunate that she had a companion of her own age, for
+the island ladies soon called upon Mrs. Thayne and drew her into
+numerous social engagements. The little community had a strong army and
+navy tinge and naturally welcomed Mrs. Thayne. She would have taken far
+less part in the various festivities had she been leaving her daughter
+alone, but the two girls proved so congenial and Mrs. Thayne was so
+well satisfied with Edith as a companion for Frances that she felt free
+to indulge her own social instincts and enjoy the pleasant circle so
+invitingly opened.
+
+Whenever they went out, the girls kept a close watch for the "collie
+lady" and the "beach dog." Twice Tylo came to hail them on the sands,
+once apparently entirely alone. The other time he merely greeted them
+and bounded away to rejoin two riders on the road. One was his lady,
+her companion a slender young man of distinctly foreign aspect, dark
+and distinguished-looking. Their horses were walking slowly, the riders
+engaged in deep conversation and the beach dog's mistress did not see
+the eager faces of the girls.
+
+They talked a good deal about her, wondering who she was, where she
+lived and whether they would ever know her. After seeing her on
+horseback, they fell more and more under the spell of her charm and
+began to picture her the heroine of all sorts of stories.
+
+Day-dreams and romantic stories however, had but a small place in a
+world so busily filled with lessons of various kinds. One Tuesday
+evening, Frances was openly groaning over the need of writing an essay
+upon Julius Caesar.
+
+"Wouldn't you like him better if you saw something he did?" inquired
+Win, hearing her lamentations. "There's a castle in Jersey, part of
+which he built."
+
+Fran's eyes opened incredulously and Roger whistled. "Is that one of
+Bill Fish's yarns?" he demanded.
+
+"Ante-dates him," replied Win. "It's Mont Orgueil, over the other side
+of the island. Let's have a picnic there to-morrow, take our lunch and
+stay all day. Mother, you must come. Don't say you've promised to make
+calls."
+
+"I can go perfectly well," said Mrs. Thayne. "Only there is Roger's
+appointment with the dentist in the afternoon. He'll have to keep that,
+but there will be plenty of time for the picnic if we start early."
+
+"Think of having an outdoor picnic in December," exclaimed Frances.
+"We'll take Edith, of course."
+
+"Of course," assented her mother. "And Estelle, if she will go. I wish
+she would. She shuts herself up so closely and seems to shrink from
+seeing people, but perhaps she will go to Orgueil just with us."
+
+Even Edith could not persuade her sister to join the party though
+Estelle was touched by their regret, evidently genuine.
+
+"If you only would, Star," begged Edith. "You would enjoy it. You don't
+know how funny and nice they are to go with."
+
+"I couldn't, little sister," said Estelle gently. "You go and tell me
+about it afterwards."
+
+Edith was not satisfied but all persuasion proved useless. She had a
+vague idea that Star was worried. Just why, Edith did not see, since
+the plan of letting lodgings had come out so pleasantly. Everything was
+going smoothly at present; why should Star borrow trouble from the
+future?
+
+Mont Orgueil is reached by a miniature railway leading from St.
+Helier's to the fishing village of Gorey. By this time the young people
+were all well accustomed to the absurd little narrow gauge tramways
+with their leisurely trains. But if the train into St. Helier's
+crawled, the one to Gorey snailed, to quote Roger. Time was ample to
+note the pretty stuccoed houses, pink, cream or brown, with gardens and
+climbing vines that even in December made them spots of beauty. They
+passed under the frowning cliffs of Fort Regent and saw several lovely
+turquoise-blue bays with shining sandy beaches. Farther on farms
+succeeded the villas, stone farmhouses with tiled or thatched roofs,
+some with orange or other fruit trees trained against their southern
+walls. Suddenly Frances rose to her feet.
+
+"What on earth are those?" she demanded. "Just look at those cabbages
+on top of canes."
+
+The others looked and saw something answering exactly to Fran's graphic
+description.
+
+"Oh, yes" said Mrs. Thayne, "those are the cow cabbages of Jersey. They
+are common in the interior of the island. It's a peculiar kind of
+cabbage growing five or six feet high. The farmers pick the leaves on
+the stalk and leave just the head on top. These stalks are made into
+the canes we have seen in shops."
+
+"I saw them," said Win, "but I didn't realize what they were. Look,
+there's a Jersey cow among the cabbages."
+
+"The Jersey cattle are so pretty," said Frances admiringly.
+
+"They are very valuable," said Edith. "The farmers coddle them like
+children."
+
+Gorey proved a picturesque village with many schooners and boats of
+different kinds drawn up on the beach and in every direction fish nets
+drying. Above and behind towered the ruined castle of Orgueil, rising
+more than three hundred feet sheer from the sea.
+
+Mrs. Thayne sent Roger to find and engage a donkey which Win mounted
+without protest, after one glance at the climb before him, though he
+insisted on swinging the boxes of luncheon before him on the little
+animal's neck. Its owner was dismissed, Roger agreeing to pull the
+beast up the hill.
+
+Mont Orgueil forms the crest of a lofty conical rock and looks down
+like a grim giant upon the blue waters that stretch away to the coast
+of France. Tier after tier the fortifications mount the cone, crowned
+at the apex by a flagstaff.
+
+At the castle entrance, gained after a steady climb, a small boy
+appeared, sent by the castle keeper to act as guide. He tied the donkey
+to an iron post and led the way into the interior.
+
+"This is the oldest part," he began shyly. "They do say this tower was
+built by Julius Caesar."
+
+"Gracious, that's some story!" whistled Roger, looking with all his
+might.
+
+"I believe it is true," said Mrs. Thayne. "Win, you were reading about
+the castle before we started."
+
+"Yes," said Win. "That's straight about Caesar. That's why I wanted
+Fran to see it. And most of the place was built a thousand years ago.
+Is it ever used now!"
+
+[Illustration: ABOVE AND BEHIND TOWERED THE RUINED CASTLE OF ORGUEIL]
+
+"In summer the signal service is quartered here," replied the boy.
+"This is the well, ninety feet deep."
+
+As he spoke, he dropped a pebble over a low parapet. Some seconds later
+came a hollow splash.
+
+The guide showed them a cell where condemned prisoners were once kept,
+a ruined chapel with a very old crypt, and above the chapel a room
+reached by winding stairs. The girls entered with a simultaneous shriek
+of delight.
+
+"What a love of a room!" said Edith.
+
+"Mother, isn't this too sweet for words?" demanded Frances.
+
+"This is the Cupola room," explained their guide. "Charles the Second
+stopped here during his exile from England."
+
+"Prince Charles!" exclaimed Win, his imagination fired at once. "Oh, I
+read that in the guide book, but this--his room--"
+
+Win's voice trailed into silence. To read a fact in a book was
+different from standing under the very roof that had once sheltered
+bonnie Prince Charlie. He looked about him, trying to picture to
+himself those far past days.
+
+The ceiling rose in a huge dome and one immense window framed a
+wonderful view. From a little sally-port leading to a platform one
+could look sheer down to the rocks or across fourteen miles of tossing
+water to beautiful France. By using a little imagination the girls
+agreed that they could detect the spire of the cathedral of Coutances
+easily visible in clear weather.
+
+"In the French revolution the governor of Jersey signalled to the army
+of the Vendee by means of a flagpole held in place by chains," said
+Mrs. Thayne.
+
+"Yes," said their small guide. "The chains are still on the wall but
+the pole is new. The naval men use it in summer."
+
+"Do they sleep here?" asked Win.
+
+"Down in the chapel, sir."
+
+"I'd stay here," said Win. "Say, how much would you rent this room for?"
+
+"Three and six a week, sir, with the platform thrown in," replied their
+small guide so gravely that they all looked to see whether he was
+really in earnest.
+
+"That's cheap enough, considering the view," said Mrs. Thayne, smiling.
+
+Fascinated by the picturesque old castle, Win wandered off by himself,
+deciphering the inscriptions placed on the many doors. There is no
+guard in the guard-room, no stores are kept in the storeroom, and the
+chapel never hears a sermon save those preached by its own stones to
+those who have ears to hear. But the sunlight falling on the green
+platforms, the pigeons cooing on the walls, the blue sea stretching to
+the shining cliffs of France, the glamour of old-world romance struck
+impressionable Win. Dreamily he recalled that whether Caesar built the
+tower or not, no reasonable doubt exists that Orgueil was occupied if
+not built by the mighty Prince Rollo, grandfather of William the
+Conqueror. Over the main entrance to the castle-keep his coat of arms
+survives the centuries. For centuries to come, Orgueil will remain
+gathering more legendary charm as the slow years pass.
+
+Win shook off the feeling of awe gently creeping over him and joined
+the others, investigating a tiny cell where Prynne the Puritan leader
+was confined for three years. Roger was immensely impressed by the
+ruins of a secret staircase, connecting a dungeon where the criminals
+were executed, with the keep and sally-port.
+
+"There's a many secret stairs in the old Jersey houses," volunteered
+their guide, noticing his interest.
+
+"Where can we see them?" demanded Roger at once, but this their small
+informer could not tell.
+
+"Gentry lives in those houses," he volunteered. "They'se not open to
+trippers."
+
+"To what?" demanded Roger.
+
+"Visitors, strangers like," explained the boy.
+
+"I like that," said Roger, flushing indignantly.
+
+"Hush, Roger," interposed his mother. "No offense was meant. What are
+these chains? They seem very old."
+
+"They were used long time ago to hang criminals. They do say they put
+'em there alive and left 'em to the corbies."
+
+"Corbies? Oh, crows," interpreted Win. "Nice custom! Mother, look at
+the heaps of rocks exposed by the tide."
+
+"There's more this side," said their guide, turning a corner of the
+rampart with Roger close at his heels. The rest were about to follow
+when suddenly Mrs. Thayne gave an exclamation.
+
+"Listen!" she said. "That must be a skylark."
+
+From somewhere in the blue above fell a rain of happy music, so liquid
+and so sweet that it scarcely seemed to come from any earthly bird.
+
+"Where is it?" asked Frances excitedly, peering into the air and
+dropping on her knees the better to look up. Mrs. Thayne did the same
+and both stared into the sky, trying to detect the tiny spot of
+feathered joy, the source of all this melody. Presently Edith and Win
+joined them.
+
+Back around the corner came Roger and the guide, both stopping short at
+sight of the rest of the party down on their knees on the daisy-starred
+turf.
+
+"Whatever are they doing?" ejaculated the boy.
+
+"Oh, it's a skylark!" exclaimed Frances enthusiastically. "Come and
+see."
+
+Mouth open in amazement, their small guide stood rooted to the spot. "A
+skylark!" he muttered, staring at the four in their attitude of
+devotion. "Lookin' at a skylark!" he repeated as though unable to
+credit the testimony of his own eyes.
+
+Win burst out laughing and rose to his feet. "Take this," he said,
+producing a shilling. "Thank you for showing us about. We'll stay a
+while longer and eat lunch here."
+
+The boy pocketed the coin and withdrew, his face still a picture of
+incredulous astonishment over the actions of this singular and
+apparently insane group of excursionists. At last sight, he was still
+slowly shaking his head and murmuring, "Lookin' at a skylark!"
+
+[Illustration: "LOOK, THERE IS A JERSEY COW AMONG THE CABBAGES."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A RACE WITH THE TIDE
+
+
+After luncheon, time passed too quickly. Before it seemed possible,
+Mrs. Thayne declared the hour had come for Roger to keep his
+appointment with the dentist in St. Helier's.
+
+"Let him go alone, Mother," said Win. "He's no kid. We want you to stay
+with us."
+
+"Of course he could go alone," agreed Mrs. Thayne, "but I ought to
+consult the dentist myself and do an errand or two. There's no reason
+why you and the girls should cut short your stay. This is a lovely
+place to spend the afternoon and the day too perfect to hurry home.
+Just be back for dinner."
+
+"Let Roger return the donkey," suggested Win. "I sha'n't need him going
+down hill and very likely we shall strike across beyond the village."
+
+Mrs. Thayne departed, Roger clattering ahead on the donkey, and the
+three were left in the meadow by the castle entrance, a meadow starred
+with most fascinating pink-tipped English daisies.
+
+"Just see the dears and then think that it's really winter," sighed
+Frances. "I can't believe that at home everybody is wearing furs and
+the ground is frozen. It doesn't seem possible that Christmas is so
+near."
+
+Win was lying flat on the close-cropped turf, his attitude indicating
+that he contemplated a nap. After a glance at his prostrate figure, the
+girls wandered to a little distance, seeking the pinkest daisies.
+Presently they were surprised by the sudden arrival of a beautiful
+collie, who poked a cold nose into Edith's face.
+
+"O-oh!" she exclaimed. "Go to Frances. She's the one who likes dogs. I
+prefer nice soft little pussy-cats."
+
+"It's the beach dog," said Frances. "Do you suppose his lady is with
+him?"
+
+Edith looked eagerly about. The elevated castle meadow commanded a
+rather extended view but in no direction was any one visible.
+
+"I don't see her anywhere. Come here, Tylo. Oh, Fran, let's read the
+plate on his collar. Perhaps it will have her name."
+
+Hot and panting from a run, Tylo willingly lay down by the girls and
+made not the least objection to having his collar examined. The
+unusually long plate bore considerable lettering.
+
+"Laurel Manor, St. Brelade's," read Frances in excitement. "Here's some
+French, Edith."
+
+"It's Italian, Fran. 'Palazzo Grassi, Via Ludovisi, Roma.' Just two
+addresses and no name!" Edith ended in disappointment.
+
+"Oh, but wait!" exclaimed Frances. The light struck the plate at such
+an angle as to make visible to her some additional lettering, not
+engraved but apparently scratched with a knife. Though small, the words
+were extremely neat and legible and the girls deciphered them eagerly.
+
+"Connie--her dog.
+
+"Max--his mark."
+
+"Her name must be Connie!" Edith declared, turning excited eyes upon
+her companion. "Speak, Tylo! Is your mistress called Constance?"
+
+Tylo vouchsafed no answer, only pricked his ears, hearing something
+inaudible to the girls. The next instant came a distinct though faint
+whistle.
+
+The beach dog departed at once, tearing down over the meadow in a
+graceful curve to leap a hedge into a shady lane beyond.
+
+"Well, we've learned a little," sighed Frances. "His mistress is called
+Connie and she lives at Laurel Manor. The rest ought to be easy. Let's
+go down to the shore. I want to explore that point of rocks."
+
+"But Win's asleep," said Edith hesitatingly. "Ought we to leave him?"
+
+"It's all right," said Frances. "He couldn't scramble on the rocks and
+it's splendid for him to sleep in this fine air. I'll leave a note
+telling him where to look for us."
+
+Edith supplied a blunt pencil and Fran wrote her message on a bit of
+paper torn from the luncheon box, pinning it carefully to her brother's
+coat where he could not fail to see it. Then they ran down to the cove
+beyond Orgueil.
+
+The water, far on the horizon, showed only as a gleaming line of light,
+leaving bare heaps and piles of rocks, inextricably turned on end in
+some prehistoric upheaval. In places the rocks were continuous, in
+others separated by spaces of wet sand.
+
+Over the rocks grew masses of vari-colored seaweed, brown, yellow,
+blue-green, even pink. Footing proved both slippery and treacherous,
+but offered the fascination of exploring an unknown region. As they
+walked farther out, curious shell-fish were clinging to the stone.
+
+"These are ormers and limpets," said Edith. "I saw them the day Nurse
+and I went to market. What a huge winkle!"
+
+Fran stared at this new specimen. "Is that a winkle?" she demanded in
+disgust. "I call it a plain snail. Why, all my life, I've read about
+winkles and thought I'd like to eat some but I'd die before I'd eat a
+snail. Oh! Oh! Oh!"
+
+Edith turned so quickly that she almost fell on the slippery weed.
+Frances was fairly dancing with excitement, wholly however of pleasure.
+
+In the hollowed rock lay a pool of clear sea water, at first sight
+filled with bright-hued flowers, pink, purple, orange. The next glance
+showed them to be living organisms.
+
+"Sea-anemones!" breathed Edith softly. "I never saw anything so
+beautiful."
+
+The anemones were pulpy brown bodies varying in size from a pea to a
+tomato. From their anchorage on the rock they stretched waving
+tentacles of soft iridescent hues, transforming the little pool into a
+marine fairyland. Between the anemones a bright yellow lichen-like
+growth almost covered the warm red granite, and tiny yellow, rose, and
+black and white striped snails were set like jewels on this background.
+Two or three sharp limpet shells waved feathery seaweed fans.
+
+A long time passed and the girls still lingered. They discovered that
+most of the pools boasted anemones, some not unlike an ordinary land
+daisy with light-colored tentacles stretching ray-shaped from a yellow
+centre. When touched with an empty shell, the anemone would close over
+it, folding both the shell and itself into a tight brown ball, then
+open slowly and drop the shell. The only food the girls had with them
+was some sweet chocolate, so they experimented with this, watching the
+lovely living sea-flowers seize upon fragments held within reach of
+their feelers.
+
+"I suppose it will give them frightful pains," remarked Frances at
+last, rising from her cramped position. "Goodness! the tide is coming!"
+
+"Yes, but it's far out," replied Edith, casting a glance at the line of
+water, still distant a full half-mile. "Look, Frances, here's a tiny
+pink crab."
+
+For a moment Frances again bent over the aquarium but soon started to
+her feet.
+
+"Let's go back, Edith. We're a long way from shore and you know how
+very fast the tide comes in."
+
+"Oh, is that crab gone? I thought you would mind where he went," said
+Edith as she reluctantly rose. "I wanted to take him to Win."
+
+The two began to retrace their way, at first over piles of red rock
+covered with seaweed, farther on over stretches of sand surrounding
+rock islands.
+
+Just as they left the last of the solid rock a big wave came curling
+lazily along its side. For a second the water clung to it like fingers,
+then withdrew.
+
+"Fran, we must run," said Edith quietly, but her face had grown pale.
+
+Frances made no reply. Both ran as fast as they could across the
+stretch of level hard sand. Before they reached the first rock island,
+long fingers of foam again darted past at one side.
+
+Neither girl spoke. Automatically they seized hands and redoubled their
+efforts. One island after another was left behind, then Edith, looking
+over her shoulder, saw that the tide was gaining. Its next incoming
+heave would overtake them.
+
+"We'll have to climb these rocks!" she gasped.
+
+"_No!_" said Fran, giving her hand a tug. "Keep on. No matter if we do
+get wet. We _must_ get nearer in. These rocks will be covered."
+
+Edith kept pace. They seemed to have reached a higher ridge of the
+beach since presently the water, instead of pursuing directly, passed
+on either side, stretching shorewards.
+
+Too terrified to consider what this would mean when the tongues of
+water should meet before them, the girls pressed on blindly.
+
+Suddenly there came a shout from shore, now measurably nearer. Down the
+beach sped a galloping horse, his rider waving to attract their
+attention.
+
+Fran's quick wits grasped the situation. "He'll come for us!" she
+exclaimed. "He means us to climb this rock and wait."
+
+This seemed what the rider meant for as they scrambled up the ledge, he
+ceased to call and merely urged his horse to greater effort. Edith
+reached the top without accident, but Frances slipped and soaked both
+feet.
+
+The horse, a beautiful chestnut thoroughbred with tossing mane, came at
+quick speed. In the distance, his rider looked a mere boy, but as he
+approached, the girls saw that he was a young man of twenty-three or
+four, with a fine, clean-cut face, who sat his horse as though a part
+of it.
+
+Arriving by their rock, the chestnut checked himself in full gallop and
+turned almost in his stride.
+
+"Give me your hand," said the young man to Edith. "Step on my foot.
+Swing round behind me and hold on any way you can."
+
+Edith instantly obeyed. "Here," he added to Frances, "scramble up in
+front. Quick! There's no time to lose. Steady on, Saracen!" he added as
+the horse jumped and snorted at touch of the water curling about his
+heels.
+
+They were perhaps a quarter-mile from shore and the return was made at
+a fast pace, yet as they came up above tide mark, the waves were
+lapping the shingle and only a rock here and there remained uncovered.
+
+During the hurried trip the young man had spoken only to his horse,
+words of encouragement uttered in a pleasant voice, and both girls were
+still too stunned by the sudden peril and their equally sudden rescue
+to realize their very unconventional situation; Edith with both arms
+around the stranger, her cheek pressed into his shoulder; Fran sitting
+on the saddle-bow, held in position by his left arm while his right
+hand clasped the reins.
+
+Once in safety, Saracen stopped of his own accord, looking around as
+though, now the hurry was over, he would like to know what sort of
+unaccustomed load he had been carrying.
+
+"Right we are!" said the young man cheerily. "Now I wonder if you can
+slide down."
+
+Still speechless, Frances did so. The young man swung himself from the
+saddle and turned to lift Edith from her perch as though she was a
+little child. Again on firm ground, she began to utter incoherent
+thanks.
+
+[Illustration: "HE'LL COME FOR US! HE MEANS US TO CLIMB THIS ROCK AND
+WAIT"]
+
+"I think you must be strangers to the island," he said rather gravely,
+"else you would know that the Jersey tides come in as rapidly as they
+ebb. This isn't a safe coast to experiment with."
+
+"It was the anemones," began Frances. "We never saw any before and
+forgot to watch the water."
+
+The young man smiled. "Those anemones!" he said. "I was once in a
+similar fix for the same reason. Better remember that the only safe
+time to watch sea anemones is when the tide is just going out. There's
+a place up here where the farmer's wife is a friend of mine. I think
+you'd better let me take you over to Mother Trott and she'll dry you
+out."
+
+"I'm not wet," said Edith. "Frances fell, that's why she's drippy."
+
+"Oh, but Win!" Frances exclaimed. "He'll find that note saying we're on
+the rocks and he'll see the water and be frightened. My brother," she
+added to the stranger, who was looking at her inquiringly. "He's in the
+meadow."
+
+The young man's clear gray eyes grew rather stern. "And what is this
+brother doing while his little sister gets into danger?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, it's not his fault. He was asleep and he _mustn't_ be frightened,"
+Fran began. She spoke rapidly, her explanation banishing from the
+inquirer's face all look of disapproval.
+
+"I'll go and tell Win," said Edith. "I'm not a bit wet. You go on to
+the farm, Frances. Which house is it?"
+
+"Do you see the long low one with the vines about half a mile up the
+hill?" replied their rescuer. "That's it."
+
+"If Win's still asleep, for goodness' sake don't wake him," directed
+Frances as Edith set off toward the castle. "Perhaps I can get dry and
+be there before he need know what has happened."
+
+"Would you be willing to ride in front of me again, Miss Frances?"
+asked the young man, as Edith vanished around the wall. "We could reach
+the farm much more quickly."
+
+Without demur, Frances consented. She felt queerly shaken and ill and
+to her consternation, as Saracen crossed the highroad and entered the
+farm lane, a sudden burst of sobs overcame her. She struggled bravely
+to control herself.
+
+"That was a beastly experience," said the pleasant voice, "but you were
+so near shore when Saracen and I saw you, that you'd probably have made
+it with merely a wetting."
+
+"We haven't really thanked you," said Frances incoherently. "I do--so
+much--Mother--"
+
+"Thank Saracen. He did it. It's nothing at all, and you mustn't let it
+trouble you. Hello, Tylo. Been off again on your own?"
+
+Obedient to touch, his horse stopped at the cottage gate. Frances slid
+from her perch and the young man dismounted, throwing the reins to the
+beach dog, whose sudden reappearance did not surprise nor interest
+Frances, as ordinarily it would have done.
+
+"Come round to the back," said her companion, opening the gate. "Mother
+Trott will probably be in her kitchen. She'll put you to rights in no
+time. No mess too bad for her to take on."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+MR. MAX
+
+
+Frances accompanied her guide along a pebbled path neatly edged with
+big scallop-shells measuring fully six inches across. Beside the walk
+stretched garden borders still gay with geraniums, japonicas and other
+hardy plants in full bloom. As they passed the front door of the
+cottage with its whitewashed steps gleaming in the afternoon sun, a
+roughly outlined heart surrounding some initials caught Frances'
+attention. The design was carved in the stone top of the door-frame and
+looked very old.
+
+"That's a pretty custom of the island," said her companion, noticing
+Fran's glance. "The people who first made a home had their initials cut
+over the door. Many of the Jersey farmhouses have several sets of
+initials on the door-stones."
+
+Around the corner of the house lay a neat kitchen garden full of
+vegetables in thrifty green rows, a patch of the curious cabbages and
+in a field just over a fence, was tethered a pretty, soft-eyed Jersey
+cow. Beside the entrance stood a bench glittering with shiny copper
+pails and milk-cans.
+
+Without stopping to knock, the young man stepped directly into a clean,
+low-ceiled kitchen, where white sand was scattered on the stone floor.
+
+"Are you there, Mrs. Trott?" he inquired.
+
+Hastily setting down the pan of potatoes she was peeling, a
+pleasant-looking stout woman rose to her feet with a curtsy.
+
+"If it isn't Mr. Max!" she exclaimed, her voice expressing both
+surprise and delight.
+
+"And as usual seeking help, Mrs. Trott. This young lady, Miss Frances,
+has been unlucky enough to be overtaken by the tides--"
+
+"Poor dear!" interrupted Mrs. Trott. "Bess!" she called, "come you
+down. Ah, 'tis the tides that make the Jersey heartaches. Ye did quite
+right to bring her, Mr. Max. Bess, be quick!"
+
+A rosy-cheeked girl of seventeen came clattering down the tiny stair,
+to smile at the visitors and drop an awkward, blushing curtsy to each.
+
+"Why, Bess, you're quite grown up," said the young man, smiling back at
+her.
+
+"A year does make a differ, sir," said Mrs. Trott. "Lead the young
+leddy up the stair, Bess, and dry her feet and give her your Sunday
+socks and shoon. Mr. Max, you'll drink tea? Sure, now, and taste my
+fresh wonders. The young leddy'll be down directly and a cup of tea
+will set her up."
+
+"Indeed, I could do with some tea, Mrs. Trott, and I've not had any
+wonders since--"
+
+Frances did not hear the end of the sentence for she was following Bess
+up the narrow, winding stone stairs to emerge in a little room with
+slanting caves and dormer windows in its thatched roof. The place was
+bare but spotlessly clean and through the open western casement
+shimmered the blue sea.
+
+"Sit down, Miss," said Bess in a soft voice with curious musical
+intonations that made up for imperfect pronunciation.
+
+With a sigh of relief, Frances sank into the straight chair. The
+reaction from her late adventure was still upon her. Before she knew
+what was happening, Bess approached with a basin of water and a towel,
+and knelt to unfasten the soaked shoes.
+
+"Oh, I can do that for myself," Frances protested with the independence
+of an American girl.
+
+"Sit ye still, Miss," said Bess pleasantly. "'Tis bad for the nerves to
+race the tides. It shakes one a good bit."
+
+Her deft fingers made short work of their task. Presently, Frances was
+comfortable in white cotton stockings and black slippers far too large
+and wide.
+
+"Twill serve," said Bess, smiling at the way they slid around on Fran's
+slender feet. "Dry at least. Now come ye down and drink your tea. 'Tis
+not lately we've seen Mr. Max. Mother'll be rarely pleased."
+
+Frances had it on her tongue's end to inquire into the identity of her
+rescuer, but the difficulty of keeping on those heavy leather shoes
+with their big silver buckles distracted her attention. She came
+carefully down the stair to find Mr. Max seated on the big black oak
+settle, his hat and riding-crop beside him and Mrs. Trott arranging her
+table before the fire.
+
+"Come, Miss, to your tea," she exclaimed. "Bess, fetch the cream."
+
+Frances tried to protest, feeling already under great obligations to
+these total strangers, but Mr. Max promptly rose to give her a seat.
+
+"Tea will do you good, Miss Frances," he said with a most engaging
+smile. "Try Mrs. Trott's wonders. Have you ever eaten a Jersey wonder?"
+
+"It looks like a doughnut," said Frances, taking a fried cake from the
+proffered plate.
+
+A sudden, mischievous grin crossed the young man's face. "A plain New
+England doughnut disguised by an old-world name," he said.
+
+"New England!" repeated Frances, stopping with the cake halfway to her
+mouth. "How do you know about New England doughnuts?"
+
+Mr. Max seated himself, looking boyishly amused.
+
+  "'Land where our fathers died,
+    Land of the Pilgrims' pride,'"
+
+he quoted, seriously enough but with gray eyes dancing with fun. "Oh, I
+know the whole thing. Shall we sing it together?"
+
+"Are you really an American?" Frances demanded in utter amazement.
+"Then how--what--You don't talk--But that accounts for it."
+
+She stopped, feeling suddenly shy of questioning him. "Well," she added
+after a second, "that's the reason I didn't feel a bit strange about
+coming with you. It seemed all right--just as though you were somebody
+I knew."
+
+"Thank you, Miss Frances," said her companion. "That is a very lovely
+way to express your appreciation. Yes, we are fellow-countrymen, though
+I have spent much of my life in Europe. In fact, my first visit to the
+United States was when I was around your age. Since then I've put in
+four years at Yale and one in Washington. Now, I'm attached to the
+American Embassy in Paris and came over here to spend the Christmas
+holidays with old friends. Jersey has seen me many times before this.
+That's how I happen to know about the sea anemones and the tides."
+
+Mrs. Trott came bustling back with jam, followed by Bess with a covered
+jar. "And how's Miss Connie?" she inquired.
+
+"She seems very well," replied Mr. Max. "Your tea is as good as ever,
+Mrs. Trott. Clotted cream, Bess? You know my weak spots, don't you?"
+
+"They do be saying that the Colonel fails since his lady died," went on
+Mrs. Trott, regarding her table anxiously. "Couldn't you fancy an egg
+now, Mr. Max, or a bit of bacon?" as he raised a protesting hand.
+
+Frances also declined. She did not feel hungry but after Mrs. Trott had
+brought water to dilute the strong tea, she drank it willingly.
+
+Neither did Mr. Max eat enough to satisfy his hostess. After a few
+moments he rose and looked at his watch.
+
+"I think I'll ride over to the Manor and exchange Saracen for another
+horse and the trap and give myself the pleasure if I may, Miss Frances,
+of driving you and the others back to St. Aubin's. Your boots will
+hardly be dry for you to wear on the train. I'd really like to do so,"
+he added, seeing that Frances looked disturbed. "You know it is the
+business of the American Embassy to look after its fellow countrymen in
+a foreign land, so this is only my plain duty."
+
+"Best let him, Miss," said Mrs. Trott approvingly. "Mr. Max do always
+take thought for others. But where happens Miss Connie to-day?"
+
+"Oh, Miss Connie's gone to a tea-fight of some kind," replied Mr. Max,
+giving Frances another mischievous glance. "She said I couldn't go, so
+I annexed her dog and her father's horse and went out on my own. I
+shall be back before long."
+
+Frances gave an anxious thought to Edith, concluded that she probably
+found Win asleep and was following instructions not to wake him. This
+conjecture proved correct for Edith soon came hurrying down the path.
+
+"I took the first note and left one saying we were at this cottage,"
+she explained. "Are you all right, Fran? Do you think you've caught a
+chill?"
+
+Frances explained that they were to be driven home and Mrs. Trott
+pressed tea and wonders upon Edith, who accepted both gratefully.
+
+"Is it far to the Manor--to where Mr. Max is going?" Frances inquired
+of Mrs. Trott.
+
+"Not for a good horse, Miss, though 'tis beyond St. Aubin's. I'm
+thinking you must have marked the place, a big old stone house with
+many a laurel tree about it and open to the cliffs beyond."
+
+"Oh, we know it," said Fran eagerly. "There are iron gates with a coat
+of arms and the grounds are lovely."
+
+"That's Laurel Manor, Miss," assented Mrs. Trott.
+
+The girls looked at each other in delight. In one afternoon they had
+learned where lived the mistress of the beach dog and what her name.
+
+"'Tis good to lay eyes on Mr. Max again," Mrs. Trott went on. "A pity
+he and Miss Connie couldn't content themselves with each other. 'Tis
+not to our liking to have our young leddy takin' up with a foreign
+prince."
+
+"Oh, please tell us about it," demanded Frances. "We met Miss Connie on
+the beach and we think she's perfectly lovely. Is she really to marry a
+prince?"
+
+"He's not a prince of a royal house," replied Mrs. Trott. "He's an
+Eyetalian and in that country, they tell me, there's a different kind
+of royalty. I don't rightly know, Miss, but I'm thinking they are
+Romish princes."
+
+"Is Miss Connie marrying a Catholic?" inquired Edith in great interest.
+
+"That's the question," said Mrs. Trott, reflectively resting both hands
+on the table. "I could see Mr. Max didn't want to talk, but we hear
+considerable through the housekeeper at the Manor. This young man that
+they say Miss Connie's tokened to is the son of one of these princes.
+But his mother was an Englishwoman and a Protestant and so when two
+boys had been baptized as Catholics, the third son,--Miss Connie's
+young man,--was brought up in his mother's faith, our English church.
+
+"I suppose," Mrs. Trott went on meditatively, "they thought he'd never
+succeed to his father's title and position, bein' the third son. But
+the oldest, Prince Santo-Ponte, or some title like that, was killed in
+a motor mishap--they say he was racin' something shameful,--and soon
+the next brother died of pneumonia. So that leaves the Protestant son
+the heir. And the story is that he's to be made to turn Catholic."
+
+"But they can't make him if he won't," protested the shocked Edith.
+Both she and Frances were listening eagerly to this romantic story.
+Their wildest flights of imagination concerning Miss Connie fell short
+of the truth,--if this was truth.
+
+"I don't know, Miss, I don't know," said Mrs. Trott doubtfully. "Turn
+the young leddy's boots, Bess,--don't ye scent the smell o' scorchin'?
+'Tis hard on the poor fellow. There's his father urgin' him to do it
+for the sake of the family, and there's a title and a great fortune
+waitin' when he does. They'll be tellin' him it's his duty as they
+tell't the Princess Alix, own granddaughter of Queen Victoria, when she
+married with the Czar of all the Russias. 'Twas the Greek church she
+went over to."
+
+"But will Miss Connie marry the prince if he does give up his own
+church?" asked Edith eagerly.
+
+Again Mrs. Trott shook her head. "There's no mention of any weddin',"
+she admitted, "and it may be they're not even tokened, but the prince
+has been visitin' a sight of times at the Manor. Now, I'm thinkin' it's
+a good sign Mr. Max is here again. The Colonel, Miss Connie's father,
+loves him like a son. Why, he and Miss Connie grew up together, brother
+and sister-wise. The way of it was that Mr. Max's mother died when he
+was but a tiny and Mrs. Lisle, Miss Connie's mother, about took him for
+her own. He's fair lived with them. Many's the time he and Miss Connie
+have run in here for their tea or to dry their feet. You see I was
+parlor-maid at the Manor before I married Trott. That was when Mr.
+Eichard was living Miss Connie's brother. He was near fifteen years
+older and he died in South Africa, poor lad! Ah, when he was killed it
+nigh broke the Colonel's heart. Well, I've often helped out at the
+Manor when extra service was needed. Far rather would I see Miss Connie
+wedded to Mr. Max."
+
+"But how did Miss Connie happen to know the prince?" asked Frances.
+
+"In Rome. Till her mother died, they spent part of every winter there,
+but the Colonel can't bear the place now and they stop here the season.
+I keep hopin' Mr. Max will get her yet. Such a pretty well-mannered boy
+he always was and never above passin' a friendly word with us all.
+
+"I suppose," Mrs. Trott concluded, "when you come to think of it, Mr.
+Max is a foreigner, too, but the best I can say is that he's just like
+an honest English gentleman."
+
+Frances flushed, choking back a hot comment. She had so quickly felt a
+bond of kinship with this young American. Yet, in spite of her
+momentary anger, she realized that Mrs. Trott was paying the highest
+compliment in her power. Well, pride in her own country could teach
+Frances to value like loyalty in another.
+
+"What is his other name?" she inquired.
+
+"I couldn't rightly tell you, Miss. He was but a wee lad when he first
+came to the Manor. He calls the Colonel, uncle, and we forget he isn't
+really of the family. Yet his father has been here, too. He's famous
+for something very wise indeed. Could I speak the name, you might know,
+for he's well-spoken of outside our island."
+
+At this moment, Win appeared, strolling up the lane and looking annoyed
+to find the girls so far in the opposite direction from the railway.
+Nor did his vexation lessen on hearing their adventures, softened and
+smoothed though the version was. In fact, self-controlled Win was
+inclined to be decidedly cross and to disapprove emphatically
+acceptances of further favors from a stranger. Fran was still arguing
+when a smartly-appointed trap drawn by a shiny horse turned into the
+lane.
+
+"Now, you can see for yourself," declared Fran. "He's an American and a
+gentleman and it's all right for us to let him drive us home."
+
+"As if we couldn't hire a carriage in Gorey," Win retorted, but with a
+second glance at the driver, his attention was distracted.
+
+"Oh-h!" he said in perplexity, "that's the fellow who was in the Royal
+Square that morning. Now, where in the wide world have I seen him
+before?"
+
+Thinking hard, Win stared with puckered brows. Suddenly his face
+cleared. "Why, he's that young chap Father introduced me to the time he
+took me to Washington," he said accusingly to Fran. "Why didn't you
+tell me?"
+
+"How on earth could I know?" demanded Fran, but her brother had turned
+with a smile to greet the trap just drawing up by the gate. Mr. Max
+looked at Win with a puzzled glance which gradually changed to a look
+of recognition.
+
+"I do know you, don't I?" he said. "Well, I never suspected when I was
+detailed to entertain Captain Thayne's son for an hour or so, that we'd
+meet again in Gorey village. Why, that makes us old friends!"
+
+Win grasped the cordially offered hand and having bestowed Edith and
+Frances in the seat behind, climbed up beside Max, his face beaming.
+With many thanks to Mrs. Trott and promises to come again, they drove
+off.
+
+"Hasn't this been the most exciting afternoon?" Frances confided to
+Edith. "We've learned the collie lady's name and met the boy she told
+us of, and heard about her Italian prince. Look at Win! He's crushed on
+Mr. Max,--I can tell by the way he's looking at him. I should think
+Miss Connie would much rather marry an American."
+
+"Perhaps he hasn't asked her," said Edith sensibly. "Perhaps, if she
+really is engaged to the prince, she did it before Mr. Max came back
+from America and he couldn't help himself because it was too late."
+
+Max's back did not look as though it belonged to a specially unhappy
+person and the expression of his face as he talked pleasantly with Win
+was not that of a young man whose enjoyment in life has been seriously
+darkened, but it pleased the girls to fancy him as a blighted being, so
+keenly had Mrs. Trott's rather injudicious confidences appealed to
+their youthful ideas of romance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+RICHARD LISLE'S LETTER
+
+
+"Why, I've met Miss Lisle several times," said Mrs. Thayne after
+hearing Fran's account of the exciting end of the picnic. "She's a
+charming girl and her father is the finest type of an English
+gentleman. At the lawn party this afternoon she spoke of meeting two
+girls on the beach and asked if one wasn't my daughter."
+
+"Oh, I do hope I can know her," said Frances happily. "I think she's
+the sweetest thing I ever saw. But, Mother, do you suppose what Mrs.
+Trott said about her and the Italian prince is true?"
+
+"That was a bit of gossip which Mrs. Trott should not have repeated to
+girls of your age," commented her mother, "but since you have heard it,
+I suppose it will do no harm to say that Prince Santo-Ponte undoubtedly
+does visit at the Manor, though I do not believe that any engagement
+exists between him and Miss Lisle. As for Mr. Max, as you call him, his
+father is Professor Rodney Hamilton, the noted scientist. Max has been
+much with the Lisles and to all purposes is the son of the house."
+
+"The day when I really meet Miss Connie will be the happiest of my
+life," declared Frances solemnly. Later, her amused mother learned that
+Edith was equally smitten.
+
+In his quiet way, Win was most anxious to see more of Max and it was
+partly with this wish in mind that he set off one morning shortly after
+the picnic at Orgueil, to stroll on the road leading past the Manor. On
+so pleasant a day he might encounter the young people riding or walking.
+
+When Win reached the Manor gates, no one was in sight, and he sauntered
+past, not caring to intrude on private grounds. One longing glance he
+cast at the chimneys above the laurels, twelve that he could count from
+that angle. What a rambling old structure the Manor house must be!
+Surely in its existence stretching back through the centuries, many
+interesting things had happened under that roof. What fun it would be
+to try to find them out!
+
+Absorbed in pleasant thought, Win walked farther than he realized,
+lured by the blue sea and a most interesting little church almost on
+the water's edge. The doors proved locked, but Win resolved to come
+again when he could gain admittance, for from outward appearance the
+building was extremely old.
+
+On turning, Win was soon aware that he had overtaxed his strength and
+was in no shape to walk to St. Aubin's. Pleasant as the sky still was,
+a strong sea breeze had risen, bringing difficulties for a person who
+required very favorable conditions for any prolonged exercise. Only
+slow progress was possible and when he again reached the iron gates of
+the Manor, he was really too tired to go on. Choosing the sunny slope
+of the hedge, he sat down to rest.
+
+Before long, voices approached on the other side of the laurels, voices
+speaking in French, and Max came through the arch, accompanied by a
+gardener carrying tools.
+
+"Why, Win," he said. "You're not stopping at the gate, I hope. The
+house is just beyond."
+
+[Illustration: A MOST INTERESTING LITTLE CHURCH ALMOST ON THE WATER'S
+EDGE.]
+
+Win smiled. "I sat down to get my breath," he explained. "I've been for
+a stroll and the wind knocked me about a trifle."
+
+Max looked at him keenly. "It's a bit cool to stop there," he said.
+"Come up to the house. We'll slip into the library and you can rest
+properly."
+
+Win demurred, thinking he would detain Max from his business.
+
+"Uncle only asked me to direct Pierre about some planting around the
+cottages," Max replied. He added some words in French to his companion,
+who nodded and struck off toward the shore. "I'll not stop for you,"
+Max went on, taking Win's arm. "There isn't a person at home, and you
+will have the library to yourself."
+
+Win yielded at once. Aside from the pleasure of seeing Max again, the
+suggestion of books acted as a magnet.
+
+They crossed the beautiful Manor lawn,--green as in June,--not toward
+the main entrance but in the direction of some big French windows
+opening on the terrace. The casement yielded to Max's touch and the two
+entered a room that would have made Win gasp with pleasure had he been
+less exhausted. He received only the impression of spacious beauty and
+countless books, as he was established on a big old settle beside a
+fireplace where cheery flames were flashing. Before he knew precisely
+what was happening, Win found himself tucked among comfortable cushions.
+
+"There, go to sleep now," said Max, flinging over him a soft blue
+Italian blanket. "I've an idea this thing belongs in Connie's room, but
+since she left it here we will make use of it. There's no one at home
+and the only person likely to come is Yvonne, one of the maids. If she
+appears to look after the fire, just tell her you are my friend."
+
+Max departed and Win soon fell into a reverie. He did not sleep
+immediately but as his physical discomfort lessened under the influence
+of rest and quiet, he began to look about him.
+
+The three rooms composing the library were very high and opened into
+one another by arches. From floor to ceiling the books climbed, rank on
+rank, on the upper shelves in double tiers, in some places overflowing
+window seats. Narrow stained-glass casements threw pleasant patches of
+color on the polished floor. Age had blackened the oak ceiling and the
+handsome wall paneling where books did not conceal it. Here and there
+hung portraits, evidently of the family, judging from certain recurring
+resemblances. Their quaint costumes dated from the days of the Stuart
+kings.
+
+The utter quiet of the place, the time-faded bindings, the old
+pictures, the spots of crimson and blue light, the faint odor of
+leather, mingled with the scent of fresh flowers from some invisible
+source, all had their effect upon Win, who sank into a state of mind
+where he was neither awake nor quite asleep. His last wholly conscious
+thought was for the curious coat of arms above the fireplace, a shield
+that bore the date 1523.
+
+An hour later, Win came to full consciousness and at the same time to a
+sense of familiarity with his surroundings. "Of all queer things!" he
+thought as he sat up and looked around him. "The first day I was in
+Jersey I dreamed of this room or of some room like it. That man up
+there in the picture is mighty like the old Johnny that was around.
+I've been dreaming about him now, only I can't remember what."
+
+Try as he might, Win could not recall that dream, a fantastic jumble of
+persons and an impression, almost painful, of a fruitless search.
+
+"This is a house where anything might have happened," his thoughts ran.
+"How I wish I could have a chance at these books!"
+
+Shelves framed even the ancient fireplace, their contents within easy
+reach of Win's settle. His eye ran idly along the titles, a History of
+the World, an edition of Defoe, some old hour-books. Tucked in with
+these were two volumes of very modern philosophy, their bright cloth
+bindings looking curiously out of place. With their exception, nothing
+in sight looked less than a century old and examination proved most to
+be even older. Many bore marks of ownership by Lisles dead and gone.
+
+His enthusiasm thoroughly aroused, Win examined volume after volume,
+lingering over the quaint bookplates. Finally he took down a book
+unlettered on the back, but with a rubbed leather binding that showed
+marks of use. It proved a very old copy of the Psalms, a book that some
+one had once read often, for its pages were worn not only by time but
+by constant turning.
+
+Opening to the front, Win searched for a bookplate. There was none, but
+in fine handwriting appeared: "Richard Lisle His Valued Book." As Win
+replaced the volume a paper slipped from its pages.
+
+Picking it up, he glanced idly at the single sheet which seemed a page
+perhaps lost from some letter written long before, possibly a leaf from
+a diary. The penmanship was like the autograph in the Psalter, the ink,
+though faded, perfectly legible on the yellowed paper.
+
+The extract began in the middle of a sentence. Win, who started to
+decipher it from mere curiosity, ended by reading it five or six times.
+It ran as follows:
+
+"having fed my Prince and Eased him after his hard Flight we took
+Counsel anent his Refuge.
+
+"That he should lye at ye Manor looked not wise. Ye Castel seemed ye
+better Place.
+
+"Lest he be curiously viewed of Many we did furnishe Other garb and a
+Strong Bigge Cloake. And those who knew did safely lead him through ye
+Towne.
+
+"Ye honoured Relicks my Sonne and I did place in ye Spanish Chest and
+convey by Lantern light to that safe Place beyond ye Walls. So shall
+they Reste till happier Times shall Dawne.
+
+"Strange that this Day should bring such Honour to Mine House."
+
+Win's eyes grew interested and excited as he studied this message from
+the past. For whom was it meant and why had it lain all these years in
+the old Psalter? Did the Manor family know of its existence? The
+prince, the castle, the town, mentioned by a Lisle of Laurel Manor,
+must refer to events of island history.
+
+After thinking a few minutes, Win drew out his notebook and made a
+careful copy. Surely that was not abusing Max's hospitality and could
+do no harm. If he discovered anything interesting in looking up the
+matter in some history of Jersey at the public library, he would share
+his knowledge. Or there surely must be books of that kind here at the
+Manor. Perhaps he would be permitted to come again and investigate this
+fascinating room more thoroughly. He wished he knew Max better. If he
+only did, he could show his find at once and ask for an opinion. Well,
+that might come later. Anyway, it would be great fun to study the
+enigmatic paper and see what he could make of it.
+
+When Max came quietly a few minutes later, Win made no mention of his
+discovery. Surprised to find it so late, he thanked his host, and
+declared himself entirely fit to walk back to Rose Villa.
+
+"Come again," said Max as they parted at the gates. "I know you liked
+the library and that will please Uncle Dick. You must come when he's at
+home and he'll show you all his special treasures."
+
+Win went on with a happy face. That meant he would certainly have
+another opportunity to browse in that fascinating old book-room, and
+perhaps become so well acquainted with the Manor family that he could
+share his puzzle with somebody who would be equally interested in
+finding out what it meant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+CHRISTMAS IN JERSEY
+
+
+Fran's "happiest day" soon dawned, for not long after the Orgueil
+picnic, she and Edith were walking down one of Jersey's lovely lanes.
+Enclosed by high ivy-covered earthen banks, it ran, a straight white
+road between green walls, and so narrow that at regular intervals,
+little bays were provided that carriages might pass. Evergreen oaks,
+often growing from the banks themselves, and drooping vines made the
+lane a bower of beauty even on a December afternoon. The girls had
+stopped to admire the old Norman gateway leading to Vinchelez Manor,
+when suddenly around a corner, bounced the beach dog. Close behind came
+Constance Lisle and Maxfield Hamilton.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD NORMAN GATEWAY LEADING TO VINCHELEZ MANOR]
+
+"We've been to call on your respective mother and sister," declared
+Connie, "and were desolated not to find the little ladies. What luck to
+meet you! Max, you don't need an introduction, do you, after playing
+Lord Lochinvar with both girlsat once?"
+
+At this sweeping characterization, they all laughed and walked along
+together, Tylo galloping ahead or falling behind as his sweet will led.
+
+"I'm giving a treat to the Sunday-school children after Christmas,"
+Connie confided, as at the end of a brisk walk, they came to the
+parting of the ways. "I should like you girls, if you will, to help me
+with the kiddies. The brothers are invited too, if they would fancy it."
+
+"Win would like to help," Frances said quickly, her face lighted with
+pleasure at this request. "He's very good at things like that, but
+Roger's only twelve, you know."
+
+"Oh, Roger can hand buns," said Connie at once. "No harm if he does
+tread on a few. I shall count on you then next week Thursday, three
+days after Christmas. Take care not to stir abroad on Christmas eve for
+that's when the Jersey witches hold their meeting at the rock up by St.
+Clement's."
+
+She waved a laughing adieu and the girls went back to Rose Villa,
+bubbling over with pleasure and anticipation.
+
+It was fortunate for Frances that she did have this expectation of a
+visit to the Manor to buoy her spirits, for the season scarcely seemed
+Christmas. Warm weather and plentiful flowers did not appeal to one
+accustomed to the holiday in wintry Boston, but not the weather alone
+disturbed Fran. For some foolish reason she disliked intensely the
+differences of celebration that marked this holiday in another land.
+Her state of mind both worried and distressed Mrs. Thayne.
+
+"Why, little daughter, don't you see the fun of having Christmas under
+strange conditions?" she asked one evening, when she went to
+investigate a sound of woe from Fran's room.
+
+"No, I don't see any fun in it," replied Frances stubbornly. "I could
+stand Thanksgiving, even though I had to go to school, because Miss
+Estelle knew it was an important day to us and had a turkey for dinner
+and put little American flags around. But Christmas here in St.
+Aubin's, without Father, is too impossible."
+
+Mrs. Thayne was silent for a moment. Then she sat down on the bed and
+took Frances in her arms.
+
+"Listen, now," she said. "I want you to think about somebody else for a
+moment. There's Edith. Just remember how sad this season must be for
+her and Estelle. Yet Estelle goes about with a smiling face that gives
+me a heartache because her eyes are so pitiful. She's planning hard to
+make things pleasant for us and to have it seem Christmas to Edith. I
+know some of her plans, Fran. Then, even if Father isn't with us, we
+know he is well and that it is only a question of time before the
+_Philadelphia_ is where we can be nearer. Win is always self-controlled
+and naturally he and Roger don't miss the home conditions as you do,
+but their enjoyment is going to depend largely upon their sister. Why,
+Fran, you usually like new experiences and here they are looming thick
+and fast."
+
+"That's just the trouble," sobbed Fran. "I don't want them all piled on
+top of Christmas. I want to be with Grandmother and the cousins. I
+can't believe it is Christmas when it's so green and so hot."
+
+"Many nice things are going to happen," her mother went on. "Just think
+what fun you and Edith will have helping Miss Connie with her school
+treat. You are going to find that very English."
+
+Frances smiled. "Oh, I won't be a pig, Mother," she said at last. "Miss
+Connie is a dear and of course we must make the boys have a nice time."
+
+"The climate agrees so well with Win that I am very thankful to spend
+Christmas here," replied Mrs. Thayne. "To-morrow, Nurse is going into
+town to the French market and I think you will like to go with her."
+
+Win and Edith joined the marketing expedition next morning and even
+Frances was impressed with the holiday spirit overhanging the place.
+They left Nurse carefully inspecting fat geese in a poulterer's stall
+and started to explore.
+
+Any number of plump chickens and ducks hung about, together with little
+pigs decorated by blue rosettes on their ears, a touch that struck Win
+as extremely funny. In the vegetable market were heaped huge piles of
+potatoes, scrubbed till their pink skins shone, great ropes of red
+onions braided together by their dried tops, turnips, artichokes,
+garlic, winter squashes, white and purple cabbages, celery and egg
+plant and many varieties of greens and early vegetables. The stalls
+themselves were prettily arranged and fragrant with nice smells but
+their keepers were the great attraction. Many were in charge of old
+women dressed in white peasant caps and clean starched aprons above
+full wool skirts and wooden sabots. Little tow-headed grandchildren,
+comical replicas in miniature, smiled shyly or dropped bobbing curtsys
+as the girls stopped to speak.
+
+Fruit stalls proved even more fascinating with the hothouse grapes,
+red, white, and dark purple, showing a hazy bloom. Fresh figs and dates
+abounded, alternating with baskets of Italian chestnuts and oranges,
+forty for a shilling. Every stall seemed to have vied in decorations
+with its neighbor, being bowers of myrtle and laurestinus. One sported
+a shield showing three leopards in daffodils against a green background.
+
+"Look at the English coat of arms," said Frances, catching sight of it.
+
+"That's not English," said Edith. "Those are the leopards of Jersey,
+the old Norman insignia."
+
+"I can't understand," observed Frances as they sauntered on, "why, when
+Jersey belongs to England, it has a different coat of arms and
+government and everything."
+
+"Because the islands are all little self-governing communities,"
+supplied Win. "It's a privilege they have always had, and even England
+wouldn't dare take it from them now. Jersey is desperately jealous of
+Guernsey. They say that even a Jersey toad will die if it is taken to
+Guernsey."
+
+"Neither will Guernsey flowers blossom here," Edith added. "Oh, there's
+Miss Connie!"
+
+The little lady of Laurel Manor was standing before one of the
+flower-stalls, chatting in French with a very clean, rosy-cheeked old
+woman in a white cap. Behind Constance stood a servant carrying a
+basket and as the girls watched she purchased an enormous bunch of
+daffodils, a sheaf of calla lilies, and a quantity of narcissus.
+
+"Isn't she sweet in that soft green suit," commented Edith admiringly.
+
+Turning from the stall, Connie saw and hailed them. "Have you seen the
+fish-market?" she asked after greeting them gayly. "Oh, you must not
+miss that. I always go there."
+
+She led them past a long bench where sat several nice white-capped old
+women beside huge baskets of spotlessly washed eggs or round rolls of
+fresh, unsalted butter wrapped in cool green cabbage leaves. Some of
+them nodded and smiled and once Connie stopped to ask after a sick
+child. Everybody spoke in French and seemed most kind and cordial.
+
+Arrived at the fish-market, conger eels as big as Win's wrist, and four
+or five feet long, crabs two feet across the shells, lobsters blue
+rather than green, enormous scallops, huge stacks of oysters, cockles
+and snails, the so-called winkles, greeted the astonished eyes of the
+young people. In other directions were heaped piles of smelts, plaice
+and unknown fish.
+
+"These are what I dote on," said Constance, calling their attention to
+piles of tiny crabs, neatly tied by the claws into bunches. Most were
+alive, but owing to the fact that all chose to walk in different
+directions, the bunches remained fairly stationary. One might purchase
+two, four, six or a dozen, according to the size of one's appetite.
+
+"I'm so glad we met," said Connie, when in addition they had made the
+round of the flower market and exclaimed over its treasures of color
+and fragrance. "I thought of you this morning and wondered if you young
+people wouldn't like to help decorate the church. There are never too
+many helpers and we have ordered such lovely greens and flowers.
+Several of us are to be at the church at two this afternoon and you'll
+be very welcome if you care to come. It's pretty work and we always
+have a nice time."
+
+"Indeed, we should like to help," said Frances promptly. "Is it Mr.
+Angus's church at St. Aubin's?"
+
+"No, the one I mean is a tiny stone church not far beyond the Manor.
+Just take the highroad inland from the village and turn once to the
+left."
+
+"Oh, I know," said Win quickly. "It stands almost on the shore."
+
+"That's it," said Connie. "I'll expect you then."
+
+Win declared himself quite equal to helping with the decorations that
+afternoon. When they arrived, the beach dog lay in the porch, thumping
+his tail by way of welcome, so they knew his mistress was already
+within. For a few moments, the three lingered to look at the quaint
+French inscriptions on the churchyard stones, but finally entered
+rather shyly. They were not given one moment to feel themselves
+strangers.
+
+"I'm delighted to see you," exclaimed Constance, coming down the aisle
+with a long vine trailing after. "So glad you came. Rose," she called
+to a pretty young girl working near by, "here are some helpers for your
+windows. Oh, you know Rose LeCroix, don't you? She goes to your school.
+Win," she added quickly, "won't you come and help struggle with this
+tiresome pulpit?"
+
+Win followed at once, glad to see Max already busy over the designated
+task, but Constance sent him to seek a certain wire frame reputed to
+exist in the sacristy. Win found himself twining myrtle wreaths around
+the pillars of the stone pulpit, yet stealing constant glances at the
+interior of the old church.
+
+Part of it was very ancient, with round Norman pillars and a rounded
+vault, speaking of very distant days. Everything save pews and choir
+stalls was of granite, its rosy color making the stone seem warm rather
+than cold. Vines, holly and flowers heaped about the interior
+emphasized by their ephemeral beauty the solemn enduring majesty of the
+church itself. Ten or twelve young people were working more or less
+steadily to the accompaniment of much gay conversation.
+
+"Oh, Max, that's the wrong frame," Constance said suddenly.
+
+Win turned to see her sorting lilies where she knelt on the chancel
+steps.
+
+"This isn't Easter, ducky," she added. "We want a star, not a cross."
+
+Max smiled at Win, an indulgent, rather amused smile, and when the
+proper frame had been substituted, came back to the pulpit.
+
+"Tell me," said Win, indicating the stone vault. "What are those little
+pointed things up there?"
+
+"You mean the limpet shells?" asked Max, looking up.
+
+"Are they shells?" said Win in amazement. "They looked it, but I
+couldn't imagine how shells could be scattered about up there."
+
+"Some thousand years ago when the original builders quarried this stone
+from the Jersey shore, they didn't trouble to scrape off the limpets
+that clung to it. Nobody has removed them since; now it would seem
+sacrilege to do so."
+
+"A thousand years!" repeated Win in awe. He stopped work for a moment
+to look at the pointed shells on the roof.
+
+"Does jar a fellow and makes him feel mighty transitory and
+insignificant, doesn't it?" commented Max, with a friendly glance of
+understanding. "I think there's no place quite like this church. The
+Manor lies in its parish and Uncle Dick would know if a single limpet
+was knocked off. The only time I ever saw him really angry was once
+when some Americans--I'm an American, too, you know, so I can tell this
+story--tried to bribe the verger to scrape one down for them. There was
+rather a row and Uncle was in a fine fizz.
+
+"There's one interesting thing common to all these old churches," Max
+went on, seeing that Win appreciated the place. "The island is divided
+into twelve parishes. From the church of each there was originally a
+road, leading directly to the sea. In feudal times, a criminal was safe
+if he took sanctuary in the church and by the old custom, after he had
+abjured his crime, he could go down by this one road to the shore and
+leave the island. But if he strayed never so little aside, he lost the
+benefit of the sanctuary and was liable to the law. Just imagine some
+old robber or cut-throat marching down his path to the sea, escorted by
+the churchwardens, with other men watching his every step, ready to
+seize him if he swerved. Some of these sanctuary roads are still the
+main highways."
+
+"I think the island history is so interesting," said Win. "I suppose it
+is a fact that Prince Charles did take refuge here?"
+
+"No doubt of it," Max replied, looking critically at the almost
+completed pulpit decorations. "Indeed, there is a story that he was
+entertained at Laurel Manor. Ask Uncle about it," he added, not
+noticing Win's start of interest. "He's awfully keen on that legend. I
+suppose it is very likely true though I don't know that there is any
+real proof. There, do you think her ladyship will approve our efforts?
+Excuse me,--Connie wants her star put in place."
+
+Left alone, Win stood thinking hard. So Prince Charles was reputed to
+have visited Laurel Manor! What if that chance letter were the proof?
+If so, was there not more in its message than confirmation of the
+prince's stay? One thing was certain--he _must_ get acquainted with
+Colonel Lisle.
+
+So many industrious hands soon completed their task. After the gay
+workers departed, Connie lingered for a last look.
+
+"Come and see it to-morrow morning," she said to the three. "Probably
+you'll wish to go into town at eleven, but come here for the early
+service at six."
+
+Edith looked doubtful. "Sister planned to go to St. Aubin's," she said.
+
+"I couldn't come alone," said Frances, her disappointment showing in
+her face.
+
+"I'll come with you," offered Win so unexpectedly that his sister
+frankly stared.
+
+"Good!" said Constance. "There'll be no music and only candle-light,
+but you'll love it. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
+
+That very evening Fran was forced to admit that a Jersey Christmas had
+its compensations. The doors of the back parlor, mysteriously locked
+for days, were opened and in the room, gay with holly, mistletoe, and
+laurestinus, appeared a most delightful little Christmas tree, itself
+rather foreign in appearance since it was a laurel growing in a big
+pot. Real English holly concealed the base and merry tapers twinkled a
+welcome.
+
+Estelle had spent much time and thought, coupled with anxious fears
+lest these young Americans whose lives seemed so sunny, might not care
+for so simple a pleasure. Their appreciation, not in the least put on
+for the occasion, quite repaid her. Inexpensive little gifts adorned
+the tree, each bearing a number.
+
+"Draw a slip," commanded Roger, appearing before his mother with a box.
+"Take a chance and see what you'll get."
+
+When all the slips were distributed, Roger as instructed by Estelle,
+took a gift at random from the tree and called its attached number.
+
+"Who has eight?" he demanded.
+
+"Here," said Win, giving up his slip in exchange for the tiny package,
+and presently laughing heartily over an absurd mechanical mouse.
+Ridiculous misfits in the presents made the distribution all the
+funnier, and the rejoicing was great when Roger, who didn't believe in
+washing his hands without being told to do so, drew a wee cake of soap.
+He took it good-naturedly and considered as an added joke, Estelle's
+hasty and shocked assurance that it was not meant especially for him.
+
+Strange to say, some packages appeared on that tree of which Estelle
+was ignorant, conveyed by Roger to the proper persons. Edith was
+rendered speechless with joy over several lovely gifts, and tears
+filled Estelle's eyes. Nor were Nurse and Annette forgotten. The
+Thaynes had certainly lived up to the American reputation for
+generosity.
+
+Then Nurse brought a big bowl filled with darting blue flames. The
+courageous shut one or both eyes, stuck in a fearful finger and
+extracted a fig or a fat raisin. Egg-nog and roasted Italian chestnuts
+completed Estelle's entertainment save for the holiday dinner of roast
+beef and plum pudding to follow on the morrow.
+
+Unexpected by Estelle, her plans were supplemented by a group of parish
+school-children, led by the old organist, who came through the streets,
+singing Christmas carols: "God save you, merry gentlemen," "Good King
+Wenceslaus" and "As Joseph was a-waukin'"
+
+In fascination Fran lingered on the steps long after the singers were
+gone, pleased with her distribution of pennies from her mother's purse
+and biscuit provided by Estelle. Far in the distance she could hear
+their voices. Yes, after all, an English Christmas had its points.
+
+Next morning, Nurse's call seemed incredibly early to Frances, though
+she found the whole household awake and exchanging greetings. Mrs.
+Thayne decided to accompany Win and Fran, and Roger alone remained in
+bed.
+
+The stars still shone brightly, making it seem the middle of the night,
+save for the hurrying groups bound for church, some still singing
+carols or hymns.
+
+"It's like October weather at home, isn't it, Mother?" said Frances as
+they walked on through the crisp, clear air. "See, there are lights in
+the windows and people leaving lanterns in the porch."
+
+The moment she entered, Frances understood what Connie meant by not
+missing that service for "anything in the world," and Win felt it even
+more keenly, being by nature more impressionable.
+
+The utter quiet, broken only by a distant wash of waves,--waves that
+sometimes broke over the stones in the churchyard,--the candles in the
+chancel, throwing into high relief Constance's Christmas star and
+touching with light the jonquils banking steps and altar rail; the dusk
+in the nave of the church half-revealing scattered groups of people as
+they knelt in silence under the arched vault where clung the limpets
+dead a thousand years,--all contributed to the age-old Christmas
+miracle.
+
+"I feel as though I'd never realized what Christmas meant before,"
+thought Win, and somewhat the same feeling came to Frances as her eyes
+became accustomed to the gloom and she discerned among the kneeling
+figures her fellow-workers of the day before. Half-way down the nave
+was the family from the Manor, Constance and Max on either side of a
+tall gray-haired gentleman. Fran recognized him as the one who had
+spoken to Win that day in the Royal Square.
+
+Win recognized him also, knew him to be Colonel Lisle and was quickly
+reminded of that curious old document, as yet a mystery. How he hoped
+Miss Connie's school treat would afford an opportunity to meet the
+owner of the Manor and to take some step toward the solution of that
+puzzle.
+
+As the service began, Frances stole a glance at the windows banked with
+glossy laurel and holly, over which she and Edith had worked with Rose
+LeCroix and her sister Muriel. Just because she had helped do something
+for that little church in a foreign land, Fran experienced a sudden
+blessed feeling of belonging a bit. A pleasant glow crept into her
+heart, a sense of the spirit that makes the world akin at Christmas.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE BUN WORRY
+
+
+"I have helped you very nicely all the morning, Connie, and I hope you
+appreciate my goodness. But as for messing about the lawn with a bun
+worry in full blast,--thank you, Maxfield is not on. One doesn't want
+to let one's self in for everything."
+
+"Your goodness isn't such as to alarm me," sighed Constance, casting a
+worried glance about the Manor green. "You're in no danger of acquiring
+saintship. Dad has balked, too. What'll I do alone?"
+
+"Being on toast yourself, why do you want to have me there?" said Max
+mischievously. "Aren't all the Sunday school mistresses coming to help
+and didn't you ask those nice American kiddies?"
+
+"I did, and that's another reason why I want you," retorted Connie,
+flying to adjust to her better satisfaction the basket of narcissus
+decorating the chief table. "Max, I don't know where to have you. Since
+you came from the States, I can't make out whether you are English or
+American. Here you are shying either at an English school treat or at
+some nice American children. Which is it?"
+
+"Neither, I think," Max replied after a survey of the close-clipped
+lawn, boasting that velvety turf which only centuries of care can
+perfect. Great groups of laurel proudly proclaimed the right of the
+Manor to its name; carefully trimmed hedges of yew and box protected
+borders already gay with spring flowers, and beyond the grounds
+shimmered the sea. Max's glance was one of affection, for this was the
+scene of many happy boyhood days.
+
+"I think I'd shy just as quickly at an American tea-fight," he said at
+length. "As for being neither English nor American, I love both
+countries. I would certainly be loyal to my own, but I would also take
+up arms for England, if the time ever came that she needed me and the
+two duties didn't conflict."
+
+"You're a duck," said Constance promptly. "Come, take up arms and carry
+a basket of buns for me this afternoon."
+
+"Too many petticoats coming," said Max. "I'm afraid of those freaks
+from the rectory. But I'll agree to furnish a substitute who will more
+than take my place. The kiddies will be thrilled to a peanut. Come now,
+let me off?"
+
+"I suppose so," agreed Constance. "Don't bother about letting me down
+softly. Trot off and do anything you think you have to do. Here are the
+Marque children already. And there come the Thaynes."
+
+"I will perform a vanishing act," said Max quickly. "Connie, I really
+am booked for an hour with Uncle Dick, but I'll send that substitute.
+Watch for him."
+
+Constance looked after him suspiciously, but Max was already half
+across the sunken garden, whistling to Tylo as he went.
+
+"Are we too early, Miss Connie?" asked Frances as they came up.
+
+"Just on the dot," replied Connie, greeting them all. "The children are
+arriving. We will play games first and then have tea. Excuse me,
+please, while I go and speak to the Reverend Fred."
+
+Constance departed to greet the curate thus disrespectfully designated,
+a youthful individual of rather prepossessing appearance. Just behind
+him appeared Rose and Muriel LeCroix and other girls whom Frances knew
+at school.
+
+Soon the children came thick and fast, shy youngsters propelled by
+older brothers and sisters, independent groups, a few babies in arms, a
+scattering of older people.
+
+Two white-draped tables by the yew hedge were the target for the
+children's eyes as they wondered what those linen-covered baskets
+concealed. There would be tea of course, buns in plenty, possibly cake.
+
+Presently the children, poked and pulled into line were started playing
+London Bridge, two of the biggest girls forming the bridge.
+
+For a moment Frances stood apart, watching the marching, shouting
+youngsters, scrubbed till they shone, clothed in clean though often
+clumsy garments and heavy shoes. No great poverty was indicated by
+their apparel, and some, evidently of French origin, were dressed with
+real taste and daintiness. These were also remarkable for a more
+vivacious appearance than the stolid little Anglo-Saxons. Some few were
+of striking beauty.
+
+As one game succeeded another, the children grew less stiff and
+self-conscious. The Reverend Fred was joining in the sport with
+conscientious zeal, as were his two sisters and Edith and Miss Connie.
+Fran caught the contagion and found herself flying about the Manor
+lawn, tying a handkerchief over one child's eyes to lead in Blindman's
+Buff, helping another group play King of the Castle, finally organizing
+a game of Drop the Handkerchief.
+
+With amused surprise she saw Roger actually helping Muriel LeCroix with
+a number of the smallest children, and this fact so impressed Frances
+that she failed to note Win's absence.
+
+Her brother was not far away. Had Frances been nearer the opening in
+the hedge, leading into the sunken garden in its season full of roses,
+she might have seen an interesting picture, for with great glee, Win
+was helping prepare for appearance Max's promised substitute.
+
+Down in the rose-garden, where an old sundial marked "only the sunny
+hours," the afternoon shadows grew long. The older people, somewhat
+exhausted by strenuous play, seated the children in a big circle ready
+for tea. From the Manor emerged Yvonne, Pierre, and Paget, Constance's
+old nurse, armed with shiny copper cans, to fill cups for distribution.
+
+Frances seized a basket of buns and for a time was so occupied with
+playing Lady Bountiful to a host of little hands, now rather grimy,
+that it seemed quite natural to be sharing in this unusual festivity.
+But as she was hurrying back to the table to refill her empty basket,
+she met Edith on a similar errand. Suddenly it struck her as very odd
+that she should be helping.
+
+"This is the funniest affair I ever saw," she confided merrily.
+
+"Why?" asked the puzzled Edith, lifting grave eyes to look at her.
+"Don't you give the Sunday school children treats in America?"
+
+"Oh, yes," admitted Frances, "but we'd never fill them up on weak tea
+and buns. They'd expect ice-cream and cake."
+
+Edith looked much shocked. "Ices are very dear," she remarked, "and not
+fitting for these children. Would you really serve ices in winter?" she
+asked incredulously.
+
+"On the very coldest day of the year," asserted Frances emphatically.
+"Oh, America is so _different_, Edith! Why there's scarcely a town so
+tiny that you can't buy ice-cream any time of the day or any time of
+year."
+
+"It must indeed be different," Edith agreed. Basket refilled, she
+returned to her charges.
+
+For a minute Frances lingered, looking around at the circle of
+hilarious children, each with a mug, more or less precariously clasped,
+each stuffing big plummy buns; looked at the older people so anxiously
+attending to them. Yes, it was very different, very English, but also
+very interesting.
+
+As Frances passed the entrance to the sunken garden, her basket filled
+this time by solid-looking pieces of cake, she heard her name.
+
+"Fran," came Win's voice, "call Tylo. Get him to come out on the lawn."
+
+Frances called. She could see no one in the garden, only hear amused
+voices trying to induce Tylo to answer the summons.
+
+"He won't start," said Win again. "Ask Miss Connie to whistle for him,
+Fran."
+
+On receiving Fran's message, Constance looked puzzled.
+
+"I'd as soon Tylo would stop away," she said. "The kiddies may not
+fancy him begging for their cake. Still, I'll call."
+
+At the summons from his mistress, Tylo instantly came, causing a sudden
+silence among the chattering children, silence succeeded by wild
+shrieks of pleasure.
+
+The beach dog emerged from the garden wearing a wreath of roses around
+his neck, with an open pink silk parasol fastened to his collar and
+tipped at a fashionable and coquettish angle over his head and holding
+firmly in his mouth the handle of a basket filled with as varied an
+assortment of English "sweets" as Max could secure in his hasty gallop
+into St. Helier's.
+
+Connie, too, gave an exclamation of laughter. "Oh, look at my best
+Paris brelly!" she groaned. "Max stole that. Yvonne never gave it to
+him."
+
+Fully conscious that he held the center of the stage, Tylo advanced,
+waving his tail and casting amiable glances upon the children as they
+came crowding around, buns and cake forgotten. He seemed perfectly to
+understand what was expected and held the basket until the last sugar
+plum was secured by little searching hands, then employed to caress the
+bearer. Max's substitute certainly scored the greatest hit of the Manor
+"bun worry."
+
+From their seclusion in the rose-garden, the two conspirators watched
+Tylo's successful appearance.
+
+"Let's come in and wash," said Max, seeing that no further
+responsibility remained to them. "Or are you keen on a bun worry? I
+like them, like them awfully, you know, but somehow, I'm afraid Uncle
+Dick may be lonely. I feel it's my duty to look him up."
+
+Win would have seen through this flimsy excuse without the betrayal of
+Max's merry eyes, but the proposal chanced to be what he most wished to
+do. Very gladly he followed Max through the gardens to a side entrance
+to the house, where they went up to Max's room, a high oak-paneled
+chamber that would have been sombre were it not for three sunny
+mullioned casements overlooking the sea. Cases crowded with books stood
+by the fireplace, fishing rods, cricket bats and oars decorated the
+walls.
+
+"Those aren't mine," said Max, noticing Win's glance as he stood drying
+his hands; "only the skiis and racquets. This was Richard's room, Uncle
+Dick's only son. He was a subaltern in the British army, just twenty
+when he was killed in the charge on Majuba Hill. They have always given
+me his room at the Manor. I fancy Uncle liked to have it occupied by a
+boy again."
+
+"Colonel Lisle himself must have done some fighting," observed Win.
+"How did he lose his arm?"
+
+"For years he was an officer in India. He lost his arm defending the
+Khyber Pass against the Afghans."
+
+Max took his guest down the main staircase to the great entrance hall,
+with its high raftered roof, and stone floor half covered by valuable
+Oriental rugs. Suits of shining armor lent glints of light; curious
+spears, ancient swords and firearms, many of them very old, were
+fastened on walls dark with age. Win stopped to look at the carved
+mantel over the great fireplace, sporting the leopards of Jersey, the
+Lisle coat of arms and the date 1509.
+
+"Imagine living in a house built all those centuries ago," he sighed.
+"This is older than the library, isn't it?"
+
+"Somewhat," replied Max. "The wing here is the oldest part of the
+house. Let's come to Uncle's study. I fancy he'll be there."
+
+Colonel Lisle was lounging near the fire, but appeared very willing to
+put aside his book and welcome the two.
+
+"And have you had tea, Uncle?" Max inquired. "We haven't, and I could
+do nicely with a cup."
+
+"With all those gallons of tea on the lawn, it is a pity if an
+able-bodied young gentleman couldn't secure one cup," said the Colonel
+smiling. "Now you mention it, I believe I have had none either. Ring
+the bell by all means and order it. I was absorbed in verifying some
+points of old Norman law," he added to Win. "Our islands have an
+interesting history."
+
+"Win is pleased that Prince Charles has left his mark on Jersey,"
+observed Max, giving the bell-pull a vigorous twitch. "Tell him, Uncle,
+about his stopping here."
+
+"Such is the legend handed down from father to son," replied the
+Colonel. "The story goes that the prince was brought to the Manor
+immediately after landing in Jersey. Just where he landed and how he
+was conveyed here is not known, but his stay was short. The owner of
+the Manor at that date, another Richard Lisle,--he whose portrait hangs
+in the library,--was an ardent Royalist who would have risked
+everything to serve his prince. Authorities agree that Charles spent
+the period of his stay in one of the castles, some say Orgueil, others
+Elizabeth. Probably the Manor roof sheltered him but for a few hours. I
+should very much like to see the legend of his stop in this house
+authenticated beyond question. Max tells me you are fond of books," the
+speaker continued. "After tea, I will show you some of our special
+treasures."
+
+Win's face, already alight with interest, grew even more responsive to
+this offer, yet as the tea came, he felt unaccountably stupid and
+idiotic. Utter disgust with himself filled his mind to think he
+couldn't get to the point then and there of telling his kind host about
+that letter he had discovered.
+
+Max noticed that Win was ill at ease, attributed it to shyness or
+perhaps awe of the Colonel, who was, as Max put it, "a bit impressive
+till a fellow knew him," and tried to help matters by talking nonsense
+that amazed Win and evidently amused the Colonel. Gradually, as he saw
+that Max was not in the least afraid of the dignified owner of the
+Manor, Win began to feel less tongue-tied.
+
+Presently came a sound of gay voices, a tap at the door and Constance,
+the girls, and Roger entered.
+
+"The tea-party is gone and in its place is peace," said Connie. "Daddy
+dear, I want you to meet Frances and Edith. And this is Roger. Max, why
+didn't you have tea with us and the kiddies?"
+
+"Because of buns," said Max. "My bun-eating days are past."
+
+"Not so long past!" retorted Constance with a mischievous smile. "Not
+so many years ago that I bribed you with a penny bun to steal a tooth
+for me out of a skull in the Capuchin church! He did it, too," she
+added to the girls, laughing delightedly at this charge. "You haven't
+been in Rome? The Capuchin monks have a church there with some holy
+earth brought from Jerusalem. Years ago,--they don't do it now, because
+modern sanitary laws have invaded Rome,--the monks who died were buried
+in this earth. Only of course as the centuries passed, there wasn't
+room for them all, so the monks longest buried had to get up and give
+place to others. Their bones were arranged in nice neat patterns on the
+walls, and the skulls heaped in piles. It was a tooth from one of these
+skulls that I fancied. Max ate the bun and stole the tooth for me, but
+Daddy wouldn't let me keep it and made Max put it back."
+
+"Oh, how could you ever want such a thing, Miss Connie!" exclaimed
+Edith, shuddering with horror.
+
+"I wonder, why did I?" said Constance reflectively. "It certainly
+doesn't appeal to me now. Mother was shocked; she disinfected
+everything that tooth had touched. Are you through tea, Daddy? I want
+to take the girls into the library."
+
+Once again in the old book-room, Win recovered his self-possession in
+admiration of its treasures of illuminated missal and manuscript. His
+interest pleased his host, who ended by cordially inviting the boy to
+visit the Manor library whenever and as often as he chose to come.
+Win's genuine delight over this permission touched the Colonel, who
+from his own physical handicap, guessed that life was not always smooth
+for Win.
+
+Win's pleasure arose not merely from the enjoyment of the library
+itself but because he would surely grow better acquainted with the
+Manor family and have a more favorable opportunity to show his
+discovery in the old Psalter.
+
+He was very quiet on the way home and scarcely spoke while Fran was
+giving her mother a graphic account of the afternoon. Win hardly knew
+she was talking until his attention was caught by a dramatic remark.
+
+"Miss Connie told us something so exciting, Mother," Fran was saying.
+"Roger asked her if there was a ghost. He blurted it right out and I
+was quite mortified, because you know if they did have one and were
+sensitive, it would have seemed impolite. But Miss Connie said right
+away that the Manor had all modern improvements, including a
+well-behaved and most desirable ghost. Then she and Mr. Max looked at
+each other and laughed. She said the haunted room was above the library
+and promised to give us a chance to investigate some day. I wanted
+dreadfully to ask about secret stairs,--you remember what that boy at
+Orgueil said--but perhaps when we are looking for the ghost there will
+be a chance to speak of the stairs."
+
+"Indeed, you've had a most interesting afternoon," agreed Mrs. Thayne,
+"the discovery of a haunted room at the Manor being not the least."
+
+"And what have you done all by yourself, _poor_ Mother?" said Frances,
+suddenly sympathetic and affectionate.
+
+"Part of the afternoon I was out and since then I have been talking
+with Estelle. If she only felt she could, it would be so much better
+for her to go more among people, for the constant effort to be brave
+when she is so much alone, is very wearing. She seems so pathetically
+grateful that we chanced to come to her this winter instead of other
+less congenial lodgers. Sometime I hope she will speak frankly of just
+how they are situated and whether she has plans beyond this season, for
+I might be able to further them. And I hope, too, I shall succeed in
+placing the something familiar that always strikes me in Estelle. Have
+you ever noticed it, Fran? To my surprise, Win said the other day that
+Estelle reminded him of some one."
+
+"No," said Fran. "I never noticed it. But I might ask Edith whether
+they have any relatives in the United States."
+
+"That could do no harm," assented Mrs. Thayne thoughtfully. "Since Win
+spoke of it also, the resemblance must be to some one we know over
+there."
+
+Frances and her mother went away but Win sat thinking for some moments.
+The mention of secret stairs recalled to him, though he could not say
+why, that odd dream twice experienced since he came to Jersey, of a
+search in a narrow unfamiliar passage, with unknown companions, for
+something unspecified.
+
+With a start he finally roused himself and went upstairs. Before going
+to bed he read again the copy of Richard Lisle's letter.
+
+"There's more to this than just the coming of the prince," he thought.
+"That's a fact, but if that 'safe place' can be discovered, I'll
+warrant we shall find the Spanish Chest and whatever 'relicks' Richard
+and his 'Sonne' put into it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE MANOR CAVE
+
+
+A few days after the school treat, Maxfield Hamilton was sauntering
+slowly across the Manor grounds. The January sky above shone blue as in
+a New England June, gay crocuses starred the short green grass,
+snowdrops and bluebells were already budded. From heights unknown
+floated the song of a skylark; in the holly hedge sat an English robin.
+
+Max heard the skylark but did not notice the robin as he stopped at the
+gates to look down to the sea, stretching to shining horizons under the
+afternoon sun. His face was thoughtful and rather sober.
+
+The robin gave a little cheep and Max turned to discover the bird
+almost at his elbow, a tiny scrap of olive feathers and bright red
+breast, considering him with soft wise eyes, head on one side.
+
+"Hello, old chap," Max remarked. "What do _you_ think of this world?"
+
+From the tone, the robin might have inferred that the speaker's opinion
+was anything but favorable. Considering him for a second, he concluded
+him inoffensive and began to peck at the glowing holly berries.
+
+Max wandered slowly through the gates and across the Manorhold to the
+shore, distant at this point about a quarter of a mile. Two or three
+stone cottages with picturesque straw-thatched roofs lay near the
+cliffs, property of the Manor and usually occupied by employees.
+
+With the thoughtful expression still on his face, Max passed the
+cottages to stop on the edge of the cliffs already showing yellow with
+gorse. Should the tide serve, he had it in mind to revisit a haunt of
+his boyhood. A moment's scrutiny showed him right in thinking that the
+tide was on the ebb and he started rapidly down a rough, rather
+slippery path. As he rounded an outlying rock he came full on Roger
+Thayne.
+
+Sprawled flat on the sloping cliff, Roger was watching so intently the
+doings of a spider that he did not look up until a shadow fell squarely
+across the web.
+
+"That you, Roger?" said Max. "Alone? Where are Win and the girls?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Roger, flushing uncomfortably. "That is, I
+don't know where the girls are."
+
+"Win's not ill, I hope?"
+
+"No, he isn't." Roger rolled over to look at his visitor. The young
+face wore a pleasant smile and the gray eyes were friendly, but somehow
+Roger had a suspicion that Mr. Max wasn't the sort to approve outright
+truancy.
+
+"Win's all right," he added evasively. "He's studying or something."
+
+A queer little expression crossed Max's lips. "Then since you have a
+holiday,--well-deserved, no doubt,--come on exploring with me."
+
+Roger was on his feet in a second, the arrow of reproof glancing off
+unnoted. "Where are you going?" he demanded.
+
+"Oh, just down here a few rods. We may have to hold up for the tide. It
+won't be low water for some time yet."
+
+The faint path presently ended in piles of red granite, still wet from
+the sea, in places slippery with vraic, as the Jerseymen call the
+seaweed used as fertilizer for their land.
+
+"We shall have to stop a bit," said Max, after a short steep descent.
+As he spoke he sat down and began to crush a bit of vraic between his
+fingers.
+
+"This seaweed is one of the biggest assets the farmers have," he said
+to Roger. "You'll enjoy being here in February when the great vraic
+harvest comes. The farmers go down to the shore with carts and a sort
+of sickle. At low tide the southern shore is black with people cutting
+the seaweed from the rocks. The carts are used to carry it up beyond
+tide-mark. Men, women and young people all turn out and it's one of the
+sights of the island. The harvest lasts for several weeks and for the
+first few days there is a continual picnic with dancing and all sorts
+of jollifications."
+
+"But I've often seen men gathering seaweed on the beach," said Roger.
+"It isn't February yet."
+
+"They are gathering the loose weed that is washed ashore. Any one may
+take that between the hours of sunrise and sunset, but he must stop at
+sound of the sunset gun. The cutting from the rocks is regulated by a
+hallowed custom. In June there's a second harvest when only the poor
+people may cut the vraic for a few weeks. After they have had their
+turn anybody may cut it till the last of August."
+
+As he concluded, Max threw away the seaweed and picked up one of the
+abundant black flint pebbles. For some moments he amused himself by
+striking sparks from it with the back of a knife blade.
+
+"I haven't lost the knack," he remarked. "By the way, have you found
+any flint knives? They turn up occasionally, though more often inland
+than in a place like this. They are relics of the days when the Druids
+were in Jersey. You've seen the burial mounds, haven't you,--the
+Dolmens?"
+
+"I have," said Roger briefly. "In Bill Fish's company. Liked the stones
+all right enough, but Bill can't talk, you know. He expounds."
+
+Max grinned. "Bad Writ, that," he agreed. "Come along. We can get
+through now."
+
+[Illustration: THEY CAME UPON THE LOVELIEST OF LITTLE BEACHES]
+
+Climbing carefully around a slippery projecting rock, its base yet
+submerged, they came upon the loveliest of lovely little beaches, in
+shape almost a semi-circle, the water forming the bisector and the
+frowning red cliffs the arc. Near the centre of the half-circle stood
+two tall pinnacles of red granite. Behind them yawned an entrance about
+five feet high and under this Max bent his tall head. Roger followed
+and uttered a whistle of pleasure and amazement.
+
+They stood in a large cave, floored by fine bright yellow sea sand,
+broken irregularly by out-croppings of rose-pink rock, sand and rock
+alike wet and glistening. Away to the back of the cave, Roger saw that
+the floor rose higher. The roof was iridescent with green and yellow
+lichens; pebbles of jasper, cornelian and agate strewed the sand.
+
+In the twelve years of his existence, Roger had never seen anything
+like this and surprise rendered him inarticulate.
+
+"Some cave!" he commented at length. "Look, Mr. Max, what are these?"
+
+"Oh, haven't you met any sea-anemones? The pools are full of them.
+Jolly little beggars."
+
+Roger was naturally less enthusiastic over the charming water-gardens
+than the girls when they chanced upon them, but he was considerably
+interested in the numerous and varicolored snails, their shells bright
+green or delicate pink, truly entrancing to pick up and examine. By the
+time Roger finished a somewhat minute inspection his companion was out
+of sight.
+
+"Hello!" he shouted in some concern.
+
+"Right-oh!" came a quiet reply.
+
+Bather abashed by the startling echoes he had evoked, Roger climbed
+over fallen rocks to the back of the cave. There the floor rose
+sharply, affording a level apparently beyond reach of the tide, for
+some tiny land plants had found a lodging, ferns waved from the
+crannied vault and there was no sign of any marine growth.
+
+"This used to be a favorite resort of mine," said Max, who was sitting
+on the high ledge, some five feet wide. Beyond, the cave ended in a
+mass of stone and rubble.
+
+Roger's eyes grew wide. "What a dandy place!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Not much compared with the Plemont caves," replied his companion.
+"You'll probably go there before leaving the island. There are five or
+six of them and one has a waterfall dividing it into two distinct
+caves. Plemont is the spot where the cable comes in from England,
+crawls out of the ocean like a great dripping hoary old sea-serpent to
+trail through a cleft to the station on the cliff above. This is a
+rat-hole beside those caves."
+
+"I'll take steps to go there," said Roger earnestly. "Say, does the
+water ever come up here?"
+
+"I don't think so. Even at the spring tides, it would probably not
+reach within two feet of this ledge. Only a rip-snorter of a tempest
+could endanger goods stored here, or even anybody who chose this cave
+to hide in."
+
+"Some hiding-place," admitted Roger.
+
+"So I've found it. When I was about your age, I came down here because
+I was annoyed with the world in general and stopped between two tides."
+
+"Really?" gasped Roger. "Did you get wet?"
+
+"Not a bit. I'll admit that things seemed spooky when I'd waited so
+long that I couldn't get out. I took solid comfort in the ferns and in
+a sea pink that had put out a scared little blossom right where we are
+sitting. I was shut in the better part of six hours and time proved a
+bit slow. I remember coming to the conclusion that perhaps the people
+I'd left behind weren't so utterly unreasonable after all. I fancy it's
+a rather sure sign that when you can't rub along with anybody, the
+trouble isn't altogether with them."
+
+Roger looked at him suspiciously but Max's gaze was bent on the cave
+entrance, arching over a wonderful view of blue sea.
+
+"Do you like to live in Paris?" he asked hastily.
+
+"I'd rather stop in Rome where my father is," Max replied, suppressing
+a smile over the sudden change of subject. "But Dad runs up
+occasionally. I feel as though I'd be more use in Rome because there I
+know everybody who is anybody, you see, and it would be a help to the
+Embassy. Dad thinks I may be able to work a transfer after a year or
+so. If the Ambassador to Italy remarks to the State Department at
+Washington that Maxfield Hamilton seems a likely young chap with both
+eyes open and that he wouldn't mind having him on his staff, why Max
+may receive a document telling him to pack his little box and attach
+his person to the Embassy at Rome."
+
+Roger laughed. "Then you don't like Paris?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Max thoughtfully. "I've had a jolly time socially. I
+can't imagine anybody in my circumstances not enjoying himself. But
+it's not where I most want to be. It's up to me to make good so
+emphatically that they'll hand me on to Rome with a word in my favor."
+
+"I expect they will," said Roger.
+
+"Not if I don't buckle down," said Max half to himself. "Something
+happened last October that gave me a jolt and it has been hard to stick
+to work. I came over here for the holidays determined to get myself in
+hand again. I think I've succeeded, old chap, so I'd better go back and
+dig in. A man mustn't whine, you know, if it looks jolly final that he
+isn't going to have everything he wants. I've wasted time enough. I
+must go back to Paris now and keep my mind on my job."
+
+"I bunked Bill Fish this afternoon," admitted Roger suddenly.
+
+"No doubt he was a frightful bore," commented Max without showing the
+least surprise. "Probably I'd have done the same in your place. The
+only disadvantage about shying at disagreeable things like tutors is
+that one hardly ever gets rid of them after all. I'm becoming convinced
+that the only way to get round a difficulty is to hit it in the head
+and walk over its flattened corpse."
+
+Roger grinned. "Shall I bat Bill Fish?" he asked.
+
+"Bill Fish might be worse. Don't blame you for feeling him a freak, but
+the schools in Jersey are footy affairs. If you want a fair sample of a
+school you'd have to try England proper. We've messed about here long
+enough. Let's take a swim."
+
+"Does the cave end here?" asked Roger, looking at the pile of broken
+stone beyond the shelf.
+
+"I suppose so. It's the only one on the Manor lands so Connie and I
+liked to come. Uncle Dick wouldn't permit it unless a grown person was
+with us to watch the tide. How about a dip? No one can see us."
+
+Max left the ridge to saunter toward the entrance, stopping to
+investigate more than one pool of anemones. "By the way," he added, "I
+wouldn't tell the girls of this cave. They'll be keen on searching for
+it afternoons when they are free and you aren't, and may get into a
+mess with the tides. Really it's not quite safe."
+
+[Illustration: PLEMONT IS THE SPOT WHERE THE CABLE COMES IN FROM
+ENGLAND]
+
+"All right," agreed Roger, sliding from the shelf. As he did so, a
+sudden current of warm air struck him, quite unlike the rather damp,
+salty atmosphere of the cave. His curiosity was sufficiently aroused to
+cause him to stop and look back, but Max had already begun to undress
+and there seemed no possible place for a sweet land breeze to find
+entrance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+WIN VISITS THE LIBRARY
+
+
+Max's abrupt departure two days later was a great disappointment to
+Win, who admired him greatly and coveted a closer acquaintance. That he
+should cut short his stay on the plea of work to be done seemed
+reasonable to the others but his going quite upset Win. Nor was this
+disappointment lightened by a period of semi-invalidism when all
+exertion was difficult and patience very far to seek. Not for some
+weeks after Max left was Win able to take advantage of the Colonel's
+prized invitation to use the Manor library.
+
+He made his first visit, fully determined to broach the discovery of
+Richard Lisle's letter to either the Colonel or his daughter, whichever
+should appear, but Yvonne, who admitted him with a smiling welcome,
+reported neither at home.
+
+Nor did fortune favor his second attempt. The Colonel was in St.
+Helier's and Constance entertaining a group of young people on the
+lawn. Win dodged these visitors and from the library windows looked
+down upon a lively set of tennis. Players and spectators alike seemed
+to know one another extremely well. The inference Win drew was correct,
+that for some reason, the little lady of the Manor chose just now to
+crowd her life with social engagements and gay festivities.
+
+Time had been when Win didn't care to watch others play games he could
+not share, but Win was learning that every life has its compensations;
+when one is debarred from one thing, he is sure to have another in its
+place. Without envy Win watched them for a time before turning to the
+books.
+
+His third visit was made on a morning in early February when walking
+was rather difficult owing to a penetrating rain. Wintry weather seemed
+to have visited the Island, but the cold was deceptive, for though a
+heavy coat was acceptable, plenty of flowers were in blossom, even a
+number of surprised-looking roses.
+
+On reaching the Manor, Win was admitted by cordial Yvonne, who at once
+conducted him to his sanctuary. The room was empty, but a cheery fire
+glowed on the hearth, and on the long bare black oak table stood an
+enormous copper bowl full of fresh daffodils, making a spot of light
+and beauty in the sombre room.
+
+Win spent a few moments warming his hands at the fire and considering
+thoughtfully the back of the old Psalter in which was shut Richard
+Lisle's letter. Perhaps opportunity would favor him to-day, some chance
+be provided to show that discovery to either Miss Connie or her father.
+
+That its contents referred to Prince Charles was established beyond
+doubt by the existing legend of his entertainment at the Manor, but the
+letter said much more than that. Only some one thoroughly familiar with
+the Manor and its possessions could interpret further. As the rain beat
+on the terrace outside, Win chanced to look up at the portrait near the
+fireplace, and instantly recalled that curious dream.
+
+"I dreamed all that stuff just because I've always been crazy to go
+treasure-hunting," he thought, "and because that old Cavalier was the
+last thing I saw before I went to sleep. Well, I might go and read for
+a while."
+
+With a glance of admiration at some fine old armor passed on the way,
+Win went into the farther room to settle himself on the comfortable
+window seat with a fat history of the island of Jersey.
+
+Fully an hour passed before the sound of low voices penetrated his
+consciousness. Gradually he became aware that two people were now
+occupying the seat before the smouldering fire. One was Constance
+Lisle, the other some one Win had never seen before, a dark
+distinguished-looking young man, evidently of foreign blood.
+
+Connie was leaning back in the corner of the old settle, her white
+dress and the neighboring bowl of daffodils standing out as high lights
+in the shadowy surroundings. Her companion, beside her, was bending
+slightly forward, his face turned eagerly toward hers.
+
+Had he wished to listen, Win could not distinguish the low words. That
+fact absolved him from the necessity of making his presence known, for
+leave he could not without passing through the room. Presently the
+young man raised his voice and Win realized that he was speaking in
+Italian.
+
+For the moment, interest in the present dismissed the past. Win had
+heard the girls' chatter about their adored Miss Connie and the romance
+attributed to her by Mrs. Trott, but boy-like, paid very little
+attention to what he considered the foolish fancies of sentimental
+kids. Now he was startled into sudden interest.
+
+That stranger must be Miss Connie's Italian prince. Very handsome and
+very much of a gentleman he looked and most earnest their conversation.
+Yet even to an inexperienced observer, it was not that of two happy
+young people, entering a sunny stretch of life, but of a boy and girl
+confronted with some stern and very present problem. Connie's hands
+were clasped too tightly, there was a sense of strain in the poise of
+her head. Her companion's pose was one of perplexity and doubt.
+
+Win remembered what else he had heard of that rumored engagement, not
+much to be sure, save that strong pressure was being put upon the last
+of the Santo-Pontes in order to secure the estates and title of a great
+Roman house to the church of his ancestors.
+
+Presently Win realized that he had no right even to look on. He turned
+his face to the storm and again buried himself in his old volume.
+
+A long time later he heard his name and Constance strolled alone
+through the arch from the other room. She looked pale and tired but
+otherwise composed.
+
+"I didn't know you were here, Win," she said as she came to his chosen
+window.
+
+"I've been stuck in this book for ages. Miss Connie, I've found the
+most interesting thing ever."
+
+"What is it?" Connie inquired listlessly, wondering, but not
+particularly caring whether Win knew of her interview with Louis di
+Santo-Ponte. She looked sweet and wistful as she stood leaning against
+the window seat, her mind down in the town where the boat for St. Malo
+was getting up steam. "Tell me about it, Win," she added, recalling her
+wandering thoughts. She liked Win as she liked most young people.
+
+"Come and see," said Win, replacing his history in its case. Connie
+accompanied him to the fireplace in the main room.
+
+"Did you ever look at that book?" he inquired, indicating the worn old
+Psalter.
+
+"There are several thousand books here that I never looked at," said
+Connie promptly. "Max is the one who browses in this part of the
+library. Ah, he's been here lately, reading his horrid old German
+philosophers." With an air of disgust she pointed to the blue-bound
+modern volumes.
+
+"What is this book that interests you so much!" she went on, taking It
+from the shelf. "Oh, an old copy of the Psalms. Look at its odd type."
+
+"It isn't the book that interests me," said Win, "but this paper. I
+found it accidentally. Do read it, Miss Connie, and see what you make
+of it."
+
+After her first perusal, Constance grew as excited as Win. With the
+deliberate purpose of putting her troubles from her mind, she
+concentrated her attention on this discovery.
+
+"The prince of course refers to Charles, because it is an historical
+fact that he took refuge in Jersey," began Win.
+
+"Yes, and there's the legend that he was entertained here at the
+Manor," exclaimed Connie. "Why Dad will be crazy about this, for it
+proves that story!"
+
+"I hoped he'd be pleased," said Win happily.
+
+"Oh, he will!" replied Connie. "Charles was just a boy, only sixteen,
+at the time he fled from England."
+
+"Ever since I saw two letters in the British Museum, Charles the Second
+has seemed a very real person to me," said Win smiling. "Do you know
+them, Miss Connie? One is from Queen Henrietta Maria to Prince Charles,
+expressing great regret that the prince has refused to take the
+'physick' prescribed for him, and hoping that he will consent to do so
+on the following day, for if he didn't she should be obliged to come to
+him and she trusted he would not give her that 'paine.' She had also
+requested the Duke of Newcastle to report to her whether he took it or
+not and so she 'rested.'
+
+"But what I liked best," Win went on, "was the letter Prince Charles
+wrote. He evidently didn't reply to his mother, but sent a note to the
+Duke of Newcastle in which he flatly refused to take the 'physick' and
+advised the Duke not to take any either!"
+
+Connie laughed. "That does seem a touch of real boy nature, doesn't it?
+But I'm afraid Prince Charles was rather a rotten young cub, not worth
+the affection expended on him nor the good lives laid down in his
+cause. The Richard Lisle who wrote this letter was my great-great--oh,
+I don't know how many times removed--grandfather! It's plain that
+Prince Charles came here to the Manor, was fed and provided with a
+change, and escorted to the castle, probably Orgueil. But what the
+'relicks' are and what the 'safe place,' I can't tell. Nor do I know
+what is meant by the Spanish chest. If there was anything of that
+description around the Manor I'd jolly well know it."
+
+"Would Colonel Lisle know?" asked Win eagerly.
+
+"I wonder, will he?" mused Connie after a pause spent in close scrutiny
+of the document. "We'll ask. Anyway, he'll be awfully interested
+because here it is in black and white that Prince Charles was brought
+to the Manor. Win, it's storming desperately and I'm bored to death.
+I'm going to send Pierre to St. Aubin's to tell your mother that you
+won't be back for luncheon. We'll show Dad your find and bring our
+united minds to bear on the problem."
+
+Win was sorely tempted. The walk through the storm had taxed his
+strength. Should he struggle back, the chances were that he would be
+too tired for any lessons after his arrival.
+
+"Your tutor won't matter, will he?" asked Connie. "You're not expected
+to be so regular as Roger."
+
+Wingate grinned. "I was thinking how angry Roger will be if he finds
+himself the sole object of Bill Fish's attention this afternoon. Thank
+you, Miss Connie. I want mightily to stay. I ought not to have come up
+here today when it was storming, but since I'm here the wisest thing is
+to wait for a time. And I'm wild to know what your father thinks of
+this paper. I will send a note to Mother if I may."
+
+"I'll write, too," said Constance, "and I shall tell her that we'll
+keep you all night if the rain continues. I need somebody to play with
+me, Win. I'm jolly glad you did brave the storm."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+ABOUT THE SPANISH CHEST
+
+
+Roger's state of mind at finding himself destined to be the sole object
+of Bill Fish's ministrations that afternoon was laughable. He vowed to
+Frances that he also would take French leave and bitterly denounced Win
+for absconding, declaring it a "put up job."
+
+"Perhaps Mr. Fisher won't come," consoled Frances. "The storm has
+really grown much worse since morning."
+
+"Indeed he will," said Roger darkly. "Fishes like water. I only hope
+he'll wipe his fins when he comes in. The last rainy day he dripped all
+over the room. I was 'most drowned before we finished. But it was mean
+and sneaky of Win to go up to the Manor this morning. He might have
+known that I wanted help with my arithmetic."
+
+"Perhaps I can help," offered Frances. Luncheon just over, the
+unwelcome Mr. Fisher was due in twenty minutes.
+
+"Oh, you may try," conceded Roger ungraciously. "But if Win stays up
+there all night, I'll pay him out."
+
+"Mother thinks from Miss Connie's note that they were doing something
+very interesting and she really wanted him," Fran said lazily, her face
+pressed against the pane. "How angry and gray the water looks."
+
+"I've a great mind to bunk," said Roger gloomily. "It's not fair for me
+to work alone all the afternoon."
+
+"Edith and I have been at school all the morning," said the
+peace-making Frances. "And Win does work when he can; he never really
+shirks, Roger."
+
+"He _likes_ to study," grumbled Roger. "I don't."
+
+"There are so many things you can do that Win can't," reminded his
+sister.
+
+"Don't preach," retorted Roger, but Fran's comment recalled to his mind
+the conversation with Max in the cave. Boy-like, Roger would not admit
+even to himself any repentance for his short-comings on that occasion,
+but the recollection served to smooth his present ruffled feelings. Win
+had worked alone with Bill Fish all that afternoon and Roger remembered
+most distinctly how Mr. Max looked when he said he was going back to
+Paris and waste no more time.
+
+"Win is having fun, I'm sure," said Fran at length. "Miss Connie
+promised Edith and me that we shall come up and sleep in the haunted
+room some night if we like."
+
+"What's it haunted by?" demanded Roger.
+
+"She wouldn't tell us. Says if we know, we'll be sure to see things.
+But she is going to have a bed put up for herself and come in with us,
+so I'm sure it's nothing very dreadful. I'm so glad we came to Jersey
+just so we could know Miss Connie."
+
+"Some girl," admitted Roger. "But she can't hold a candle to Mr. Max.
+He's a corker."
+
+"He is nice," Frances agreed. "But show me your arithmetic. And would
+you like me to sit in the room? Perhaps Mr. Fisher won't be so fierce
+if I am there."
+
+"I would not," was her brother's concise reply. "He isn't fierce
+either; he's merely flappy. I tell you he _is_ a fish. He looks exactly
+like one of those flatfish we catch down in Maine. Eyes both on one
+side."
+
+Nothing more unlike the tall, angular Scotch tutor could possibly have
+been mentioned, but Fran suppressed a laugh as she inspected Roger's
+problems in mathematics.
+
+"Me doing arithmetic!" he groaned. "And Win having the time of his life
+at the Manor!"
+
+If not exactly experiencing such bliss, Win was thoroughly enjoying
+himself. After luncheon in the charming old Manor dining-room with a
+cheerful fire dispelling all gloom caused by the rain on the windows,
+the three adjourned to Colonel Lisle's study, where Win placed upon the
+table his discovery. The Colonel read it with great interest.
+
+"Well, that is a valuable document, Win," he admitted. "It is evidently
+a page from a letter that Richard Lisle, fourth, wrote to some one and
+never sent. I am the ninth Richard, so you see how far back that was.
+Of course it refers to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles II of
+England. It is a curious fact in the history of the Channel Islands
+that Guernsey sided with the Parliament in its dispute with the king,
+while Jersey remained royalist to the core. I am under great
+obligations to you for discovering this paper, for it proves beyond
+doubt the legend that I have always wished to see substantiated, that
+Prince Charles came to Laurel Manor."
+
+"Don't you make out, Daddy, that they gave him other clothes and took
+him to the castle?" asked his daughter.
+
+"Without doubt. Orgueil, or possibly Castle Elizabeth. I believe that
+the consensus of opinion now favors Elizabeth as having been the
+prince's refuge."
+
+"What do you make of the rest of it, sir?" asked Win, who was still
+beaming with happiness over the Colonel's appreciation. "It says in so
+many words that they put something in a chest and hid it until the
+trouble was over."
+
+"That much is plain," replied his host thoughtfully. The paper was
+spread upon his desk and the young people sat on either side. Win's
+attention was distracted for a moment by his view of the Colonel's
+distinguished face, the face of an high-bred English gentleman. With
+all the impetuosity of his American birth and training, Win felt the
+charm of this gentleman of other race and another generation. He
+admired the Colonel's complete repose, his courteous ways and softly
+modulated voice. They were not in the least effeminate and the empty
+sleeve and the little bronze Victoria cross bore witness that the
+Colonel was a very gallant officer.
+
+"I think," began Constance, "that Great-great-grandfather Dick and his
+'Sonne' put the prince's clothes and perhaps some other things in a
+chest and hid them. Dad, did you ever know of anything answering to the
+description of 'ye Spanish chest'?"
+
+The Colonel thoughtfully smoothed his gray mustache. "There is the box
+that came from the Armada," he remarked. "But that cannot be the one
+referred to, since that belonged to your mother, my dear, and comes
+from her side of the house."
+
+"Mummy was Irish," Connie explained to Win. "I'll show you that box. It
+really was washed up on the coast of Ireland and has been in her family
+for centuries. No, of course, it couldn't be that."
+
+"A Spanish chest does not necessarily mean a relic of the Armada," went
+on the Colonel. "There might possibly be a box of Spanish workmanship,
+but I know of none in the Manor to which that description could be
+applied. That big black oak chest in the upper hall is English. The one
+in my room is Flemish."
+
+"Oh, those are both too big, anyway," declared Constance. "Even men in
+a hurry wouldn't take a box as big as those to pack a suit of clothes
+in. No, it was something that could be easily carried and concealed. It
+takes four servants to move those great arks."
+
+"Then, if there isn't anything in the Manor that answers the
+description, don't you believe the chest and the things in it are still
+hidden?" Win asked rather shyly, but with keen interest.
+
+The Colonel smiled kindly. "Sorry to quench your enthusiasm, Win," he
+said, "but I doubt it. Prince Charles landed in Jersey in 1646 if my
+memory serves. Subtract that date from this year of our Lord. I'm
+afraid that chest, whatever it was, has long since emerged from its
+hiding-place. According to the document here, it was concealed only
+till 'happier times should dawne.' Prince Charlie came to his own
+again, you remember. This Richard Lisle died somewhere where about
+1675. He lived to see the Restoration, so surely he or his son brought
+to light again the things that there was no longer reason to conceal."
+
+"But, Daddy," said Constance quickly, noticing the look of
+disappointment on Win's expressive face. "People forget. Let's think of
+all the possibilities. It says some place outside the walls. And they
+needed a lantern."
+
+"There is the cave, daughter, at the edge of the Manor estates, but you
+know all about that. Why, I know that cave myself, I was going to say,
+every grain of sand in it."
+
+"That's true," admitted Connie. "And of course in all the centuries,
+numbers of people have been there."
+
+"Considering the brisk trade in smuggling that was done in Jersey
+during the 1700's, I think the chances of finding anything in the Manor
+cave are very small," agreed her father. "There is one thing, though,
+we might look at."
+
+As he spoke, he rose and produced his keys. Swinging back a portrait on
+hinges, he disclosed a small safe built into the wall. Win was silent
+through interest in this novel way of concealing a strong-box, but
+Constance jumped up.
+
+"What are you looking for. Daddy? Oh, the plans of the Manor."
+
+"You see," said the Colonel to Win as he sat clown again, a discolored
+roll of papers in his hand, "the original Manor house has been added to
+from time to time. Let us see what it comprised in the days when
+Richard Lisle read his Psalter and wrote his letter. It is possible
+that something then outside the wall may now be inside the house."
+
+"There's a number of queer things about this old place," said Connie,
+sharing Win's look of expectation. "Max and I have run a good many of
+them to earth, but there may be something yet. Certainly we never
+stumbled on any Spanish chest."
+
+The two young people helped the Colonel spread the plans and arrange
+paper-weights to keep them flat.
+
+"This comprises not only the house itself but the grounds," he began.
+"They run as you see to the cliffs of the bay. The cave is there."
+
+"I never knew that," said Win. "Is it large?"
+
+"Nothing like Plemont or even La Grecq," Constance replied. "Those are
+the show caves of Jersey. There are many as big as ours. It's a rather
+rough walk, Win, and the cave is accessible only at low tide. I did say
+something about it once to Edith and Frances, but they didn't
+understand, and after they were caught by the tide, I thought it would
+be better for them not to know of it. You see one can get shut in till
+the next low water. There's no danger because the vault is so high that
+the tide doesn't fill it. In fact, Max deliberately stopped there once."
+
+"Was he shut in?" asked Win.
+
+"No," said the Colonel smiling. "He was annoyed with me and took that
+method of expressing his displeasure. I fancy he was a trifle surprised
+that no fuss was made over his exploit. You see, I knew he was
+perfectly safe. Connie, I think that path is possible for Win some day
+when the weather and tide both serve. Well, this is the extent of the
+original house. It includes this wing where we are and the main
+portion. These shaded partitions show distinctly where later additions
+have been made."
+
+"What is this tiny dotted line across the grounds?" Win inquired.
+
+"That? It is a footpath toward the shore and the gardener's cottage. I
+should say that the present path curves more, but that is its direction
+in general."
+
+Win was puzzled by this explanation. Why should only one of the Manor
+paths be marked? That it was the sole one existing at the time the
+plans were drawn seemed scarcely possible.
+
+"That 'safe place,' if it was outside the walls in those days would
+probably have been somewhere underground," commented Connie, after the
+map had been exhaustively discussed. "That might mean that it is now in
+the cellars somewhere. Dad, have we your permission to explore all the
+subterranean caverns?"
+
+"If there are any that you haven't already investigated," said the
+amused Colonel. "I didn't suppose there was a square inch of the place
+that you and Max hadn't by heart."
+
+"I thought so, too," said Constance, "but if Win's theories are
+correct, there must be something we have overlooked. What do you say
+about an exploration, Win?"
+
+"Oh, I should like nothing better," said Win eagerly. "It will be great
+sport to hunt for that chest. And it's so interesting to look around a
+house that has been in the same family for centuries."
+
+"There has been a Richard Lisle of Laurel Manor for over four hundred
+years," said the Colonel rather sadly. "I am the last of a long line."
+
+"The only solution," said Constance quickly, "is for your unworthy
+daughter to marry some perfectly insignificant person, who will as a
+part of the marriage contract, take the name of Lisle."
+
+"The man who marries my daughter," replied the Colonel with gentle
+dignity, "will have an honorable and, I trust, an honored name of his
+own to offer her."
+
+"Else he will never get her," commented Connie with charming
+impertinence. "Daddy dear, if I could find a man one half as nice as
+you are, I'd marry him on the spot! Win, we'll arrange to head an
+exploring expedition. It's too cold and spooky in the cellars to do it
+this afternoon. We'll plan for a time when Roger and the girls can
+share the sport. I wish Max was here, too. He would simply dote on it."
+
+"I wish he was!" sighed Win. "I was dreadfully disappointed when I
+heard he had gone. I think he's about right."
+
+A sudden very charming smile broke over Connie's face. Up to that time,
+it had been rather serious. "If we don't solve the problem before the
+Easter holidays," she said, "Max will be keen on running it down. I
+hope he can come then. He took so long at Christmas that I'm afraid
+they'll dock him at Easter, and I shall be completely desolated if that
+happens."
+
+"I think he will come," said the Colonel. "In fact he told me he might
+be able to get away for an occasional week-end. With a fast car it is
+not so far to Granville or even St. Malo and he need waste no time
+waiting for the steamer."
+
+Constance suddenly sat up straight. "Max mustn't neglect his duties,"
+she declared. "Either he has a very indulgent chief or he is hedging."
+
+Her attitude was so comically severe that Win laughed, and her father
+looked up with a smile.
+
+"I can't be responsible for what Max tells his chief," he remarked,
+"but I know enough about the diplomatic service to feel sure he is
+giving satisfaction."
+
+Constance still looked stern. "It's all right, of course, if he really
+earns his week-end," she conceded, "but I won't have him shirking. In
+October he was so serious and quiet that I didn't know what to think of
+him, but at Christmas he was the same dear boy he used to be. Didn't
+you think he was just like his old self?"
+
+The Colonel thus appealed to, returned her smile. "There were moments,"
+he gravely replied, "when I doubted whether either one of you was more
+than sixteen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+IN THE VAULTS
+
+
+When Win finally appeared at Rose Villa, driven down in a closed
+carriage, the tale he related was of sufficient interest to banish from
+even Roger's mind the resentment he considered but just, after his long
+afternoon with Mr. Fisher. Those hours had been profitable, did Roger
+only choose to admit the fact, for the tutor had managed to galvanize
+into life the dry bones of an epoch in history. Roger would not
+acknowledge it even to himself, but on that stormy day he came rather
+near liking Bill Fish.
+
+"That's a most exciting discovery, Win," said Mrs. Thayne when the tale
+was concluded. "But I'm afraid I agree with Colonel Lisle that the
+chances of finding anything are small, though you will have fun
+exploring. It is very kind of the Colonel and Miss Connie to permit
+such a troop to invade the Manor."
+
+"I think they are just as interested themselves," Win replied. "The
+Colonel was immensely pleased to have that legend confirmed."
+
+Mrs. Thayne looked at him rather wistfully, wondering how much of the
+interest displayed by the Manor family was due to sympathy with Win. No
+doubt they liked him, for people always did. Well, she was glad that
+this unusual experience was coming his way.
+
+"I'm crazy to see that cave!" Frances was saying. "Don't you remember,
+Edith, when we first met Miss Connie on the beach, she said something
+about looking for caves? I suppose she was thinking of this one."
+
+"I've been in it," Roger suddenly announced. "Mr. Max took me. It's a
+very decent cave but there's only one place where a box could be
+hidden, on a sort of ledge above the water. We climbed up and if there
+had been so much as a snitch of a chest about, it couldn't have escaped
+us."
+
+"You've been _in_ the cave?" demanded Frances, pouncing upon him. "When
+did Mr. Max take you? Where were the rest of us? Why didn't you tell
+us?"
+
+Roger looked uncomfortable. He had never mentioned that expedition, not
+even to his mother during a very serious conversation on the sin of
+truancy.
+
+"Oh, I met him on the cliff," he said evasively. "He showed me the cave
+and we went swimming. He is a corking swimmer."
+
+"But why didn't you tell us about it?" persisted Frances.
+
+Roger saw no way out. Being a truthful individual he blurted forth the
+facts.
+
+"Because Mr. Max told me not to. He said it wasn't safe and he was
+afraid you girls would go fooling around and get caught by the tide. It
+isn't a fit place for girls, either!" he added largely.
+
+"It is!" retorted the exasperated Frances. "If it wasn't, Miss Connie
+wouldn't have been there."
+
+"I'd wager that Miss Connie did everything Mr. Max did," chuckled Win.
+"But the Colonel said to-day that the cave was out of the question so
+far as any hidden chest was concerned,--that it couldn't have escaped
+discovery all these years. I don't really expect to find anything,
+Mother, but it will be great fun to look. I've always wanted to search
+for hidden treasure, you know. And Miss Connie seemed as interested as
+I was. She has appointed next Wednesday afternoon to explore the
+vaults. We are all to come at three and stay for tea afterwards. At
+first she suggested that we have it in the cellars, said it would be
+nice and cobwebby and befitting a treasure hunt, but then she
+remembered that Yvonne was afraid of spiders and wouldn't fancy taking
+the tea things down," he ended with a laugh.
+
+Win was tired that evening and went upstairs early. When Roger
+clattered into the adjoining room half an hour later, his brother
+called.
+
+"Oh, you, Roger," he said, "come in here a jiff."
+
+With a terrific yawn, Roger appeared in the doorway. Win was in bed, a
+lighted lamp on a table by his pillow.
+
+"Could I get down to that cave?" he asked.
+
+"You could get down," Roger remarked judicially. "It's rather steep but
+there's only one bad rock. Still," he added, "if you waited till the
+tide was even lower, yon could walk round that. When we came back from
+our swim, that bit of cliff was out of water. It would be some tug
+crawling up, but you could take it easy."
+
+"I'd give a good deal to get down there," said Win thoughtfully. "How
+was it inside? Much climbing? Any place where a box could be tucked out
+of sight?"
+
+Roger proceeded to describe the interior of the cave, arousing Win's
+interest still more.
+
+"I don't suppose there's hide nor hair of that chest around," he
+admitted, "but all the same, I want to take a look. The tide is full
+every morning now and it will be the end of the week before we can get
+down. As soon as we can, I wish you'd do the pilot act."
+
+"Oh, I'll show you," assented Roger, again yawning prodigiously. "I
+don't take any special stock in this hidden chest, but the cave is fine
+and I'll like to take a whack at the Manor cellars. Are you going to
+burn that lamp all night?"
+
+"I am going to read for a while," said his brother, taking a book from
+under his pillows. "Shut the door into your room if it annoys you."
+
+"It doesn't," answered Roger. "I can see to undress by it better than
+with my candle. Ridiculous to have only candles in bedrooms! Mother
+would give me Hail Columbia if I read in bed the way you do."
+
+Win suppressed a sigh. "Mother knows I read only when I can't sleep,"
+he said shortly. "You may not believe it, but I'd much rather sleep."
+
+Wednesday afternoon found an expectant quartette walking up the Manor
+road, slowly because Win paused occasionally to regain breath, but
+there were so many lovely things to look at that no delay seemed
+irksome. To begin with were fascinating cottages with neat little
+box-edged gardens and straw-thatched roofs; curious evergreen trees
+with stiff jointed branches known locally as monkey-puzzles; there were
+pretty children, some of whom waved hands of recognition; there were
+skylarks singing in the blue above, their happy notes falling like
+musical rain; there were big black and white magpies and black choughs,
+rooks and corbies, now known to the young people by their English
+names. And always there were glimpses of the ever-changing, changeless
+sea.
+
+Roger, who had gradually forged ahead, remained leaning over a low
+cottage wall until the others came up. In the yard sat a woman milking
+one of the pretty, soft-eyed Jersey cows, but what held Roger's
+fascinated attention was her milk-pail.
+
+Instead of the ordinary tin receptacle familiar to Roger during country
+summers, she had an enormous copper can with a fat round body, rather
+small top and handle at one side like a bloated milk-jug. Over the top
+was tied loosely a piece of coarse cloth and on this rested a clean sea
+shell. Streams of milk directed into the shell slowly overflowed its
+edges to strain through the cloth and subside gently into the can.
+
+"That's something of a milk pail," observed Roger approvingly.
+
+"It's just like the hot-water jugs Annette brings in the morning," said
+Frances, "only ten times bigger. Wouldn't it be lovely for goldenrod
+and asters? I'm going to ask Mother to buy one."
+
+"Pretty sight you'll be walking up the dock at Boston with that on your
+arm," jeered Roger. "It will never go in any trunk and you'll have to
+carry it everywhere you go. You needn't ask me to lug it, either."
+
+"It can be crated and sent that way," said Frances calmly.
+
+"Those hot-water jugs make me tired," Roger went on as they continued
+their walk. "I'm sick to death of having a quart of lukewarm water in a
+watering-pot dumped at my door every morning. Think of the hot water we
+have at home, gallons and gallons of it, steaming, day or night!"
+
+Edith looked politely incredulous. "How can that be?" she asked. "Do
+you keep coals on the kitchen fire all night?"
+
+"Coals!" snorted Roger. "All we have to do is to turn a faucet and that
+lights a heater and the water runs hot as long as you leave it turned
+on. No quart pots for us!"
+
+"But surely," said Edith, "only very wealthy people can have luxuries
+like that."
+
+"We're not made of money but we have it," retorted Roger. "Even workmen
+have hot-water heaters in their houses."
+
+From Edith's face it was plain that she frankly didn't believe him and
+Win tried to make matters better.
+
+"You see, Edith," he explained, "it is much more difficult in the
+United States to get satisfactory servants and so we have all sorts of
+clever mechanical devices that make it easier to manage with fewer
+maids."
+
+Edith's brow cleared. "Oh, I see," she said. "I thought there must be
+some reason. Of course, if we needed them, we would have such
+arrangements in England."
+
+"England," declared Roger bluntly, "in ways of living is about two
+hundred years behind the United States!"
+
+"Roger!" exclaimed the shocked Frances.
+
+"Cut it out!" ordered Win.
+
+"It's true, anyway," retorted the annoyed Roger, "and there's another
+thing. We licked England for keeps in the Revolutionary War!"
+
+"Only because you were English yourselves!" flashed Edith before
+Roger's scandalized family could remind him of his forgotten manners.
+
+This retort disconcerted Roger and delighted Win.
+
+"You've hit the nail on the head, Edith," he declared approvingly.
+"England could never have been beaten except by her own sons. And
+England's navy has always ruled the seas."
+
+"How about Dewey wiping out the Spanish fleet at Manila?" demanded
+Roger still huffily.
+
+"That reminds me," said Win coolly. "I believe it was an English
+admiral who backed Dewey up at Manila when the Germans tried to butt
+in. After that battle somebody wrote a poem about it and wrote the
+truth, too. This is what he said:
+
+  "'Ye may trade by land, ye may fight by land,
+    Ye may hold the land in fee;
+    But go not down to the sea in ships
+    To battle with the free;
+    For England and America
+    Will keep and hold the sea!'"
+
+As Win concluded, Edith's high color lessened and Roger looked less
+pugnacious. Presently, each stole a sly glance at the other, both were
+caught in the act and simultaneously laughed. So the party reached the
+Manor without disruption by the way.
+
+Constance, with a soft green sweater over her frock, came to meet them.
+
+"All ready for the fray? Leave your hats in the hall. You will need
+your woollies for we are going where sunlight never comes. There's good
+store of candles and two lanterns. Anything else needed, Win?"
+
+"A hammer perhaps," suggested Win. "We may want to sound walls."
+
+"A hammer there shall be," and Constance rang the bell to order it.
+"Dad says he will come down if we make any startling discovery, but
+being an elderly person, he's a bit shy of damp."
+
+Provided with lights and the hammer, the gay party started, filing
+through a kitchen so fascinating with its red-bricked floor and shining
+copper cooking utensils that Fran found it hard to pass. Several maids
+and a jolly cook smiled on them as they vanished down the cellar stairs.
+
+"I suppose you want to see the oldest part of the Manor vaults," Connie
+said to Win as she led the way with a candle in a brass reflector. "We
+shall come back through here."
+
+To Edith and Frances it seemed that they traversed numberless dark
+rooms, dry but chilly, some stored with vegetables and barrels, while
+others were empty or showed dusky apparitions of old lumber. Constance
+stopped at last.
+
+"We are under the library now, Win. This is the original cellar and you
+can see how much rougher the workmanship is than in the newer parts."
+
+Walls were rough and floor uneven, indeed, a part of it was composed of
+an outlying ledge of the Jersey granite. Obedient to suggestion, Roger
+and the girls began to inspect the walls for traces of some former
+exit; Roger by himself, the girls, rather fearfully, together. Win
+stood looking at the ledge in the floor.
+
+"That settles there being any hiding-place underneath," he remarked.
+
+"Yes," said Connie, "but the paper said 'beyond the walls,' you know.
+So wouldn't it more likely be in one of the cellars not built at that
+time?"
+
+"Well, probably," assented Win. "But I was looking at the way this rock
+runs." He produced a pocket-compass. "It's much thicker at this end and
+the direction is approximately north and south. What is to the east,
+Miss Connie?"
+
+"Nothing at all. That wall is still the outer one."
+
+"And the wall farthest from the water?" asked Win quickly.
+
+Constance nodded.
+
+"Then it is the western wall I want," said Win, turning toward it.
+
+Somewhat mystified, Connie watched him make a minute examination,
+tapping with the hammer on its entire length.
+
+"I suspect that it's frightfully thick," she said as he stopped,
+looking disappointed.
+
+"What is on the other side?" he inquired. "Is this whole partition now
+included in the house?"
+
+Constance led the way to the opposite side of the wall. There lay a
+large apartment, dimly lighted, but of better workmanship and finish.
+Win went immediately to the eastern side of this cellar and bestowed
+upon the partition stones the same minute inspection.
+
+"This wall must really be several feet through," he observed to the
+watching Constance.
+
+"Probably. But I don't see, Win, what you are trying to get at."
+
+"I hardly know myself, Miss Connie. It's just an idea I had. This would
+have been the wall nearest the cave. You see I'm not used to having a
+cave as a sort of household annex, so I can't help thinking it may
+figure yet in this business."
+
+Connie shook her head. "Perhaps it did once," she said. "Only that cave
+is more or less common property; many people know of it. We can be sure
+of one thing; that nothing will be found in it now. How about this
+floor?"
+
+Win left the wall to inspect by aid of his lantern the huge,
+roughly-squared blocks forming the cellar floor. Damp, dark and
+numerous they showed under the light.
+
+"It's possible that any one might conceal some cavity," said Connie.
+"But that one would surely differ in some way from the others. Let us
+spread out and inspect them. Anybody who finds a flag in any way
+peculiar, speak."
+
+Constance herself began to peer at the stone flooring, not at all
+because she expected to find anything in the least unusual, but because
+she did not want disappointment to fall upon Win too quickly. If he
+really searched thoroughly, he would be better satisfied to acknowledge
+the quest as useless.
+
+Among the many scenes those centuries-old walls had looked upon, it is
+a question whether they had witnessed so gay a sight as the five young
+people, wandering slowly up and down the uneven floor, looking for some
+stone raised higher or sunken lower than the others, more carefully
+fitted; perhaps, though this could scarcely be hoped, provided with an
+iron ring for a handle.
+
+Nothing happened. No two of the many flags were alike, yet none seemed
+of sufficient distinction to mark it as worth further investigation.
+All looked as though they had never been moved.
+
+The other and more recent cellars received scanty attention. Of lesser
+age, they were also cleaner, drier and better lighted.
+
+"Our adventure seems fruitless," sighed Connie as they stood at last
+among bins and bottles near the kitchen stairs. "Why, where is Win?"
+
+Both Frances and Roger started back, ashamed to have forgotten him if
+only for a moment. Suppose poor Win had had one of his attacks alone
+back there in that shadow-filled vault!
+
+Win was found in the original cellar of the old Manor, not pacing the
+floor or tapping the stones, but meditatively staring at one of its
+walls, not the one he had devoted so much attention to, but the
+northern boundary.
+
+"What luck?" asked Connie as they came in, relieved at sight of him.
+
+"None," said Win, turning to her with curiously bright eyes. "But, Miss
+Connie, do you think your father would show me those plans again!"
+
+"Why, of course he will. Has some idea struck you?"
+
+"I don't quite know," said Win. "But I should like to see the plans and
+perhaps some other day, you'll let me come down here again for a few
+moments."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE HAUNTED ROOM
+
+
+"There is a letter for you, Miss Edith," said Nurse as the girls came
+in from school, the next Saturday. "It is for Miss Frances, too."
+
+"For us both?" exclaimed Frances. "Where from?"
+
+"Pierre brought it from the Manor," replied Nurse.
+
+"I can't get over there being no telephones in the houses here,"
+remarked Frances, snatching off her hat. "Imagine having to send a man
+with a note instead of just taking down a receiver and talking. Not to
+have telephones is so very English."
+
+"The English don't hold much with new inventions, Miss," Nurse agreed.
+"What was good enough for those before us does us very well."
+
+"I know it!" sighed Fran, "but think of the _convenience_ of a
+telephone."
+
+Edith was holding a dainty square note bearing the inscription:
+
+  "Miss Edith Pearce,
+   Miss Thayne,
+   Rose Villa.
+   A la main de Pierre."
+
+"From Miss Connie, of course," said Edith delightedly. Each took a
+corner of the enclosed card and with several little squeals of amused
+pleasure, Frances read it aloud.
+
+  "Miss Lisle presents her compliments to Miss Pearce and Miss
+   Thayne and requests them to grant her the favor of attending
+   a meeting of the Society for the Suppression of Ghosts to be
+   held in the haunted room of Laurel Manor this evening at ten.
+
+   Notes:
+
+  Dinner 7:30.
+  Beds provided at 9:45 (Ghost _not_ guaranteed to appear).
+  Very best nighties because of looking pretty for spooks.
+  Breakfast any old hour."
+
+Screaming with delight, Edith ran to find Estelle, Frances for her
+mother.
+
+"But I don't know that I want you to sleep in a room that has the
+reputation of being haunted, Edith," protested Estelle. "Will Mrs.
+Thayne permit Frances to go?"
+
+"Oh, Sister, there's some joke about it," pleaded Edith. "There must
+be, because Miss Connie always laughs whenever the ghost is mentioned.
+And would her father let her sleep in that room if it was anything to
+frighten people? Oh, Star, it will be such fun!"
+
+Up-stairs, Frances was besieging her amused mother. Two minutes later,
+the girls met in the hall, dancing with glee, for each might go were
+the other permitted.
+
+"Dinner at the Manor, too!" sighed Frances. "What bliss!"
+
+Neither Estelle nor Mrs. Thayne had much peace from then until it was
+time to start. Finally the hour arrived and the family assembled in the
+hall to see them off, Win interested and Roger openly envious. "I'd
+like a chance at that ghost just once," he vowed. "I'd settle him."
+
+"Perhaps later, Miss Connie will invite you boys," said Edith. "Why,
+here's Pierre. Oh, he's come for our bags."
+
+To have a servant sent for their light luggage again struck Frances as
+most charmingly English, and two very happy girls waved farewell to
+Rose Villa as they turned out of the terrace.
+
+In the great hall of the Manor, Constance greeted them, ceremoniously
+enough, but with mysterious smiles and twinkles. In person she
+conducted them to a pretty guest-room near her own apartments.
+
+"We won't invade the ghost's domain until time for bed," she announced
+gayly. "You'll find a bath adjoining and would you like Paget to do
+your hair or fasten your dinner frocks?"
+
+"We will help each other," said Edith, as full of twinkles as Connie
+herself.
+
+"Then I will dress and come for you in about half an hour."
+
+"Isn't Miss Connie the dearest thing!" said Edith enthusiastically as
+the door closed. "I never saw anybody just like her before."
+
+"Mother thinks her charming," replied Frances, brushing her curly hair.
+"Edith, do you suppose we shall ever know the truth about that story of
+the Italian prince?"
+
+"It doesn't seem as though it were true," observed Edith. "Or at least,
+as though she cared very much if she had to break her engagement, for
+she is always so gay and happy."
+
+The face that was looking just then from the mirror in Connie's room
+did not precisely correspond to these adjectives, but the young
+mistress of the Manor was the daughter of a brave soldier and the
+descendant of a long line of gallant gentlemen. Those slow weeks since
+Christmas that Constance crowded with gayety were bringing gradual
+healing. The heart under the fluffy frock she slipped on to-night was
+not so heavy as the one under the white gown worn that day when she
+stood by Win in the Manor library and watched the boat for St. Malo
+leave the harbor.
+
+Frances and Edith were ready when she came for them, also prettily
+dressed in white.
+
+"Nice little English flappers," Constance remarked approvingly. "Why,
+what is the matter with Frances?"
+
+"I don't know what a flapper is," confessed Frances, sure however, that
+it could be nothing very dreadful.
+
+Constance laughed and patted the brown cheek. "Merely a jolly little
+English school girl with her hair down her back. Yours is tidily
+braided but Edith looks the typical flapper."
+
+She took a hand of each and three abreast they went down to the hall
+where Colonel Lisle was standing in a soldierly attitude before the
+fire. He greeted them with charming courtesy, offered Fran his arm and
+conducted her to the dining-room.
+
+Both girls were supremely happy, Edith quietly so, Frances fairly
+radiating enjoyment in the stately room with its fine old portraits and
+windows open to admit the sweet odors of myrtle and daffodils.
+
+"Don't think the Island winters are all as mild as this," the Colonel
+was saying as Yvonne removed the soup plates. "I have seen both snow
+and hail in Jersey and sometimes we have extremely cold weather. But
+you were asking, Frances, why French is the official language here. The
+Channel Islands came to the English crown with William the Conqueror,
+and have always remained one of the crown properties. So while the
+islanders are English they have French blood in their veins and each
+island has retained its peculiar historic customs, the official use of
+French being one. When Normandy was regained by France, the islands
+remained with England and though Jersey was frequently attacked and
+sometimes invaded by the French they never held more than a portion of
+it temporarily. Indeed, so much was a Norman or French invasion feared,
+that the islanders inserted in the Litany an additional petition: 'From
+the fury of the Normans, good Lord, deliver us!'"
+
+"We have seen the tablet in the Royal Square, marking the spot where
+Major Pierson fell in the battle of Jersey," said Edith, who shared
+Win's liking for history.
+
+"Ah, in 1781. That was the last French invasion. Speaking of the Royal
+Square," the Colonel went on, "there is a curious custom connected with
+the Royal Court there, that might interest you. Any person with a
+grievance relating to property has a right to come into a session of
+the court and call aloud upon Rollo the Dane. The Cohue Royale,--the
+Court,--_must_ listen and _must_ heed. That is a very ancient relic of
+Norman rule in the Island. Oh, no, it is seldom resorted to. One does
+not lightly call Prince Rollo to one's aid. That is the final appeal
+when all other justice fails."
+
+Yvonne, who was waiting upon the table, reappeared from a brief absence
+with a beaming face.
+
+"It is Monsieur Max who arrives," she said confidentially to Constance.
+
+"Max!" exclaimed Connie. "Why, how nice! Sha'n't he come directly, Dad?
+Tell him not to dress, Yvonne."
+
+"By all means, tell him to come as he is," said the Colonel, his face
+lighting with pleasure at this news.
+
+"Pardon, m'sieur," said Yvonne. "Monsieur Max already hastens to his
+room and says the dinner shall not delay, that he shall be fast,--ver'
+queeck."
+
+"Max can be fast," said Constance smiling. "Well, we will dawdle over
+our fish. I never thought of his coming," she went on, watching Yvonne
+as she deftly laid another place beside Frances. "This must be one of
+the week-ends he promised. I wonder why he didn't warn us?"
+
+"I suppose there was no time to do so," said the Colonel. "Max knows he
+is welcome at any hour."
+
+Max was "queeck." The fish was only just finished when he came quietly
+into the room, dressed for dinner and looking not in the least as
+though he had recently stepped from a steamer. Edith and Frances
+watched eagerly. If they were still in deep ignorance concerning Miss
+Connie's Italian prince, this was surely their chance to discover how
+matters stood between their adored little lady and Mr. Max.
+
+Disappointment awaited them, for nothing could have been more
+commonplace than the greeting exchanged. Even the fancy of fourteen
+years could not construe Constance's "Hello, old boy!" and Max's
+nonchalantly offered hand into the slightest foundation for a romance.
+So far as outward appearances went Max was much more affectionate
+towards the Colonel, who did not disguise his marked pleasure at seeing
+him.
+
+With gay words for both girls, the newcomer slid into his seat. "I'm as
+hungry as a hunter, Connie," he announced. "Soup, Yvonne? Anything and
+everything that's going. Oh, it was rather a rough crossing, but it
+merely gave me an appetite. Where are the boys? Couldn't they come to
+this exclusive dinner? Or am I butting in myself?"
+
+"You are," replied Constance mischievously, "but for Dad's sake, we
+will forgive you. The boys are not here for the simple reason that they
+were not invited. Having fortified ourselves with strong meat, the
+girls and I are going to brave the Manor ghost to-night."
+
+Darkness had fallen and with it a sense of the eerie over Fran. She was
+distinctly relieved to hear Max laugh at this announcement.
+
+"Do you really want to see the ghost?" he asked, turning to her.
+
+"Crazy to," was Fran's prompt reply. "I wouldn't dare stay alone in
+that room, but with Miss Connie and Edith, I sha'n't be afraid. Indeed,
+I want dreadfully to see the ghost."
+
+"You know yourself, Max, that it doesn't materialize every time it is
+invoked," began Constance.
+
+"I know it," said Max. "I only wanted to ascertain how keen the
+spook-hunters are. I slept in that room once for two weeks when the
+house was full and became much attached to his ghost-ship."
+
+"So I told the girls," replied Constance with equal gravity.
+
+Edith and Frances were looking at each other in puzzled bewilderment
+but Max suddenly changed the subject. His eye had fallen upon Grayfur,
+the big cat that had purred himself into the room in the shelter of
+Yvonne's skirts.
+
+"Hello, old chap!" he said, snapping his fingers. "Do you like cats,
+Frances?"
+
+"No," confessed Frances. "I love dogs. Edith is the one who likes
+pussies. She is always bringing stray kittens home."
+
+For some reason this statement seemed to amuse Max. To the surprise of
+the girls, he and Constance exchanged a smile.
+
+Ten o'clock struck before Edith and Frances found themselves, after a
+happy evening, again in the pretty guest-room.
+
+"Miss Connie, I am afraid you weren't ready to come up," said
+thoughtful Edith. "Didn't you want to stop longer with your father and
+Mr. Max?"
+
+"Max doesn't leave until Tuesday morning," Constance replied. "Dad will
+love to have him all to himself for a good talk and smoke, and if Max
+has anything especial to say to me, there will be plenty of
+opportunities. I'm quite glad to come up."
+
+When she came for them, the girls were ready and the little procession
+started, three kimonoed figures each bearing a lighted candle along the
+echoing halls to the haunted room above the library. Electricity had
+not trailed its illuminating coils above the first floor of the house
+so the big apartment looked spooky and shadowy enough, the candles
+placed on the mantel, quite lost in immense distances. Three white cots
+stood side by side in its centre.
+
+"First, we will fasten the door securely," said Constance, suiting the
+action to the word. "Then we will take this electric torch and look
+about a bit."
+
+Careful inspection showed the room undoubtedly tenantless, the handsome
+old-fashioned furniture offering no hiding-place for any intruder. Like
+the library below, its walls were of paneled oak, with three large
+portraits set into the wood-work. One, a Lisle of Queen Elizabeth's
+time, looked down benignly, attired in doublet and ruff.
+
+"Miss Connie, how shall we know what to look for or expect?" asked
+Frances when the three were settled in their beds, lights out and the
+room illuminated only by the moon.
+
+"It wouldn't be wise to tell you," said Constance mysteriously. "All
+I'll say is that it is nothing at all disturbing or frightful. The few
+people who have seen or heard anything never knew at the time that it
+was a ghost."
+
+"But you will tell us in the morning?" asked Edith.
+
+"Yes," replied their hostess. "I will tell you then, whether you see
+anything or not, and very likely you will not. But if you want to have
+the creeps and would truly enjoy them, I'll tell you something that
+really happened to me once in Italy."
+
+"Oh, do, do!" begged both girls in unison. "That would be simply
+perfect," added Edith, sitting up in bed, her fair hair floating about
+her shoulders and turning her more than ever into the likeness of an
+angel.
+
+"Some years ago, when I was about your age," began Constance slowly,
+"Dad and Mother and I were traveling in southern Italy, and Max was
+with us. He was with us a great deal, you know. We stopped one night at
+an old hotel that had once been a monastery, though it was different
+from the usual monasteries because it was a place where sick monks came
+to be cured and to rest.
+
+"The location was wonderful, on a cliff overlooking the sea and though
+the place had been altered for the purposes of a hotel, it was still a
+good bit churchly. The partitions between the cells had been knocked
+out and additions built, but the hotel dining-room was the old
+refectory with stone walls and floor, and the wonderful garden was much
+as the monks left it. Such roses you never saw and such climbing vines
+and flowering trees. Oh, there's no place like Italy!"
+
+Constance stopped. The moonlight falling across her bed touched her
+face into almost unearthly beauty.
+
+"We had connecting rooms that night," she went on. "Dad and Mother took
+the corner one with two beds. Next was a tiny room where I was to sleep
+and Max's was beyond mine. All were originally cells opening on a
+terrace, covered with roses and passion-flowers and looking down to the
+sea, which was shining with little silver ripples.
+
+"We'd had an especially happy day and I was so keyed up with enjoyment
+that I couldn't go to sleep right away, but lay looking out at the
+flowers and the waves. Mother went through to see that Max was all
+right and then came back to kiss me. She closed the door into his room,
+but left open the one from mine into hers.
+
+"I remember hearing Mother and Dad laugh a little about something and I
+suppose I went to sleep, because I woke very suddenly with a start, all
+awake in a minute."
+
+Connie paused, this being the proper moment for a thrill. "What do you
+think I saw?" she asked impressively.
+
+"Oh, I can't imagine!" gasped Frances, shivering in delighted
+anticipation. "Do go on!"
+
+"Have you chills down your spine!" laughed Constance. "In the moonlight
+right beside my bed, I saw a monk, dressed in white, the usual robe of
+the Dominicans. He had a wise, kind face, with a pleasant expression,
+and as I looked at him, he took my wrist very gently, and put his
+finger on my pulse."
+
+"Oh-h!" said Edith, pulling the covers about her more tightly. "Oh,
+Miss Connie, what did you do?"
+
+"That frightened me," said Connie. "Up to that time, I noticed only his
+pleasant, gentle look, but it seemed as though a bit of ice touched me
+and I gave a scream that brought Mother and Dad up standing. Of course,
+when they came hurrying in, nobody was visible. I made a big fuss,
+presumably because I wanted to be petted and coddled.
+
+"I told them about the monk and Dad at once thought that Max had been
+playing a joke on me. He stepped into Max's room, intending to be
+severe, but Max was sound asleep and besides, the door into his room
+squeaked so that he couldn't possibly have opened it without waking us
+all.
+
+"Then they said I had the nightmare. Perhaps I did," said Constance
+with a smile, "but I can see yet the kindly face of that old monk. I
+didn't want to stay in my room, so Dad told me to go in with Mother and
+he'd take my bed. We all settled ourselves again.
+
+"I was asleep or nearly so, feeling so comfy and safe in my bed close
+to Mother's when suddenly she sat up straight and said 'Richard!' in
+such an odd, startled tone. I woke and heard poor Dad piling out of bed
+again to come into our room. Mother sat there looking very troubled and
+holding one wrist in the other hand. She didn't say anything
+more,--neither of them did,--but I knew perfectly well that the old
+monk had been feeling her pulse."
+
+"And what happened in the morning?" demanded Frances breathlessly.
+
+"Nothing at all," said Constance cheerfully. "In the morning everything
+was beautiful and lovely as in no other country but Italy. Mother and I
+merely agreed that we had an odd dream. We did not stay a second night,
+for we were on our way back to Rome."
+
+"Did you ever hear anything more about the monk?" asked Edith.
+
+"Years after," said Connie dreamily, "we met some Americans in
+Switzerland who told us of a similar experience in this hotel. Later, I
+learned that Dad found out at the time that the place was reputed to be
+haunted by an old monk physician who turns up at intervals and feels
+people's pulses, and is often seen pottering about the garden in broad
+daylight. Monks are such a common sight in Italy that the hotel guests
+stop and converse with him, thinking him a gardener and never
+suspecting that he is a ghost."
+
+"But the Manor ghost isn't like that?" asked Edith, who wanted
+reassurance.
+
+"Not a bit," said Constance. "As for that, there was nothing so very
+frightful or repellent about the monk. Don't you think we should go to
+sleep now and give his spookship his innings?"
+
+The girls agreed and silence fell over the big room with its three
+white beds. Outside the open casements a vine waved within Fran's line
+of vision, tapping gently against a window pane.
+
+Presently a slight sound caught Fran's wakeful ear, as of steps on a
+somewhat unfamiliar stair where it was necessary to grope one's way.
+Touching Edith's shoulder, she sat up in bed. They had entered the
+haunted room by a door now locked, opening on a big stone staircase;
+these steps seemed upon muffled wood.
+
+Next moment there came a sudden convulsive sneeze that sounded in her
+very ear. Frances gasped but Constance sat up laughing.
+
+"No fair!" she exclaimed.
+
+For a second there was absolute silence, then somebody laughed,
+extremely close at hand, though yet behind a partition. The laugh was
+followed by the soft sound of retreating footsteps.
+
+"What happened, Miss Connie?" begged Edith.
+
+"No ghost," said their hostess merrily. "I had forgotten. That was
+clever of Max."
+
+Silence again followed for a period, succeeded by the sound of music in
+the garden below the windows, soft and very sweet.
+
+"Oh, is _that_ the ghost?" demanded Frances in great excitement.
+
+"Your mother will bless me for letting you stop awake all night," said
+Constance. She sat up, wrapped a white robe about her and stuck her
+feet into slippers. Upon the music came the sudden unearthly miaow of a
+cat.
+
+The noise sounded directly in the room and all three girls jumped.
+Constance laughed again.
+
+"I might have known Max did not come into that passage for nothing,"
+she sighed. "Where's that electric torch?"
+
+Having turned on the flash-light, Connie approached the large oil
+painting set into one side of the gloomy room, its base about a foot
+above the floor. She touched a knob on its frame and the portrait
+became a door opening outward and revealing a narrow, dusty winding
+stair descending to the floor below. On its top step sat the big cat,
+just opening its mouth for another howl.
+
+"Come in, Grayfur," said Constance. "Max brought you, didn't he? If he
+hadn't sneezed and given himself away, he'd have opened the door a
+crack and let you in."
+
+"Is it a secret stair?" asked Frances, her eyes big with excitement.
+"Where does it go? Wouldn't Roger be crazy over it?"
+
+"We will let him go up it," answered Connie, swinging the portrait into
+place again. "The passage comes out below in the library. Max thought
+he would provide one ghost anyway."
+
+Putting the cat into the hall, she locked the door again and then stuck
+her pretty head from the window.
+
+"Max," she said severely, addressing the unseen musician, "you are
+spoiling your fiddle and breaking your promise. You said you wouldn't
+be silly. Go to bed now like a good boy."
+
+The fiddle responded with two ear-splitting squawks.
+
+"Stop it!" commanded Constance. "There goes a string and it serves you
+quite right. You'll have the bobbies coming to investigate if you don't
+leave off."
+
+The unappreciated serenader appeared squelched by this threat, for
+complete silence followed.
+
+"Nothing more is at all likely to happen tonight," said Constance,
+coming back to bed. "And I hope Max will go properly to his room. Now
+go to sleep, girlies, and in the morning, I'll tell you how the Manor
+ghost disports itself."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE MANOR GHOST
+
+
+In spite of a firm intention to remain awake, Frances soon fell into
+quiet slumber and knew nothing more until the next morning. February
+dawns in England are dark, but when she finally opened her eyes, the
+room was faintly lighted by the coming sun and her watch told her that
+it was after eight.
+
+Edith still seemed asleep, but from the bed at the left, Connie smiled
+back at her. For some reason known only to herself, their gay little
+hostess had decreed that Frances should take the centre bed.
+
+"Awake?" she whispered. "How's Edith? Is she still off?"
+
+As though she heard her name, Edith stirred, turned over and finally
+rose on one elbow.
+
+"Did you sleep well?" asked Constance. "We needn't get up unless you
+like. When we are ready, Yvonne is to bring us breakfast in my
+sitting-room. We'll wash and put on boudoir caps and eat _en negligee_."
+
+At this delightful programme both girls became wide awake in an instant.
+
+"And you will tell us about the ghost?" asked Frances.
+
+"I will," replied Constance, sitting up and gathering her pretty kimono
+about her, a lovely white Japanese crepe embroidered in gold with
+fire-eating dragons of appalling size. One stretched across the front
+as she fastened the folds. The girls also rose and put on their
+dressing-gowns. Unlocking the door, Constance looked into the hall.
+
+"I'll just see that the coast is clear before the procession forms,"
+she remarked. "Daddy's rooms are down-stairs but Max's is on our way.
+I'm quite sure though that he and Dad are already out, for Dad likes to
+attend early service and Max has probably gone with him like a dutiful
+young man."
+
+As the three started, Edith turned to glance searchingly around.
+
+"What are you looking for?" asked Frances.
+
+"For the pussy," replied Edith, hurrying to overtake them. "I thought
+there was one in the room."
+
+"Miss Connie put it out," said Frances, laughing. "Wake up, Edith!"
+
+As Edith spoke, Constance stopped to look at her rather oddly, then
+went on quickly.
+
+"When you are ready, come to my sitting-room," she said on reaching
+their door. "It is at the end of this hall."
+
+When the girls appeared ten minutes later, Constance was yet invisible.
+In the sitting-room a table stood before a couch piled with pillows,
+and two cushioned chairs opened luxurious arms.
+
+"Isn't this the dearest room," said Frances appreciatively as she
+settled herself. "I suppose this is Miss Connie's own especial place
+where no one comes without an invitation."
+
+In some respects the room was very unlike the sanctum of the average
+girl. While not lacking in the daintiness bestowed by fresh flowers,
+gay chintz and white draperies, it contained a number of objects not
+often seen in a boudoir. On a teakwood stand in one corner, against the
+background of a valuable Oriental rug in shimmering greens and blues,
+sat a curious Indian idol. Constance's desk might once have been used
+by some Italian princess in the days of Dante, and above it hung a
+beautiful silver lamp that could well cause envy in the breast of
+Aladdin. Pictures and ornaments alike spoke of wanderings in distant
+lands and from their unusual individuality indicated a wide range of
+interest in their possessor.
+
+The door into the adjoining bedroom opened and Constance came out
+attired in a lounging-robe that made both girls gasp with admiration.
+
+"Oh, Miss Connie," Frances exclaimed, "what a beautiful kimono. And
+what color is it?"
+
+"Guess," said Constance merrily. "For a long time I didn't know myself
+what to call it."
+
+"It isn't blue nor gray," said Edith admiringly.
+
+"Nor green nor violet," added Frances reflectively, "and yet it is all
+of them. I've seen something like it but I can't think what."
+
+"I suppose only an Oriental artist could conceive such a combination,"
+said Constance, ringing the bell for Yvonne and then curling into a
+little heap on the couch. "Dad brought it to me from Paris and I keep
+it for very special occasions. I couldn't make out what color it was
+but I loved it the minute I opened the box and I knew you girls would.
+I've thought very seriously of having it made into an evening coat, for
+it is too lovely to be used only in my room. But about its color. One
+day this Christmas vacation I was feeling a bit poorly, so I had tea up
+here and let Dad and Max come. I slipped on this robe to receive them
+in state and the minute Max saw it, he told me what it was like. The
+thing is in plain sight."
+
+The girls glanced about the room. Edith's eyes lingered for a second on
+a brass bowl full of blue hyacinths, but passed on.
+
+"I have it!" exclaimed Frances, noticing a slight inclination of
+Connie's fair head toward the open casement. "It's the color of the
+ocean!"
+
+"Right!" said Constance. "The moment Max said so, I knew it. He did it
+very prettily, too, with some remark about the 'lady from the sea.' The
+silk really does change and shade as the water under storm and sun."
+
+There came a tap and Yvonne, bearing a most tempting tray, entered with
+a smiling "_Bon jour, mes demoiselles._" Fruit, a fat little chocolate
+pot sending forth a delicious odor, and flanked by delicate china and
+shining silver, whipped cream, marshmallows, French rolls, sweet
+unsalted butter and raspberry jam, made the girls feel hungry at the
+mere sight. Dainty green and white snowdrops, tucked here and there by
+Yvonne's artistic fingers added the final touch.
+
+"I think this is the greatest fun," said Frances. "Do you always have
+your breakfast this way?"
+
+"Bless you, no," replied Constance. "This is an occasional Sunday
+morning indulgence. Every other day of the week, I am up, dressed and
+in my right mind to breakfast with my Dad. He'd think the world was
+coming down about his ears if his Connie wasn't there to pour his
+coffee. I warned him that we were going to have a debauch this morning
+and he won't care anyway, because he has Max. What did you mean, Edith,
+about a cat? Did you dream of Grayfur?"
+
+"Why, no, it wasn't Grayfur," said Edith, dropping a marshmallow into
+her chocolate and watching it dissolve. "I thought Mr. Max succeeded in
+carrying out his joke. He must have come back much later and put
+another pussy in from behind the portrait. I woke some time in the
+night, oh, hours after, because the moonlight was 'way across the room,
+and sitting in it, washing its face, was the prettiest little
+half-grown kitten. It was a perfect beauty, white with a plumy tail. I
+spoke to it very softly so as not to wake either of you, and it looked
+at me and purred but would not come. I watched it chase its tail for a
+little and then it jumped in a big chair and curled itself up to sleep.
+I suppose it must have gone out when the door was opened this morning.
+May we see it again, Miss Connie? It was much prettier than Grayfur.
+But do tell us now about the ghost. We are in such a hurry to hear."
+
+"You know practically all there is to know," said Constance whimsically.
+
+Both girls stared at her. "What do you mean!" asked Edith. "Is it a
+joke? Isn't there any ghost?"
+
+"You know better than I do," replied Constance, tasting her chocolate
+critically. "Did you have sugar, Frances? Why, you've seen the ghost,
+Edith, which is more than I can say."
+
+Edith's face was a picture of surprise. "_Seen_ it!" she repeated.
+"Why, I saw nothing at all."
+
+"I told you, didn't I, that the people who saw the ghost never knew it
+at the time? This is the legend. About a century ago, the Richard
+Lisle, then owner of the Manor, married a very charming young wife. He
+was madly in love with her and was inclined to be rather jealous. The
+story runs that he couldn't bear to have her lavish affection on
+anything but him, was jealous of her dog and her horse and even of her
+flower-garden. Winifred Lisle had a very pretty white Persian kitten--"
+
+Constance stopped, for Edith's spoon fell with a clatter. "You don't
+mean that darling purry little pussy was the _ghost!"_ she exclaimed.
+
+
+"Listen to the story," Constance went on smiling. "Dick Lisle objected
+to even this wee kit since it took some of his Winifred's time and
+attention and he gave orders that it was never to be admitted to the
+room where they spent the evening, presumably the library. The kitten
+disappeared and Winifred mourned for it. Months later, its little
+corpse was found on the secret stairs behind the portrait."
+
+"Then Mr. Max didn't put a cat into the room?" asked Frances eagerly.
+
+"I think not, unless he took the trouble to bring a white kitten with
+him from Paris. Max is quite capable of doing it for a joke, but he
+could not know, you see, that we were planning to sleep in that room
+last night. And there is no white kitten about the Manor."
+
+"Isn't that the oddest story!" said Edith in deep interest. "Why, Miss
+Connie, I'm as sure as I am of anything that I saw that pussy playing
+in the moonlight. It was the sweetest little thing and I did wish it
+would come and cuddle by me in bed. Is it really a ghost? How do you
+account for it?"
+
+"I don't account for it," said Constance. "You can consider it a pretty
+dream if you wish. I never saw it and I have a fancy that it is because
+I am not fond of cats. When Frances said she did not like them, I knew
+that she would not see the little ghost kit either, and so I wanted you
+to take the bed nearest the moonlight."
+
+"That's the most interesting thing that ever happened to me," said
+Edith. "I'm so glad I saw it."
+
+"Whether it is imagination or dream, I rather like to think of the
+kitten ghost playing so gayly with its tail on moonlight nights," said
+Connie. "No, only three or four people have seen it. The room is not
+often used, and like Edith, they supposed it a kitten that had somehow
+got in. Well, is the Manor ghost satisfactory?"
+
+"I think it's the dearest thing I ever heard of," said Edith happily.
+"But do you suppose that Winifred's husband shut it in there
+deliberately?"
+
+"We'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Cats are always poking about
+in odd places. The door in the library may have been open a crack and
+the kit gone in to investigate. Once I accidentally shut a kitten into
+a drawer in the linen closet. Luckily Paget happened to open it within
+an hour and she was surprised enough to find a pussy there. Now for the
+rest of the morning. I heard Frances say that she wanted to hear a
+church service in French just to see whether she could follow. If you
+like, I'll get Max to take us into town and we will find a French
+church to attend."
+
+"That would be lovely," declared Fran enthusiastically. "I really
+believe I could understand quite a little now."
+
+"Thank you, Miss Connie," said Edith. "I'm afraid I ought to go home.
+Fran can stay just as well as not, but Sister depends upon me to go to
+church with her. I always do, you know."
+
+Edith colored and looked uncomfortable, feeling that perhaps she was
+being ungracious.
+
+"You're a good little sister," said Constance quickly. "And you would
+not care so much as Frances because you have always spoken French. I
+imagine Dad will go to St. Aubin's and he'll take you home. I'll make
+Max go with us."
+
+Max was perfectly willing to play escort, but looked dubious when
+Constance declared her intention of stopping at a tiny French church
+just inside the town of St. Helier's. "Have you ever been here?" he
+demanded.
+
+"No," admitted Constance. "Of course we might go to the Convent of St.
+Andre. I forgot, though, they wouldn't let you in. Frances only wants
+to hear a sermon in French and this will answer very well."
+
+Max still looked disapproving. "You won't like it," he said. "It's a
+queer, non-conformist sect of some kind. There's a place the other side
+of town where they have the Church of England service in French. Let's
+go there."
+
+"Why not stop here?" persisted Constance. "More exciting when one
+doesn't know what's coming next."
+
+"One may get more than one bargains for," commented Max. "Connie, I
+have a premonition that we'll land in some mess."
+
+Connie made a delightful little face. "Come in," she said to Frances.
+"I was under the impression that we invited Max to escort _us._"
+
+When Frances returned home from church, she was distressed to find Win
+in bed.
+
+"He overdid yesterday," said Mrs. Thayne in reply to her anxious
+questioning. "I can't discover exactly what happened, but he and Roger
+were out together and Win walked too far. That's all he will admit. No,
+he isn't as badly off as sometimes, and says he only needs a rest. Come
+up in his room, Fran, to tell your adventures."
+
+To Fran's eyes Win looked decidedly ill when she saw him lying against
+his pillows, but he evaded all inquiries and demanded to know about the
+Manor ghost.
+
+"That wasn't the end of our experiences," Frances went on laughing,
+when the events of the night had been thoroughly discussed. "We had a
+funny time in that little church. Mr. Max didn't want to go there in
+the beginning, but Miss Connie insisted. Inside, it didn't look much
+like a church for it was a great bare room, with not many people
+present. The usher made us sit rather far front, so we had a good view
+of the minister, who was a little man with black hair that stood
+straight up, and his manner was very excited.
+
+"The service seemed unusual for different people kept getting up and
+talking. I couldn't understand much and Mr. Max looked annoyed and Miss
+Connie amused. Finally a boy about my age began to speak. He wore the
+oddest vest and trousers of rose-pink sateen plaided with purple. We
+could see distinctly because the minister made him come out in front
+and face the people. Well, the clothes he had on were enough to make
+any one smile, but when he finished speaking, the minister bounced out
+of the pulpit and kissed him on both cheeks! He did, honest!" Fran
+insisted in answer to Roger's whistle of incredulity.
+
+"I don't know what would have happened next, for the service was really
+very strange, but when the minister kissed that boy, Mr. Max gave a
+little grunt and took up his hat. I was sitting between them, and he
+leaned forward and said in such a disgusted tone, 'My word, Connie,
+_will_ you come?'
+
+"I think Miss Connie was trying not to laugh but I guess she'd had
+enough herself for she rose and we went out very quietly so as not to
+disturb anybody.
+
+"When we reached the street," Frances went on, "Mr. Max was so funny.
+He didn't say a word, only stalked along looking quite cross. Miss
+Connie sat down on a wall and laughed till she cried. Then she told Mr.
+Max to smile and show his dimple. But he wouldn't. I don't see how he
+could help it when she was so pretty and sweet. Well, after she laughed
+some more, she begged him please to look affectionate.
+
+"At that he couldn't help smiling, and then he asked Miss Connie if she
+was ever going to stop getting herself and him into scrapes. She called
+him 'old boy' and said she was sorry,--she wasn't really," Fran
+interpolated with a wise nod,--"and promised to stick to the Church of
+England service ever after. Mr. Max inquired how much I understood and
+when I told him only a little, he said it was lucky. That was certainly
+a very peculiar church," Frances ended reflectively. "I'm quite sure
+that Mr. Max wanted to come out long before we did, and that Miss
+Connie persisted in staying just to tease him."
+
+Win was smiling over his sister's story, but though he evinced interest
+both in the Manor ghost and in the amusing experience Connie had
+furnished with her little French church, the point that most impressed
+him was Max's presence at the Manor.
+
+"I wish I could see him," he observed. "I want so much to ask a
+question or two. Did Miss Connie tell him about the paper I found and
+how we explored the vaults and sounded the walls?"
+
+"She did," assented Frances. "We talked about it after dinner. Mr. Max
+was as interested as could be and said he was going down himself to
+take a look."
+
+"Mother," said Win suddenly. "I really need to see him. Don't you
+believe he'd come in for a minute if he knew I was used up so I
+couldn't get to the Manor?"
+
+"Indeed, I do," assented Mrs. Thayne. "Write a note, dear. Roger shall
+take it for you."
+
+Roger, who for some reason haunted his brother's room in a subdued mood
+not at all common to his usual attitude toward life, was very willing
+to act as messenger. Toward night, Max appeared at Rose Villa.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE DOTTED LINE
+
+
+"Sorry you are laid by, old man," Max said cheerfully as he was shown
+into Win's room. "Better luck soon."
+
+"It's good of you to come," replied Win, grasping the hand so cordially
+offered and relieved to see that the pleasant young face bore no
+expression of the sympathetic pity Win so often read in older
+countenances.
+
+"Well, my being here is as much of a surprise to me as to any one,"
+said Max, sitting down by the bed. "On Friday I expected to spend my
+Sunday in Paris. But it chanced that I successfully engineered a rather
+ticklish job for the Embassy, and the Chief was pleased. As a
+figurative pat upon the head he gave me the week-end off. You should
+have seen the way my car went to Granville! Jean drove till we were
+clear of Paris and then I took the wheel and things began to hum. From
+the tail of my eye I could see Jean devoutly crossing himself whenever
+we hit the earth, but we made the boat and didn't so much as run down a
+hen. I did wonder that we weren't held up anywhere for exceeding the
+speed limit, but the mystery was explained when we reached the
+Granville pier."
+
+Max stopped with a mischievous laugh. "The Embassy has several official
+machines," he explained, "and of course they are so marked they are
+easily recognizable. I always use my own car, and am authorized to
+sport the Embassy insignia when on official business. I forgot to
+remove it before starting and that was why not a single gendarme did
+more than salute as we tore past. Good joke, so long as it ended well,
+but if we'd come a cropper on the way, there'd have been rather a row
+and Max would have stood for an official wigging, to say the least.
+Lucky for us that nothing went wrong. What's done you up, old fellow?"
+
+Win looked at him wistfully. "Just exploring the Manor cave," he said
+with a sigh. "I did so want to see it, and I made Roger take me. I
+managed to get down all right, but it took over an hour to climb the
+cliff. The kid is wild because he thinks he's half-killed me."
+
+"Oh, say, that's a shame," said Max. "I wish I'd known that you wanted
+to go. Pierre and I could have rigged a rope somehow and helped you get
+back."
+
+Win's face just then was pitiful. Max's eyes grew very gentle but he
+did not utter one word of sympathy. "I've been led a lively pace since
+I reached the Manor," he went on. "Between Connie's ghost hunt and the
+extraordinary church she chose to attend this morning and your
+discovery in the library, my existence hasn't lacked variety. Gay Paris
+is quiet beside this! But there's nothing in the world I'm so keen on
+as hidden treasure. I'm pretty sure I have a special talent for hunting
+it down. To be sure the only time I ever tried, I made a giddy ass of
+myself and got into a jolly mess, but I wonder will I succeed with
+this. Connie thinks you've the tail of an idea. Can't you put me on?"
+
+"That was what I wanted to see you for," replied Win, his
+self-possession quite restored. "Please open the lower drawer of that
+desk. Right on top is a roll of tracing paper."
+
+"Why, this is a copy of the Manor plans," said Max, as he spread out
+the thin sheet.
+
+"Yes," said Win. "Colonel Lisle let me trace them. Tell me, does
+anything about them strike you as odd?"
+
+Max considered the plan carefully. "I can't say it does," he admitted
+after a minute survey. "Give me a lead."
+
+"That dotted line," said Win, pointing to it with Max's pencil,
+"according to Colonel Lisle, marks the path down to the cottages on the
+shore, only the path curves more now than it did when the plan was
+first made. Don't you think it strange that it was the _only_ path put
+on the plans? Even the state driveway isn't indicated."
+
+"That, I suppose, wasn't made then."
+
+"But surely," persisted Win, "there was some driveway to the main road.
+Why should this especial path be marked? It couldn't have been the most
+important, even at that time."
+
+"That does seem true," replied Max thoughtfully.
+
+[Illustration: WIN'S PLAN OF THE MANOR CELLARS.]
+
+"Now look at the point where the dotted line comes to the house," Win
+went on, tracing its course as he spoke. "This is the very oldest vault
+of all, under the library, you know. On the plan, its northern wall is
+continued flush by the northern side of the addition made later, and
+this dotted line runs parallel to it, but--it runs _inside_ the
+foundations."
+
+"So it does," Max agreed. "But isn't that due to clumsy drawing?
+There's an axiom, you know, about it being impossible for two bodies to
+occupy the same space. Two lines couldn't occupy the same location on a
+plan."
+
+"Yes," said Win, "but if this is a _path_, what is it doing _inside_
+the house?"
+
+There followed a second of silence and then Max gave a low whistle.
+"I'm on," he announced. "Clever reasoning, Win."
+
+"There's another thing, too," said Win, lying flushed and pleased
+against his pillows. "I spent a lot of time on that dividing partition
+wall. I'm sure there is no space in it unless it is so thick that even
+a hollow place wouldn't sound any different. But after I looked again
+at the plans, I saw that what I should have put my time on wasn't that
+wall at all, but the northern one, indicated here as parallel to the
+dotted line. Mr. Max, I'm quite certain that the old original cellar
+extends farther to the north than this newer part. I mean that the
+north wall of the new cellar isn't on a line with the old one, not in
+reality, though here it is intended to look so."
+
+"You mean," said Max, bringing intelligent brows to bear on this
+explanation, "that this was an underground passage rather than a
+surface path and that its northern side is the one flush with the
+original cellar?"
+
+"That's exactly it," said Win. "I think there is a passage running
+along outside that northern wall down to the cave and the beach. There
+seems a space on the plan that isn't accounted for in any other way,
+and that explains why this dotted line runs inside the foundations."
+
+"But, old chap," said Max kindly, "I know that cave from top to bottom.
+Truly there is no exit. I've spent hours in exploring the place."
+
+"But when I was on the ledge at the back, there was a draught of fresh
+warm air from somewhere," Win pleaded. "And Roger said he noticed it
+when you took him there. Behind the ledge is a big pile of stones and
+rubble. Couldn't that air get in somehow?"
+
+"It must, since you felt it," agreed Max sensibly. "If I can possibly
+manage it, I'll make an investigation. But I am booked to sail on
+Tuesday morning. It may have to stand over until the Easter holidays. I
+will take a squint at the cellar though this very evening. Did you
+sound that north wall?"
+
+"No, I didn't," Win admitted. "I spent all my time on the west one. Not
+until I studied the plans again, did it fully dawn on me that perhaps
+that line was a passage instead of a path. If that is true, it is the
+other wall that will bear investigation."
+
+Max still surveyed the plans, his fine young face intent on this
+problem. He glanced up to meet a very wistful look from Win.
+
+"On the whole, let's wait until Easter," he suggested. "Then you'll be
+feeling more fit and can come down in the vaults with me."
+
+"I wish you'd inspect that wall," Win replied. "If you find it does
+sound hollow, will Colonel Lisle let us punch a hole?"
+
+"Sure," said Max encouragingly. "I know jolly well he will. Uncle Dick
+will be game for any investigation. Only he'll have to be convinced
+that I'm not pulling his leg. If that north wall resounds like a tomb,
+I'll tow Uncle down to hark for himself. Why, man, we're getting on
+swimmingly! That was a mighty clever idea of yours about the dotted
+line. Connie'll be keen on it too, and anyway she owes me one after
+getting me into such a beastly mess as she did to-day. I didn't even
+use unkind language about it either. If the sea is decent tomorrow,
+I'll trot her down to the cave to see where your fresh air comes from."
+
+"Perhaps it can be felt only when the wind is from a certain
+direction," observed Win.
+
+"That's more than likely. Yesterday it was south, wasn't it? Very
+probably it takes a south wind to strike in there. I'm afraid we can't
+hope for that to-morrow because there seems a storm brewing, on purpose
+probably to give me a rough trip on Tuesday."
+
+"Weren't you glad of the chance to come?" asked Win.
+
+"I was," said Max expressively, "not only because I always like to get
+back to the Manor, but because I was pleased with myself to think I'd
+scored with this especial bit of work, a job of smoothing down an
+elderly ass who was inclined to be a trifle footy. You see when I
+decided to go in for the diplomatic service, Dad told me that he would
+use his influence only to get me an appointment, a try-out. After that
+it was up to me; if I received promotion it would be because I earned
+it, not because I was his son. He makes me an allowance because one
+really couldn't manage on the salary of an attache, but so far as my
+profession goes, I stand absolutely on my own merits. So Max is feeling
+proud of himself just now!" he added whimsically. "So's my Dad, if my
+telegram reached him."
+
+"He must be proud of you," said Win rather soberly. "I so much hope
+that Roger will condescend to go to Annapolis. You see I can't, and Dad
+would like one of us in the navy."
+
+"Roger will wake up to a sense of his privileges some day," said Max.
+"Do you know, Win, some of the finest work in the world has been done
+by the fellows who were handicapped. Prescott, for instance, writing
+all his histories, blind in one eye and sometimes half crazed by pain;
+Milton, too, dictating to his daughters, and Scott, producing so much
+when he was old and burdened with grief and trouble. And Stevenson, who
+was ill half his life."
+
+"But they were geniuses," said Win.
+
+"They were also too courageous in spirit to yield to circumstances. To
+come down to more ordinary people, I think Uncle Dick is mighty fine.
+He is crippled, useless for the work he expected to grow old in; he saw
+his only son die for England. You have seen enough of him to know what
+he is and what he means not only to Laurel Manor but to the Island. I
+respect and admire him tremendously and I shall owe much of whatever
+success I score, to him as well as to Dad. There are careers open to
+you, Win. You are clever and have a fine mind. Roger defers to your
+opinion. Through your influence, he may accomplish far more than he
+might alone."
+
+"I don't amount to very much with Roger. Still, I did make him square
+things with Fisher that day he played truant and went off with you,"
+admitted Win with the ghost of a smile. "Mother only lectured him for
+bunking, but I persuaded him to apologize and to put in the next
+Wednesday doing the work he skipped."
+
+"Good for you!" said Max cordially. His gray eyes were very kind and
+friendly as he rose to leave.
+
+"I hope you'll feel more fit to-morrow," he said, shaking hands. "If I
+possibly can, I'll run in and make a report; if not, I'll drop a line
+when I get home to the lurid lights of Paris."
+
+"Shall you drive back with the Embassy insignia on your car?" inquired
+Win smiling. He looked much brighter and happier than before his
+visitor came.
+
+Max laughed. "I fancy not," he said as he gathered hat, gloves and
+riding-crop. "I'm rather anxious to be on my good behavior. No, I'll
+let Jean drive which will be prudently slow, and I'll meditate about
+your hidden chest and the dotted path and other things back at the
+Manor."
+
+"I believe Mr. Hamilton did you more good than the doctor," declared
+Mrs. Thayne, entering Win's room after his caller had mounted Saracen
+and ridden away. "You look fifty per cent brighter."
+
+"He's a crackerjack," said Win briefly. "He's promised to do some
+investigating on his own account and I feel sure that he can induce
+Colonel Lisle to let us try an experiment if it is needed. But, Mother,
+there's something I've been meaning to tell you all day, not about the
+Spanish chest or anything to do with it. You know we spoke once of how
+Miss Estelle reminded us of some one at home. This morning instead of
+sending a servant with my breakfast, she brought it herself, and when
+she was arranging things, I remembered whom it is she looks like. It is
+your friend, Mrs. Aldrich."
+
+"Win, you're right," said Mrs. Thayne suddenly. "Estelle _is_ like
+Carrie Aldrich, and not in looks alone, but in manner. Now how can that
+possibly be? Of course it is only a chance resemblance but it must
+exist since you notice it, too. I wonder whether Fran ever carried out
+her intention of asking Edith whether they had any relatives in the
+United States. She spoke of doing so."
+
+"What good would that do, if Mrs. Aldrich is the person Estelle
+resembles?" asked Win. "Haven't you known her all her life?"
+
+"I met her at school," replied his mother, "when we both were young
+girls and then knew her intimately. Of later years, we have seen less
+of each other, though we have always kept up the friendship. There
+seems no possible connection between Carrie Aldrich and Estelle and the
+likeness must be only in our minds. They say, you know, that every
+person in the world has a double somewhere."
+
+"I'd like mighty well to be Mr. Max's double if I could only choose,"
+muttered Win to himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+ROGER THE MAROONED
+
+
+No word came from the Manor the next day, only a big bunch of fragrant
+lilies for Win and some jelly of which Paget alone knew the secret
+recipe. Early Tuesday morning Max's prophesied storm arrived in earnest
+and the young people at Rose Villa saw the Granville boat leave her
+pier amid sheets of driving rain. Her decks looked dreary and deserted,
+for all the passengers were inside.
+
+"I suppose Mr. Max is on board for he was obliged to go," observed
+Frances, as the steamer disappeared in low-hanging banks of fog
+drifting continually nearer shore.
+
+"Yes," agreed Win, who was dressed and about, though still looking ill.
+"There will be some word when he gets back to Paris. It stormed so
+yesterday that he probably couldn't go into the cave as he planned."
+
+"Life seems very tame after all the interesting things that happened
+last week," sighed Frances, gathering her French grammar and other
+school books. "Rain or no rain, there will be school, and English rain
+seems somehow _wetter_ than American. You'd better eat that jelly, Win.
+According to Nurse, it is the elixir of life and warranted to cure
+every ill known to man."
+
+Win smiled as he watched his sister and Edith down the steps, and waved
+a listless hand as they turned inquiring faces under bobbing umbrellas
+at the end of the terrace. He looked enviously after Roger, a tall slim
+clothespin in black rubber coat and boots, sou'wester pulled firmly
+over his head, tramping sturdily toward the beach, evidently on some
+definite errand. Win would have liked mightily to be swinging along
+with him through the storm, but the fun of facing a tempest was not for
+Win.
+
+For a few moments he stood idly by the window, wondering whether Connie
+knew what Max had possibly discovered in his inspection of cave and
+vaults. Then he turned with a sigh, reminding himself that with the
+weather what it was, and in this land of few telephones, there was no
+chance of hearing anything from the Manor.
+
+Gradually the stormy morning passed, somewhat dully for Win, who still
+felt unfit to study or even to occupy himself with a book, and lay upon
+the couch while his mother read aloud.
+
+Frances returned from school, ravenously hungry and quite rosy with the
+rain that had beaten in her face.
+
+"Mother, I am nearly starved!" she announced.
+
+"Why, it is time for luncheon," said Mrs. Thayne, awakening to a
+realization of that fact. "But where is Roger? He can't have taken the
+whole morning just to deliver that message for Estelle."
+
+"He could easily, Mother," said Win. "Why, if I had a chance to get out
+in this storm, I feel sure it would take me forever to do the simplest
+errand. He'll come home when he's hungry."
+
+The gong for luncheon sounded and the three sat down to Annette's
+delicious scallops, daintily creamed in their own big shells, her
+French bread and perfect chocolate. Still Roger did not come.
+
+Nurse took the plates, and brought dessert; fruit, clotted cream with
+plum jam, and a special glass of egg-nog for Win.
+
+"Shall we put Mr. Roger's lunch to the fire?" she asked of Mrs. Thayne.
+
+"I don't see why he doesn't come. He can't have gone to the Manor and
+if he had, they would have sent word if he were staying. No, you
+needn't keep it warm, Nurse. Unless he has some very good excuse when
+he comes, he may lunch upon bread and milk. It's really very naughty of
+him to go off like this when he had lessons to learn."
+
+"It's queer where he can be," observed Fran. "He started on his errand
+just after Edith and I came out and saw Annette buying scallops of the
+fish-woman. He's crazy about them you know, and he asked particularly
+if they were for luncheon, and told her to be sure to get plenty."
+
+"Oh, I don't suppose anything has happened," said Mrs. Thayne quietly,
+for she did not wish Win to worry.
+
+When Roger was still missing half an hour later, Mrs. Thayne sought
+Estelle.
+
+"Whatever can have happened?" said Estelle helplessly. "I can't think.
+Did he have any money?"
+
+"Why, perhaps a few pence, not much anyway," replied Mrs. Thayne. "You
+think he went into St. Helier's and had to walk back? That's possible.
+Fran, it's not storming so hard now. Put on your rain-coat and run out
+to the end of the terrace. Perhaps with the field-glasses you can make
+out whether he is coming down the beach or is anywhere in sight."
+
+Frances returned with the report that there was practically no beach,
+owing to the high tide, and no foot-farers on the narrow strip that was
+visible in the fog.
+
+Neither Estelle nor Mrs. Thayne knew what was best to do. Estelle
+suggested the police and then the rector, but neither seemed to Mrs.
+Thayne likely to offer a solution.
+
+"We will wait a while," she said with an anxious glance at the clock
+just striking two. "Don't do or say anything to let Win think I am
+worried, Fran. Let me take your coat. I'll go down to the beach myself.
+I really think that Roger should be punished for causing us such
+anxiety."
+
+Had his mother only known, Roger was already enduring considerable
+self-inflicted penance for getting into a predicament which made it
+impossible for him to return.
+
+Delivering Estelle's message at a cottage by the shore had taken but a
+few moments and with most of the morning before him, Roger set out
+along the beach, glorying in the force of wind and rain. True, there
+were lessons to be prepared for Bill Fish, who would come cheerfully
+swimming in at the appointed hour, but there was surely time for a
+stroll toward Noirmont Point.
+
+The tide was far out and wet hard sand stretched in every direction,
+very pleasing to stamp over, and retaining little trace of any
+footprint. Only gray gulls and drifting fog banks distinguished the
+immediate surroundings.
+
+As Roger tramped on, he noticed that the fog grew steadily thicker and
+that his path included occasional seaweed-covered rocks, but not until
+a black mass loomed up before him, did he realize that he had left the
+true beach and was walking straight out to sea. The bulk he had
+encountered was not the martello tower on Noirmont Point but the old
+castle of St. Aubin's, at high tide an island in the bay.
+
+No thought of any danger in his position struck Roger. He had always
+intended to investigate that island but somehow had never yet done so.
+Here it lay before him.
+
+Climbing the rocks upon which the castle stands, he made a careful
+survey of its outside and finally gained access to the interior, much
+disappointed to find nothing at all remarkable, though St. Aubin's
+castle is not wholly a ruin and was once rented and occupied for a
+season by an eccentric Englishman.
+
+Nothing was now visible save swirling fog and for the first time, Roger
+realized what that fog meant. He hastily made his way to the little
+beach, where the tide, still out, would permit him to cross to the
+mainland. To start in the right direction was simple enough, for he
+very well knew which side of the castle faced the shore, but he had
+taken scarcely twenty steps down the sand when he saw that he had no
+certainty of keeping his bearings once the island was left behind.
+
+Roger was only twelve, but he was possessed of common-sense and
+self-reliance. Though the youngest of the family he had been so
+thoroughly impressed with the necessity of considering "safety first"
+in regard to Win, that in an emergency of any kind he was usually
+level-headed. He stopped where he was, searching his pockets for the
+compass Captain Thayne had given to each of his three children.
+
+Roger's pockets yielded a strange and varied assortment of objects,
+presumably of value, but no compass. He looked irresolutely behind
+where the castle was just visible as a darker spot in the fog. Nothing
+at all could be distinguished ahead.
+
+From the lighthouse on the point came the tolling of a bell, but its
+warning tones were so scattered and disguised by the fog, that its
+sound was of no use as a guide.
+
+For several moments Roger stood where he was. The distance to shore was
+not great if he was only certain of going straight ahead. To swerve
+from that direction meant wandering out to meet the cruel Jersey tide,
+presently coming in like a hunter on its prey. To remain where he was
+meant anxious hours for his mother and for Win, about whom Roger was
+already so much concerned.
+
+Having weighed the alternatives, he took five steps forward and stood
+absolutely surrounded by the whirling mist. A sort of horror came over
+him, a keen realization of his helplessness before one of the great
+elemental forces of nature. The risk was too great! There was a chance
+that he might keep in the right direction with nothing to guide him,
+but it was only a chance. Worried as his mother would doubtless be,
+better that she endure a few hours of anxiety than lasting grief.
+
+Turning squarely about, Roger retraced his footsteps, already faint, to
+the castle, where he perched forlornly on a high rock. A little later,
+he heard for he could not see, the low hiss and gurgle of the coming
+tide. Roger was a big, strong, brave boy, but at the sound, he could
+not suppress a few tears, and they were not wholly for his own plight.
+
+Mrs. Thayne returned from her fruitless expedition to the beach,
+looking still more distressed.
+
+"I can't imagine where Roger is," she said anxiously to Frances. "Of
+course, there may be some good excuse for this performance, but I don't
+see what it can be. He knows that he is not to go into town without
+permission and it seems as though he would have come home for luncheon
+unless he was in St. Helier's. If he really has been disobedient and
+played truant again into the bargain, I shall ask Mr. Fisher to punish
+him."
+
+"Oh, Mother," said Frances, "Roger wouldn't deliberately frighten us,
+especially when he's been so upset over Win."
+
+"But where _is_ he?" said Mrs. Thayne again. "Thank goodness! Here's
+Mr. Fisher."
+
+She hurried down to intercept the tutor at the door. Lingering at the
+head of the stair, Frances heard her name called from Win's room.
+
+"Is Mother dreadfully troubled?" he asked as she entered. "I think
+Roger went back to the cave and has been shut in."
+
+"Oh, I hope not," said Frances. "Mother's annoyed but it seems to me he
+must be all right. When he gets ready he will turn up with some
+wonderful tale of adventure."
+
+"I suspect he's in some scrape," said Win. "Might not be such a bad
+idea to appeal to the police after all. I only wish I wasn't such a
+helpless stick," he added rather bitterly.
+
+"Mr. Fisher has gone down to the beach," reported Frances from the
+window. "I'm glad he's come, for Mother will feel better to have him to
+consult."
+
+Both were silent for a moment, thinking of Roger, blunt, loyal,
+impulsive Roger, hoping that nothing serious had befallen him.
+
+Presently Mrs. Thayne came, her face expressing a calm she did not
+feel. "Mr. Fisher thinks there is no cause for us to worry," she
+remarked placidly. "He is going to take what he calls a 'turn about the
+town.' Frances, suppose you go on reading to Win while I sew a little."
+
+Frances took the book Win held out to her, and Mrs. Thayne's fingers
+twitched the needle through her embroidery, both ears alert for sound
+of returning steps. The clock struck three and then four. Nothing
+happened. Roger did not come and Mr. Fisher did not reappear.
+
+Over on St. Aubin's tiny island, Roger watched the water creep steadily
+up the rocks, up and up until it broke almost at the foundations of the
+castle. Cruel, cold, and gray it looked and hungry and chilly was the
+boy who watched. Once a gull flew so close that he could almost touch
+it as it vanished like a ghost into the fog.
+
+At intervals Roger inspected his watch, counting the moments till the
+tide should cease to make. At last the water stopped climbing the
+rocks, remained stationary, fell an inch. The next wave broke still
+farther below.
+
+But unless the fog should lift, ebb tide would only duplicate Roger's
+predicament of the morning. Toward four he saw that the mist was
+gradually growing lighter; saw water visible fifty feet from the
+island. Presently a breeze sprang into being, the most welcome wind
+Roger had ever known. Before it the fog thinned, grew filmy, dispersed
+in shreds of trailing vapor. Noirmont Point and St. Aubin's village
+came gradually into distinct view, and with them a man walking along
+the sand.
+
+Water ten feet deep and many wide still barred Roger from the shore and
+he could not make himself heard above the slow heave of the rollers
+lazily breaking on the beach. Was there no way to attract the
+saunterer's attention?
+
+Finding a long branch, relic of some storm-wrecked tree, Roger tied his
+handkerchief to it and waved vigorously. After a time, the man on the
+beach noticed the flag and stood looking toward it.
+
+A bright idea struck Roger. At home he had belonged to a troop of boy
+scouts and knew the signals. He would experiment on this stranger.
+
+Just by chance, Mr. Fisher at one time had been a scout-master and
+instantly realized that Roger, marooned on St. Aubin's island, was
+trying to send a message. Hastily improvising a flag, he responded.
+
+Twenty minutes later, Mrs. Thayne, still nervously sewing, heard Mr.
+Fisher run up the steps and Estelle hurry to the door. A few brief
+seconds sufficed to give the explanation Roger had so painstakingly
+signaled.
+
+"I didn't stop to rescue him, Mrs. Thayne," explained Mr. Fisher,
+"because his one thought was for you and Win, not to let you worry a
+moment longer."
+
+"Can't you get a boat and row out for him?" asked Estelle, seeing that
+Mrs. Thayne was unable to speak. "Poor dear boy, he must be cold and
+famished."
+
+"I'm off to Noirmont Point," replied Mr. Fisher briefly. "It shouldn't
+take long to pull over and back, provided that I pick up a boat
+quickly."
+
+In spite of the tutor's best efforts, darkness had fallen before the
+marooned prisoner was returned to his anxious family, who sat around to
+see him eat everything pressed upon him. Roger was pale and very
+subdued. Strangest of all, he had come up Noirmont Terrace pressed
+close to the side of the obnoxious Bill Fish and not in the least
+resenting the hand that rested on his shoulder.
+
+Having consumed all the food in sight, he yielded without protest to
+his mother's desire that he should go to bed in order to ward off
+possible chill. When Mr. Fisher, heartily thanked, had taken his
+departure, Mrs. Thayne started for Roger's room. On its threshold she
+stopped for the boys were talking.
+
+"I hated it like time out there," said Roger, now reposing luxuriously
+in bed. "But I hated worse to have you and Mother worried. I didn't
+purposely go over to the island, Win."
+
+"I know you didn't," said his brother. "I was sure that something you
+couldn't help had happened."
+
+"It did," sighed Roger. "I guess I'll never again do anything that
+worries Mother, now I know how it feels to worry over somebody myself.
+And I say, Win, Bill Fish is all right! To think of his knowing the
+scout signals! And he pulled out for me himself in a heavy old dory
+that weighed a ton. Why, Bill Fish isn't so bad!"
+
+"And have you just found that out?" asked Win laughing. "I've known it
+all the time."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+AT CORBIERE
+
+
+Not until Friday did Win receive the longed-for letter from Paris. He
+tore it open eagerly.
+
+"DEAR WIN," it ran, "I've just arrived in town and am wishing I was
+back in Jersey. As the steamer sailed, I looked over at St Aubin's and
+thought of you. You couldn't see me of course, both for fog and because
+I was in the wheel-house with the pilot, Jim Trott, a fellow from Gorey
+village.
+
+"Probably you thought that we didn't get into the cave on Monday on
+account of the weather. It was beastly, but I decided to try, and when
+Connie knew my plan, she insisted on going with me. Pierre came too,
+with a lantern and we went down without much trouble.
+
+"Pierre and I tackled your stone pile at once and we pitched quantities
+aside, but couldn't finish because Connie, who was watching the tide,
+called a halt too soon. But we cleared enough rocks away to feel rather
+sure there is an opening of some kind beyond; just possibly the passage
+you are so keen on, more probably connecting with another cave. The
+Jersey cliffs are honey-combed with them. How's that for exciting news?
+
+"Connie haled us out before there was really any need and of course the
+tide did not serve for us to go again. When I come at Easter, I'll
+finish the job if necessary. After playing ball with several tons of
+stone, we then explored the vaults, armed with a hammer and a long line.
+
+"Well, old fellow, I pounded that north wall inch by inch and I can't
+conscientiously say I struck anything that sounded at all hollow. But
+still, it's not like tapping on plaster or wood; one couldn't
+reasonably expect the same result for the stone is probably some feet
+thick. And if the whole wall is the side of the tunnel, naturally it
+would all sound alike, so that test doesn't really prove or disprove
+anything.
+
+"The discovery Connie and I did make, and to my mind it is rather
+important, is that you are right in thinking that there is a
+discrepancy between the walls of the oldest vault and the adjacent
+cellar. Outside the house, the foundation wall runs flush the length of
+the library and the wing beyond; inside, that same foundation wall
+doesn't jibe. According to our measurements, there is a difference of
+over a metre, almost four feet, in the length of the partition at right
+angles to the north wall as reckoned on either side. This certainly
+bears out your theory of a passage running along that wall.
+
+"We looked very carefully but could not detect that there had ever been
+any opening, but all the masonry is so rough that perhaps we couldn't
+expect to find it.
+
+"Uncle Dick is interested but sceptical, says the difference in
+measurement may be accounted for by walls built at different times.
+When he thinks it over a little, he will see that no Lisle in his
+senses,--and the Lisles possess sense,--would have put four extra feet
+of solidity into a wall which had no earthly reason to need such
+treatment. But he said that when I came at Easter, we may have a mason
+and knock a hole wherever we choose. Messing about in the cellar is a
+harmless amusement that may keep us out of mischief and provide
+employment for some deserving workman. Before that date, I trust you
+will succeed in getting Uncle Dick into a less doubting frame of mind.
+Easter is but a month away and if all goes well, I'll surely be back
+and we will hunt that Spanish chest to its lair.
+
+"Had no adventures coming here. Jean seemed relieved when I told him to
+drive. When I reached my rooms, I found a note directing me to report
+for duty to-morrow prepared to show some important American from the
+western States the sights of Paris. That means a gay and giddy day. I
+only hope I sha'n't have to interpret while he buys hats for Madam and
+the young ladies at home. Once I was let in for that and it was pretty
+sickening. I've often wondered what the ladies thought of those hats. I
+also hope he won't be keen on climbing the Eiffel tower, for that's one
+of the things that's not done in Paris.
+
+"I must go to bed for it is after two and my day to-morrow, or rather
+to-day, may include an evening as well.
+
+"Till Easter then adieu, and all best wishes,
+
+"M. R. HAMILTON."
+
+This letter naturally afforded Win a great deal of satisfaction and his
+interest and pleasure were shared by the others. To wait a whole month
+to solve the mystery of the Spanish chest when so distinct a clue
+appeared already in his hand, was a trial of patience. Naturally
+Colonel Lisle would not be likely to go ahead in the matter until Max
+returned to inspire action by his youthful enthusiasm, and it was only
+fair that Max should be in at the finish. Win wondered whether Connie
+shared the Colonel's scepticism. This proved not the case, only that
+Connie and her father were going to London for a week or two and the
+little lady of the Manor had other ideas to occupy her pretty head.
+
+"We may even run over to Paris," she announced during a farewell call
+at Rose Villa. "Max has been begging us ever since he was sent there,
+so it's possible we may cross for a few days and plan so that we come
+back together at Easter."
+
+"Wouldn't it be jolly to go around Paris with Mr. Max," said Win almost
+enviously. "I haven't forgotten how dandy he was to me in Washington.
+Dad took me along when he was calling on some official and then found
+he was in for a morning's conference. The Secretary sent for a young
+man, who proved to be Mr. Max and told him to look after me. I was only
+fifteen, but Mr. Max took as much pains to give me a good time as
+though I'd been somebody really important."
+
+"That's like Max," said Connie briefly, her eyes showing pleasure at
+Win's tribute. "I think he's detailed for service such as that more
+often than the other young men of the Embassy because he gets on so
+well with all sorts of people. It's a real gift and a very valuable one
+for a prospective diplomat. But you are celebrating one of your great
+national days this week, aren't you?"
+
+"Yes, Washington's birthday," said Frances. "Luckily it comes on
+Wednesday, so we have a holiday. We were going to have a picnic at
+Corbiere and invite you, Miss Connie."
+
+"Indeed, I wish I could be there," said Constance with genuine regret
+in her voice, "but I'll be in London. We'll keep up our spirits by
+remembering that it's only a brief time to Easter and then we are to
+start again on the trail of the Spanish chest."
+
+Estelle consented to join the holiday celebration, and when the
+twenty-second dawned bright and sunny, Rose Villa was the scene of an
+animated flurry. In the dining-room, Edith, Frances and Estelle were
+putting up the lunch, while Win collected painting traps for the
+picture he hoped to sketch, and Roger departed to bring the pony and
+cart engaged for the day.
+
+Corbiere Point was distant about four miles and all except Win and his
+mother proposed to walk, since the little carriage could take lunch
+baskets and wraps.
+
+Roger appeared with a plump stubborn Welsh pony, attached to a funny
+little cart which he gayly informed them was a "gingle." Neither Edith
+nor Estelle, who were familiar with the term as used in Cornwall,
+thought it odd but Roger considered it most absurd.
+
+Even the short legs of a tiny pony could cover the ground more rapidly
+than the walking party, and when the pedestrians reached their
+destination, no sign of Win, his mother, pony or gingle was visible.
+
+"Oh, what a wonderful view!" exclaimed Estelle stopping short.
+
+Before them lay Corbiere lighthouse, built on a bold rock, at flood
+tide an island, but at this hour approachable from the mainland by a
+causeway. In the foreground stretched an expanse of jagged red reefs
+and shining pools with a single martello tower rising in dignified
+grandeur. At the right lay a hill, its summit crowned by one stone
+cottage with a thatched roof, and down the hill a narrow road wandered
+to disappear in a cleft between two gigantic red granite boulders
+sprinkled with glittering quartz and partly covered with gray and
+bright orange lichens. Green grass and turquoise blue sea with a single
+white sail dipping to the horizon completed the color scheme. Near at
+hand hovered several of the sea-crows, _corbieres_, which have given
+the point its name.
+
+Estelle's soft eyes grew wide and a pretty pink flush came into her
+usually pale cheeks as she gazed into the distance. Roger and the girls
+were looking for the rest of the party.
+
+The thatched cottage seemed utterly without life, windows blank and no
+sign of any domestic proceedings.
+
+"It must be deserted," said Edith as they strolled on.
+
+"Here's a shed with something black in it," said Roger. "I can just see
+its head. It's a goat."
+
+"It's a black stocking hung to dry," declared Edith.
+
+"Stocking, nothing," replied Roger. "I know it's a goat."
+
+The two hung over the gate and deliberately stared into the little
+shed. "No goat ever stopped still for so long," persisted Edith, when
+three full minutes had passed without motion in the shed.
+
+"I'll go in and see," began Roger, about to climb the gate. A sudden
+exclamation from Frances deterred him.
+
+"Goodness, here's a black cat! Where did it come from?"
+
+Upon the doorstep now sat a perfectly motionless black cat.
+
+"Look at the black hens!" added Edith, bursting into laughter.
+
+At either corner of the stone cottage two coal black hens were visible,
+also like statues, and possessing bright yellow eyes.
+
+"_And_ a black dog in a barrel!" Frances fairly shrieked.
+
+"Well, a dog has some sense!" said Roger, whistling and calling.
+Strange to say, the dog neither stirred nor lifted its head. Nose on
+its paws it remained absolutely still.
+
+"This is a bum lot of animals," observed Roger. "I never saw a dog
+before that wouldn't at least bark at strangers."
+
+"It's probably dumb as well as deaf," commented Frances.
+
+"But it might at least _move_," expostulated Roger. "Perhaps it's
+paralyzed."
+
+"Perhaps this cottage and everything about it is enchanted," suggested
+Edith. "Miss Connie said something, don't you remember, about a place
+where the Jersey witches hold their meetings?"
+
+"That is 'way the other end of the island," retorted Roger, "down at
+St. Clement's."
+
+There was something uncanny about that collection of dusky, motionless
+animals and the three were conscious of real relief when the two hens
+at last walked off in quite a hen-like, not to say human manner. But
+cat, dog and goat remained as though petrified.
+
+"Mother's calling," said Frances. "Come along, Roger. Lunch!"
+
+Roger postponed his intention of stirring up the dog to see whether it
+was stuffed or paralyzed, and they turned in the direction of the call.
+
+Luncheon was already spread on the grass in shelter of a big rock, the
+Stars and Stripes forming the table decoration. At sight of the flag,
+Roger and Fran stopped and saluted gravely as their father had taught
+them.
+
+"Mother!" exclaimed Roger, his eyes widening. "Is that a chocolate
+layer-cake? Where did it come from?"
+
+"I made it," said Mrs. Thayne. "Miss Estelle said I might and Annette
+was quite pleased to watch me, and see how an American cake was
+constructed."
+
+No doubt that the young people were frankly happy, though spending this
+holiday in so unusual a fashion. After luncheon, Win prepared to sketch
+the lighthouse and the other three proposed to visit it.
+
+As they ran down the hill toward the causeway and the heap of
+picturesque red rocks bared by the water, Mrs. Thayne settled herself
+with her embroidery and Estelle produced her netting.
+
+After a few moments spent consulting with Win as to the exact angle
+desirable for his sketch, Mrs. Thayne felt for her watch, remembered
+that she did not bring it and looked at Estelle.
+
+"Will you tell me the time?" she asked. "Win's hands are full with his
+palette and block."
+
+"Certainly," said Estelle. "It's just two."
+
+As she replaced her watch, a sudden look of interest crossed Mrs.
+Thayne's face.
+
+"What a curious chain you have, Estelle," she remarked. "Is it an old
+one? May I take it a moment?"
+
+"It belonged to my grandmother, my mother's mother," replied Estelle,
+unfastening the chain and holding it out to Mrs. Thayne. "I think it is
+very old for I never saw another like it."
+
+Mrs. Thayne examined the trinket carefully. It was hand-made, of pale
+yellow gold, and the links, instead of being round, were rectangular,
+yet so fastened in a series of three as to produce the effect of a
+round cable.
+
+"It is an awkward thing to use," said Estelle, "because sometimes those
+links get turned and it is very difficult to work them into place."
+
+Mrs. Thayne looked up, a curiously intent expression on her face.
+"Estelle," she said abruptly, "have you any relatives in America?"
+
+"Not that I know of," Estelle replied, surprised by the sudden
+question, "though I suppose it is quite possible. Grandmother's sister
+married a young man who went out to the colonies, somewhere near
+Toronto, I think. We have known nothing of them since Grandmother died
+and that was before I was born. I think Mother completely lost touch
+with Great-aunt Emma. It is easy, you know, when one belongs to a
+different generation and has never seen one's aunt."
+
+"Then you don't know whether your Great-aunt Emma had children?" asked
+Mrs. Thayne, twisting the odd chain reflectively between her fingers.
+
+"Oh, yes," said Estelle. "I do happen to know that. There were two, a
+girl and a boy. Now I think of it, I recall that the girl married and
+went to the States. I do not know how one speaks of your counties, but
+it was not the city of New York,--perhaps New Yorkshire?"
+
+"New York State," put in Win so abruptly that his mother jumped. To all
+appearances he had been completely absorbed in his painting.
+
+"But you don't know the name of the man she married?" Mrs. Thayne asked.
+
+"I do not," replied Estelle. "But I could find out, for it will be
+among Father's papers. I think he had a hazy idea of writing some time
+to Canada to get in touch if possible with Mother's relatives. But it
+was never done, and I should hesitate to do it,--especially now."
+
+"Lest they might think you were seeking aid," Mrs. Thayne thought, with
+a tender appreciation of Estelle's proud independence, but she kept her
+inference to herself.
+
+"Do you know whether your grandmother's sister who went to Canada also
+possessed a chain like this?" she asked.
+
+"Why, yes," said Estelle, laying down her work and looking out to sea.
+"I know she did. Great-grandfather Avery once bought two just alike in
+Paris and gave one to each of his daughters. This came to me through
+Mother."
+
+Mrs. Thayne started to speak but caught Win's eyes fixed upon her
+inquiringly. Something in their expression checked the words she was
+about to utter.
+
+"After all, better be sure," she thought. "It is a very curious old
+trinket, Estelle," she said, returning the chain. "Some time when you
+think of it, I wish you would look in your father's papers and find the
+married name of that cousin who went to New York State."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+WIN WONDERS
+
+
+"Mother," said Win solemnly, "I shook in my shoes this afternoon.
+Didn't you notice the lurid mixture of colors I was daubing on my
+block? And all because I knew you were having psychic thoughts and I
+was so afraid you would say what I thought you were thinking and
+startle Estelle. I wanted so much to know myself just what you were
+driving at with your watch-chains that I almost chewed my tongue off
+trying not to speak."
+
+"I know it," said Mrs. Thayne. "I felt you quaking, Win, and decided to
+keep still. After all, the only sensible way was to find out definitely
+that name. Estelle is so proud and so reluctant to accept help that one
+must move carefully in trying to smooth her pathway."
+
+The two were alone in Mrs. Thayne's room after the happy picnic at
+Corbiere. Through the open window floated the occasional sound of
+voices from the end of the terrace where Roger, Edith, and Frances
+stood watching the steamer for Southampton round Noirmont Point.
+
+"And now that I do know the name, I am still uncertain what is best to
+do," reflected Mrs. Thayne. "But you asked about the chain, Win. The
+moment I saw that one of Estelle's I knew that I had seen a similar one
+in the United States. For a time I could not place it, and really it is
+a thing of unusual workmanship and not likely to be largely duplicated.
+Then it came to me in a flash that Carrie Aldrich often wears a chain
+like that and once told me that it had belonged to her mother."
+
+"But I never knew that Mrs. Aldrich was English," said Win wonderingly.
+"I thought she'd always lived in Boston."
+
+"I knew that she was a Canadian," replied his mother, "but she was
+educated in the United States and married an American. To trace her
+ancestry never occurred to me. She is so thoroughly and completely
+American that one would never think of her forefathers as being
+anything else.
+
+"I can hardly keep silent," she went on. "When I think of Carrie alone
+in that huge house in Boston, with her big income and her still bigger
+heart and only her charities to fill it and to occupy her time, and
+then think of Estelle, so proudly trying to support herself and Edith
+in a land where self-support for women is not easy,--why, Win, it seems
+as though I must tell her on the spot. And yet, if I do, I am quite
+sure Estelle will just shut herself up in the armor of her pride and
+refuse to make herself known. Taking both the testimony of the chains
+and the very pronounced family resemblance, there can be no reasonable
+doubt of the identity."
+
+"I think Estelle would refuse," said Win slowly. "She's foolishly
+proud. She thinks, Mother, that you pay more than the house is worth
+and so she does her level best to make it up to us in other ways."
+
+"I believe I will write to Carrie," mused Mrs. Thayne. "She'd be
+interested and anxious to see the girls. I'm sure she doesn't realize
+that she has any cousins in England."
+
+"Mother," said Win with deliberation, "why don't you ask Mrs. Aldrich
+to come over and visit us for a little? You'd like to have her and so
+would we. Probably she has nothing especial to keep her at home and
+might be glad to be let out of a month or two of winter."
+
+"That's a bright idea, Win!" exclaimed his mother. "Only I suppose she
+has several pet charities that she will feel she can't leave at short
+notice."
+
+"In that case," replied Win, "probably you'd better write her about the
+girls, only do tell her to come and see for herself. It strikes me that
+nothing but knowing each other would ever really bring them together."
+
+"Win, you are so like your father," said Mrs. Thayne affectionately.
+"Your minds work alike. I find I'm growing to depend more and more upon
+your judgment."
+
+In the dusk Mrs. Thayne could not see the flush that spread over her
+son's thin face. To be likened in any way to Captain Thayne was praise
+indeed for Win.
+
+"I only wish I could take more off your shoulders, Mother," he said
+briefly, "instead of being a great lazy lump that the whole family has
+to take thought for."
+
+"Here's Annette with letters," said Mrs. Thayne. "Why, I did not expect
+mail until tomorrow."
+
+Some moments passed until Win was aroused from his own correspondence
+by a sudden surprised exclamation from his mother.
+
+"Never say you don't believe in special providences. This seems almost
+incredible, but here is a note from Mrs. Aldrich, written from London!
+She's come over to attend some charity congress and wants me to run up
+for a few days."
+
+"Then it is meant that you should, Mother," said Win, smiling. "That
+coincidence hasn't happened for nothing. You can tell her about the
+girls much more convincingly than it could be written, and bring her
+back with you to see them. It will all be natural and Estelle will
+never suspect."
+
+"I'll do it," said Mrs. Thayne, but the next second a shadow crossed
+her face. Her sharp-eyed son instantly saw and interpreted.
+
+"I'll not overdo, Mother," he said immediately. "Trust me to rival the
+sloth in idleness. I promise you that I won't stir one step out of my
+usual routine."
+
+"But there's Roger," mused his mother.
+
+"Oh, Roger is walking the straight and narrow path of virtue. Ever
+since ex-scoutmaster Bill Fish rescued him from a desert island, he's
+been meekness itself. Makes me smile to see his star-eyed devotion.
+This plan is too evidently designed, for you to give it the cold
+shoulder."
+
+"It does seem so," agreed his mother. "Well, I'll go by Saturday's
+boat. Win, don't you think it would be best not to say anything to Fran
+and Roger? We will tell them after I have seen Carrie."
+
+"I certainly do," Win declared. "Fran couldn't keep that secret one
+half day. It wouldn't interest the kid."
+
+The absence of the family did not prevent Win's enjoyment of the Manor
+library and during his mother's stay in London, he paid it several
+visits. Evidently the servants had been instructed to expect and make
+him welcome, should he appear, for a smiling face answered his ring and
+the fire in the library was invariably lighted on his arrival. But
+Win's conscience would not allow him to neglect Roger even for these
+delightful hours of solitude, so this pleasure was only occasional.
+
+With the pony and gingle they explored many of the lovely Jersey lanes
+and headlands, for driving seldom tired Win. Half a morning passed in
+this fascinating occupation left Roger ready to spend the time before
+luncheon in preparing his lessons. When they were over in the
+afternoon, Mr. Fisher usually suggested kicking football on the beach
+or led Roger a walk sufficiently strenuous to leave him disposed for a
+quiet evening. Estelle and Nurse both thought Roger "good as gold," and
+did not realize how much of his virtue was due to the forethought of
+brother and tutor.
+
+One morning Estelle had errands in town and invited Roger to go with
+her. Hearing his joyful acceptance, Win as gladly betook himself to the
+Manor.
+
+Spring was far advanced now, potatoes were being planted and other
+early vegetables already showing in green rows. Under the trees on the
+Manor grounds wild snow-drops starred the grass. Win wandered into the
+formal garden enclosed by a hedge of box so clipped as to form a solid
+wall with square pillars topped by round balls of living green. In the
+background posed two peacocks, also clipped from box. What patience,
+time and care had been required to bring that hedge to such perfection!
+Early roses were now plentiful and as Win sauntered through their
+fragrant mazes, he realized how much loving thought had been expended
+through the centuries on this old garden. Sad indeed that the present
+owner of Laurel Manor was the last Richard Lisle.
+
+Win's reverie was broken by the passing of Pierre, with a pleasant
+"_Bon jour, M'sieur_," and a touch of his cap. Pierre carried a rope
+and crowbar, unusual implements for a gardener's assistant.
+
+Win watched him idly down the laurel-bordered drive and then went into
+the library, followed by Tylo, who seemed depressed in the absence of
+his mistress.
+
+About eleven, Win was visited by Yvonne, bringing a glass of milk and a
+plate of biscuit, which she placed beside him with a politely murmured
+"M'sieur labors so diligently!"
+
+"Thank you, Yvonne," said Win. "It's good of you to bring that. Do you
+know when the Colonel and Miss Connie are expected?"
+
+"No word since they arrived at Paris," replied Yvonne in her daintily
+accented English.
+
+"It is Pierre who hears from M'sieur Max, a letter, brief indeed, but
+explicit, that certain matters may arrange themselves in readiness for
+the coming of M'sieur Max."
+
+Win looked puzzled. For a second Yvonne stood regarding him, her head
+slightly on one side.
+
+"Word will perhaps arrive on the morrow," she volunteered. "Is the milk
+to M'sieur's liking?"
+
+"Very much. Thank you, Yvonne."
+
+The trim little maid replenished the fire, replaced a daffodil fallen
+from a vase, patted Tylo, gave him a biscuit and vanished as
+noiselessly as she came.
+
+Left alone, Win began to walk slowly up and down the library, wondering
+about the matters which were "to arrange themselves." The tools Pierre
+carried, the direction in which he was walking, to Win's alert mind
+suggested the Manor cave. Had Max told Pierre to complete clearing away
+that heap of stones and if so, why?
+
+Never in his life had Win been so tempted to break his word. In spite
+of the voluntary promise to his mother to do nothing in the least
+unusual, it seemed as though he _must_ go and see what was taking place
+in the cave.
+
+"Pierre would help me up," he told himself.
+
+"Yes," came the instant answer, "but Roger gave you all the help he
+could and yet you were in bed two days and felt ill for a week."
+
+Win thought of questioning Pierre, but abandoned the idea as not quite
+on the level. A note from Max had come on yesterday's steamer
+presumably in company with the directions to Pierre. There was not a
+word in it about the cave and if the writer had wanted Win to know what
+was going on, he would have told him. No, Win's code of honor would not
+permit him to find out by asking Pierre. And yet two weeks until Easter!
+
+Win gave a long whistle, looked wistfully down to the sea and again
+took up his book.
+
+When he returned for luncheon at Rose Villa, he found Roger convulsing
+Frances by his account of the morning spent in town with Estelle.
+
+"It's lucky I don't have to do the marketing for this family," he
+announced. "If you wanted cream now, where would you get it?"
+
+"A dairy, of course, or a market," replied Frances.
+
+"Wrong. Much cream you'd get! Try a fish-monger's."
+
+At Roger's disgusted tone, Fran giggled, "Oh, I've learned a lot," he
+went on. "Where would you ask for one of those paper patterns to cut
+out a dress?"
+
+"A dry-goods store," answered his sister.
+
+"Do say a draper's if that is what you mean," continued Roger. "You
+would only waste time. Go to a book-shop."
+
+"I will," said Fran. "Thanks for the tip."
+
+"I wanted to get weighed," said Roger, "because I know I am becoming a
+shadow studying so hard. I asked Miss Estelle where to go and told her
+I didn't think the nickel-in-the-slot machines were very
+accurate--Well, what's wrong with that?"
+
+Roger stopped for both Win and Frances were laughing at him.
+
+"Here you are knocking English customs," said Win at last. "As though
+Miss Estelle knew what a nickel was, let alone a slot machine, although
+I have seen some of them."
+
+"I don't see anything so funny," said Roger huffily. "Perhaps she
+didn't know, but she was polite enough not to laugh and said the place
+to get weighed was the hair-dresser's--"
+
+"Oh, come off," said Win. "That's too much, even for us."
+
+"Well, it is where we went and where the scales were," retorted Roger,
+"but there weren't any pounds to it, only what they call stones. I
+weigh exactly seven stone and I won't tell you how many pounds that is."
+
+"Ninety-eight," said Win so promptly that Roger looked disconcerted.
+
+"How did you know?" he demanded.
+
+"From a book," replied his brother. "A little article that you don't
+yet value as highly as you might. What next?"
+
+"Oh, that was about all," said Roger, "except that Miss Estelle told me
+I might choose some crackers, I mean biscuit, and to buy half a kilo. I
+forgot and asked for half a litre and the clerk grinned very
+disagreeably."
+
+"Liquid measure instead of dry," commented Win in amusement. "After
+luncheon, Roger, permit me to introduce you to some parts of your
+arithmetic that you have evidently never examined. But go on."
+
+"Then I stopped to look in a window and hurried to catch Miss Estelle
+and ran into a big fat man who was wearing stiff leather gaiters and a
+tam o' shanter. We came together rather hard," admitted Roger. "I
+didn't hurt myself much because he was quite soft, but his tam fell off
+and he said, 'Bless my soul, by George!"
+
+"Roger, I can't stand any more," implored Frances.
+
+"I don't follow the logic of that hair-dresser and the scales," mused
+Win, when he had stopped laughing. "Is it before and after a hair-cut
+or to see how much flesh the barber gouges out in a shave?"
+
+"Give it up," said Fran. "There's the gong for luncheon and Edith
+bringing the mail. I hope there's a letter from mother."
+
+"There is," said Edith.
+
+"Please excuse me, Miss Estelle, if I read it now," begged Frances,
+settling into her seat at the table.
+
+"Of course, dear," was the reply as Estelle took Mrs. Thayne's usual
+place, for she and Edith were having their meals with the young people.
+
+"Now, Roger, pause," exclaimed Win, suddenly. "What are you going to do
+with that?" he added, as the attention of all was concentrated on the
+surprised Roger who sat with arrested hand suspending above his plate a
+spoon heaped with sugar.
+
+"Whatever is he doing?" protested Estelle gently. "Such a mixture! How
+can he eat sugar on his eggs?"
+
+"Thought it was pancakes," explained Roger, indicating the omelet
+before him, but relinquishing the sugar.
+
+"Mother's coming on Wednesday," Frances announced happily. "And she's
+met a friend in London, Mrs. Aldrich, who's coming with her for a few
+days. Isn't that splendid, boys? You'll like her, Miss Estelle. She's
+sweet."
+
+"I shall be glad to see any friend of your mother's," said Estelle
+cordially. Looking to see whether Roger was sufficiently supplied with
+butter, she did not notice the smile with which Win glanced at her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE TWO CHAINS
+
+
+"Estelle, will you do me a favor?" asked Mrs. Thayne, following her
+young landlady into the hall. The travelers from London had just
+arrived and in the drawing-room, Mrs. Aldrich was expatiating to the
+boys upon the roughness of the trip.
+
+"Why, of course I will! You don't need to ask," replied Estelle
+affectionately.
+
+"You and Edith have been taking your meals with the children during my
+absence. Please keep on doing it. Let us all be one family for the rest
+of our stay."
+
+"It is lovely of you to want us, Mrs. Thayne," said Estelle, her face
+flushing. "We stopped with the children because I thought it would be
+better and then I could personally see that they had all they wanted.
+But now that you have a guest--"
+
+"I want you and Mrs. Aldrich to know each other," said Mrs. Thayne
+quickly. "And this will be one of the easiest ways to get acquainted."
+
+"I think Mrs. Aldrich is charming," remarked Estelle. "Isn't it odd,
+how sometimes a likeness in a total stranger strikes one? For a second,
+just as you introduced us, she reminded me so much of my dear mother
+that I could hardly pull myself together to speak. She must have
+thought me quite awkward."
+
+"I know she didn't," said Mrs. Thayne, with difficulty keeping her face
+under control. She had seen Estelle start and noticed her amazed
+expression when Mrs. Aldrich greeted her. So Estelle had not been
+conscious of Mrs. Aldrich's constrained manner! "Then you will have
+luncheon with us?" she added.
+
+"I will since you wish it," replied Estelle, vanishing to give
+directions to Nurse.
+
+"Now, what is there to do this morning?" Mrs. Aldrich was asking the
+boys. "I propose to stay in this island exactly one week. Your mother
+was seasick so she ought to lie down and rest but I feel as fit as a
+fiddle. Frances is at school, you tell me. No, I don't want to drive
+this morning. Suppose you take me for a short walk, Roger and Win, and
+show me what is to be seen on the beach."
+
+"We might take you to Noirmont Point," suggested Roger as they stopped
+at the end of the terrace to look at the view which was never twice the
+same. "What are those big vessels over beyond Castle Elizabeth?"
+
+"They are English warships," replied Mrs. Aldrich. "Coming into the
+harbor we passed close to them. The captain said it was a part of the
+Channel squadron, whatever that is."
+
+"Oh, did you see their names?" demanded Roger eagerly, as he counted
+the great gray ships in the offing. "Fourteen, no, fifteen."
+
+"Only a few. One was the _Princess Royal_ and I saw the _Thunderer_,
+the _Revenge_, the _Black Prince_ and the _Camperdown_."
+
+Roger's eyes opened at this list of awe-inspiring names. "I wish we
+could get over to Elizabeth," he remarked. "We could see them better
+then."
+
+"Tide's not right," said Win, casting a critical glance at the sea.
+
+"What, to walk over to that island?" asked Mrs. Aldrich. "Is it ever
+possible?"
+
+"We've been over," said Roger. "When the tide is 'way out, there is a
+raised causeway, quite smooth and easy."
+
+"What is the place anyway?" asked Mrs. Aldrich, looking curiously
+across to the castle.
+
+"Once it was an old abbey," Win explained, "dedicated to St. Elericus,
+the patron saint of Jersey. I suppose the town was named for him."
+
+"How did the island itself get its name?" inquired Mrs. Aldrich. "The
+derivation of these charming old English names is a fascinating study."
+
+"It was the old Roman Caesarea," said Win. "Jersey is a corruption of
+that. The ruined hermitage of St. Elericus is still over near
+Elizabeth, at least they call it that, though it's a kind of
+combination of a watch-tower and a cave. But the castle, as it stands,
+was built when Edward VI was king of England. There's a story to the
+effect that all the bells in the island except one for each of the
+twelve churches were seized by royal authority and ordered sold to help
+pay for building the castle. They were shipped to St. Malo and expected
+to bring a high price, but the vessel went down on the way and all the
+good church people thought it was because of sacrilege in taking those
+bells."
+
+"What is the castle used for now?" inquired Mrs. Aldrich.
+
+"Barracks," replied Roger. "The place is full of soldiers. It's no good
+now as a fortification, because Fort Regent up above St. Helier's--over
+there on the cliffs--could knock Castle Elizabeth and all those
+warships into fits in no time. Nothing can enter the bay if the Fort
+Regent guns don't approve. And that heap of rocks where Elizabeth
+stands is 'most a mile around,--it is, honest. Fran and Edith and I
+walked it."
+
+"They say," said Win, "that the space between the castle and the town
+was once a meadow. For that matter, they also say that the whole
+channel between here and France was once so narrow that the Bishop of
+Coutances used to cross to Jersey on a plank."
+
+"Tell that to the marines," protested Roger. "You do find the weirdest
+yarns in those books you're always grubbing in."
+
+"Oh, I can tell a bigger one than that," said Win laughing, "but
+perhaps you'll swallow it because your friend Bill told it to me. He
+said that some time in the sixteenth century there was an abnormally
+low tide, lower than any one had ever known. Some fishermen who
+happened to be out between Orgueil and the coast of France came in and
+reported that they had distinctly seen down in the channel the towers
+and streets and houses of an old town, forty feet or more under water."
+
+"There are stories like that in Brittany," said Mrs. Aldrich. "The
+fishermen declare that they can hear the tolling of the submerged
+church bells. Now, when legends like that exist on both sides of a
+channel, it stands to reason that there is likely some foundation in
+truth."
+
+"Then why don't they send divers down to find out?" demanded Roger
+bluntly. "Any enterprising country would."
+
+"We'll import a few Americans to do the investigating," laughed Mrs.
+Aldrich. "Is this Frances coming? Who is with her?"
+
+"Edith," replied Win. "Miss Estelle's sister."
+
+"Bless me!" murmured Mrs. Aldrich. "The other was startling enough but
+this resemblance is even stronger."
+
+Win smiled. It was great fun to look on, knowing what he did of his
+mother's innocent little conspiracy, all the more fun because the other
+young people were unsuspecting.
+
+At luncheon, where Estelle appeared with a pretty dignity, Win was
+supplied with still more secret amusement. Mrs. Aldrich talked a good
+deal, rather inconsequently at times, but continually looked from one
+sister to the other in a way that would have aroused suspicion had
+either the slightest idea that any plot was on foot. As it was, Win saw
+Estelle occasionally glancing at their guest in a puzzled manner as
+though trying to account for something she found unexpected. After the
+meal he waylaid his mother.
+
+"What is Mrs. Aldrich going to do?" he asked laughingly. "I had hard
+work not to give myself away during luncheon. You looked so unnatural,
+Mother, that if you hadn't been seasick, Fran and Roger would have
+caught on. As it was, they thought you weren't quite rested."
+
+"I don't know what she is going to do," replied his mother, "but it is
+working as we hoped. She is strongly attracted to the girls, and
+Estelle confided to me that our guest in some unaccountable way,
+reminded her of her mother. We have done our part in bringing Carrie
+here; it is for her to take the next step. I rather imagine that she
+won't be able to hold in very much longer, though I think she is
+enjoying the situation."
+
+It was not until dinner of her third day in St. Aubin's, that Mrs.
+Aldrich made herself known. To please Win, who had ascertained that she
+chanced to have the old chain with her, she wore it when she entered
+the dining-room.
+
+Win watched Estelle intently, disappointed that she did not immediately
+notice the ornament. Indeed, they were finishing dessert before
+anything happened. Perhaps purposely, Mrs. Aldrich looked at her watch
+and Fran in all innocence touched the match that fired the explosion.
+
+"Why, how odd!" she exclaimed. "Miss Estelle has a chain just like that
+one, Mrs. Aldrich."
+
+Win and his mother exchanged a glance; the others naturally looked at
+the chain.
+
+"It's precisely like it, Sister," said Edith, who sat near Mrs.
+Aldrich. "Isn't that queer?"
+
+"It's an old keepsake," said Mrs. Aldrich with deliberation. "It
+belonged to my mother. See, here are her initials on the slide, E. A.
+for Emma Avery."
+
+Edith looked with interest but Estelle turned pale. Thoughtful Win
+pushed a glass of water within reach.
+
+"Star's has initials too," Edith remarked innocently. "A. A., I think
+they are. Anyway, it was Grandmother's chain."
+
+Mrs. Aldrich turned to Estelle, who perfectly colorless, was staring at
+her. "Child," she said rather peremptorily, "come up to my room and let
+us compare these old trinkets."
+
+Still speechless, Estelle mechanically arose. Amid dead silence the two
+left the dining-room. Fran turned to her mother, amazed at the look of
+excited pleasure on her face. "What _does_ it all mean?" she demanded.
+"Is it a secret?"
+
+"Just a mild little conspiracy," replied Mrs. Thayne. "What it means,
+is that Mrs. Aldrich was your mother's first cousin, Edith, so she is
+your and Estelle's second cousin. Just by chance I guessed from
+Estelle's unusual chain that the one Carrie Aldrich wears came from the
+same source. When Estelle told me that her great-grandfather gave one
+to each of his two daughters, the whole thing flashed on me."
+
+"But that," said Edith, with her sweet childish faith, "is a miracle."
+
+"Perhaps," smiled Mrs. Thayne. "I only know that we shall leave St.
+Aubin's happier because you and Mrs. Aldrich have found each other out."
+
+A shower of eager questions fell from Frances and Roger but a long time
+passed before anything was seen of Estelle and Mrs. Aldrich. When they
+reappeared to the group awaiting them in the drawing-room, Estelle had
+plainly been crying and Mrs. Aldrich's eyes looked suspiciously red.
+
+"Come and kiss me, Edith," she said. "I want to be Cousin Carrie from
+now on. Yes, Estelle, she does look more like the Averys than you,
+though I saw the resemblance in your face also."
+
+"Isn't the whole thing just like a story?" Frances confided to her
+mother at bed-time. "What do you think will happen now?"
+
+"I don't know," admitted Mrs. Thayne. "Estelle is so very proud that it
+will be hard for her to accept help from any one, but Carrie will
+arrange things if it can be done. I know that Estelle has been
+dreadfully worried because some of the little money her father left her
+has been lost through an imprudent investment and that she has not felt
+sure she could manage to keep the house through another season. And yet
+she must find some way of supporting herself and Edith. Things will
+work themselves out, for Carrie is perfectly capable of inventing some
+very necessary work for Estelle to do, which will preserve her
+self-respect and let Carrie have her way. I think Carrie usually has
+some young person acting as secretary and Estelle could do that easily.
+I am not at all worried about the future since Estelle fortunately saw
+the resemblance to her own mother in Mrs. Aldrich. I imagine that will
+make it easier for her to consider whatever plan is proposed."
+
+"Wasn't it lucky that we came here!" sighed Frances. "And doesn't it
+seem odd that we did come, just because Roger and I wanted to take that
+little train the first day and chanced to find Rose Villa? If it hadn't
+been for that, we might not have looked for lodgings in St. Aubin's at
+all, nor known Miss Estelle and Edith. Why, Mother!" she went on, with
+intenser surprise in her voice. "It's just like the House that Jack
+built. If we hadn't come here, we wouldn't have met the beach dog, nor
+known Miss Connie, nor visited the Manor, nor be hunting for the
+Spanish chest!"
+
+Fran stopped, looking so comically aghast that Mrs. Thayne laughed as
+she kissed her.
+
+"So much depended upon a passing wish to take that little train! It is
+remarkable on looking back, to realize how often life turns upon some
+apparently trivial incident, some insignificant choice."
+
+"It's time though, that we went home, Mother," said Frances merrily.
+"While you were in London, Miss Estelle wanted change for half a crown,
+so I tipped the money out of my purse. One piece rolled on the floor
+and Roger picked it up, and said: 'Why, this isn't a shilling! What is
+it?' So I took it, and, Mother, both of us looked at it hard for
+several seconds before we realized that it was a United States
+quarter-dollar! Don't you think it is time that we went home?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE CHEST ITSELF
+
+
+Mrs. Aldrich's stay did not exceed her limit of a week, but she left
+for London with Estelle's willing promise to come to her when the
+Thaynes returned to Boston and leaving behind her two girls with
+gladdened hearts. After her departure Win's interest was again
+concentrated on the coming of the Manor family and the search for the
+Spanish chest.
+
+Twice as he came or went from his visits to the library, he saw Pierre
+in the distance, once actually disappearing over the cliff edge, but
+Easter was close at hand when Yvonne, bringing the usual lunch,
+volunteered the information that the Colonel, Miss Connie and Mr. Max
+were expected on Saturday's steamer.
+
+Win reported this news with joy and when the day arrived the young
+people began to watch for the Granville boat hours before she could
+possibly arrive, hoping to distinguish familiar figures on the deck. To
+their disappointment, when the steamer was finally detected in the
+distance, dusk was at hand.
+
+"I shall do it!" said Roger firmly. "There are three packages and we
+may not be in England on the Fourth of July. Besides I forgot it on
+Washington's birthday."
+
+Fran and Win looked after him in amazement as he suddenly tore back to
+the house and rushed upstairs, spreading noise on his way and
+devastation in his room, where he jerked the very vitals out of his
+steamer trunk, scattering its contents to the four corners.
+
+Nor was Edith enlightened when Roger reappeared with a pasteboard tube
+in one hand, and a box of matches in the other, but Win laughed and
+Frances gave a shriek of delight.
+
+"Bed fire!" she exclaimed. "Oh, Roger, I never knew you had it. Do wait
+until the boat is a little nearer."
+
+"It will be darker, too," Win advised. "Make more of a show if you
+wait."
+
+"I only hope they will know it is for them," said Roger anxiously.
+
+"They'll see where it comes from and perhaps they'll understand," said
+Win. "But don't expect the steamer to salute as one at home would."
+
+At the proper second, a flare of red illuminated the end of Noirmont
+Terrace, greatly amazing not only St. Aubin's staid population but such
+inhabitants of St. Helier's as chanced to be on the water front, and
+affording Roger two full moments of complete and exquisite satisfaction.
+
+"Real United States!" he said. "I suppose an English boat doesn't know
+enough to whistle--"
+
+Roger stopped with his mouth open. From the _Alouette_ came two
+distinct blasts of the steam siren.
+
+"Oh, that's Mr. Max," burst out Win in delight. "He's been in America
+and understands the etiquette of red fire. And you remember he said he
+knew personally all the captains on the Channel boats. Probably he went
+up to the bridge and got somebody to acknowledge our salute! Isn't that
+simply corking of him?"
+
+"That was surely meant for us," agreed the pleased Frances. "Oh, how
+long shall we have to wait before we see them?"
+
+That very evening Pierre brought a note from Constance, expressing
+appreciative thanks for their fiery welcome, the source of which Max
+had guessed and which he had easily induced Captain Lefevre to
+acknowledge. The note ended with an invitation to tea on Monday and
+promised a solution of some kind to Win's theories concerning the
+Spanish chest.
+
+"How nice of Miss Connie to set the very first possible day," said
+Frances. "I suppose we shall not see them before then."
+
+"Not unless we go to the little old church tomorrow," replied her
+brother. "If you want to, and it's a still day, we might get up there."
+
+But the travelers had returned on an evening of clouds and threatening
+winds. Easter Sunday dawned with Jersey in the grip of a terrific
+southeast storm. All day the rain beat on the panes of Rose Villa, all
+day the wind howled and snatched at the shutters, the house at times
+fairly quivering with its force. As dusk came, the gale increased to
+the proportions of a hurricane. Roger, going out to the pillar
+post-box, came struggling back with difficulty.
+
+"I met one of the Noirmont fishermen," he reported. "He said it is the
+worst gale in thirty years and when the weather clears the surf will be
+worth seeing."
+
+"Fisher told me that a southeast storm kicked up a fine sea," replied
+Win. "I only hope it won't stop our going to the Manor to-morrow."
+
+All night the wind raged though the rain finally ceased. It seemed as
+though the reputed witches of Jersey were holding high carnival with
+the unloosed elements of air and water. Day broke, still without rain,
+but the violence of the wind was not lessened. Roger ran out to the end
+of the terrace and came hurrying back.
+
+"Come out, everybody, and look," he shouted above the uproar. "The
+waves are coming over the breakwater. There isn't one inch of beach to
+be seen."
+
+Roger's report was literally true. Though the sea wall protecting the
+town of St. Helier's rose twenty-five feet above the sands, the rollers
+were breaking beyond the wall on the esplanade itself, the white foam
+even running up some of the side streets. Only an inky howling mass of
+white-capped water stretched between the town and Elizabeth Castle.
+
+Win, who had managed to make slow progress to a point of vantage, stood
+fascinated by the wild whirl of wind and water. The tide was at the
+flood and the spectacle at its finest. Just a few moments sufficed to
+lessen its grandeur as the waves, yielding to the law of their being,
+were dragged away from the land. Presently, instead of dashing over the
+wall, they broke against it, and then came a scene of different
+interest. The water, forcibly striking the masonry, was flung back on
+the next incoming roller, with a collision that sent spray forty feet
+into the air from the violence of the shock. This phenomenon was
+repeated as the rollers crashed down the curve of the wall, continuing
+for its full length, the flying spray looking like consecutive puffs of
+steam from a locomotive.
+
+"Look, there comes the train from St. Helier's!" exclaimed Roger,
+dancing excitedly about. "Doesn't it look as though the ocean was
+trying to catch it?"
+
+The little train had prudently delayed its starting until after the
+turn of the tide. As it crept slowly around the curve of the
+breakwater, great white tongues of foam constantly shot over the wall
+like fingers frantically trying to seize and draw it into the sea. But
+always the hands fell back baffled, to the accompaniment of a roar that
+sounded almost like human disappointment. The train reached St. Aubin's
+dripping with salt water.
+
+"Five stones are torn out of the coping in the wall," reported Roger,
+coming back from his inspection of the adventurous little engine. "The
+guard says they are sweeping pebbles and stones by the ton out of the
+streets beyond the esplanade. And coming down here, he twice had a
+barrel of water slapped right at him. He is as wet as a drowned rat."
+
+"The surf must be wonderful at Corbiere," said Estelle. "They say there
+is an undertow off that point which produces something this effect of
+the water flung back by the wall."
+
+"Why, here's Miss Connie!" exclaimed Frances in excitement. Max and
+Constance on horseback were coming down the terrace.
+
+"We've been half round the island," Connie announced after her first
+greetings. Well prepared for wind as they were, both looked disheveled.
+Connie's hair was braided in a thick club down her back, evidently the
+only way she could keep it under control; Max's was plastered back by
+wind and spray, for he had lost his hat, and their horses were blown
+and spattered with salt brine.
+
+"Oh, but it is grand!" Constance went on. "Corbiere light is smothered
+in spray to the very top of the tower. We haven't had a storm like this
+since I was a tiny kiddie."
+
+To talk above the uproar of the surf was difficult. Asking them to be
+at the Manor promptly by three, the two rode away.
+
+"Why three?" asked Frances as they regained the shelter of the house.
+
+"I think we are going down into the cave," said Win happily. "Mr. Max
+told me just now that we were to begin exploring there and that things
+would be arranged so that it would not be hard for me. I suppose he and
+Pierre have some plan."
+
+"But you aren't going into the cave on a day like this?" exclaimed Mrs.
+Thayne, quite horrified at this announcement.
+
+"Why, yes, Mother," said Win. "The tide will be as low as usual when it
+does ebb."
+
+"Of course," assented his mother. "I forgot. But how about this wind?
+You must have the pony, Win."
+
+"I will if it keeps up, but I imagine the gale will blow itself out by
+noon."
+
+Win's prophecy proved correct. When the four started to keep their
+engagement, the wind was greatly abated and the only trace of the
+tempest was the ruined vines and gardens that marked their road. At the
+Manor gates, Colonel Lisle, Constance and Max met them.
+
+"It is to be the cave," Connie said gayly. "Max has things all mapped
+out for us."
+
+Arrived at the cliff, the party stopped. Marks of the storm were
+visible in one or two landslides and in a great amount of debris
+strewing the uncovered beach and rocks. Even large stones seemed to
+have been displaced.
+
+Max looked rather serious as he saw so much change in conditions
+usually stable. "I think you'd better let me go down and report whether
+matters are as I expect," he said. "There seems to have been
+considerable doing in this vicinity last evening."
+
+"Let us wait, Win," said Constance quickly. "No use in going down until
+we see how he finds things."
+
+Colonel Lisle also elected to await the report, but Roger and the girls
+accompanied Max. They were gone almost half an hour and the watchers on
+the cliff were beginning to wonder what had happened. When they did
+appear, they called to the others not to come.
+
+"'The best laid plans of mice and men!'" sighed Max as he reached the
+top of the cliff. "Uncle, the storm has picked up all the stones I had
+Pierre clear out of the tunnel and wedged them in tight again like a
+cork in a bottle."
+
+"There was a passage and we can't get into it?" demanded Win eagerly,
+his face reflecting the disappointment visible on the faces of the
+other young people.
+
+"There was," replied Max, looking at him sympathetically, "not merely
+into another cave but striking inland. Pierre cleared its mouth and
+reported it passable for fifty feet. Beyond that he did not go. Now, it
+is stopped as tight as ever. This shows, Uncle, how it came to be lost
+to the recollection of everybody about the Manor."
+
+"Yes," said Colonel Lisle. "Very likely it was stopped by a similar
+storm a century or more ago. So far as I know there has never been a
+legend of any tunnel. But, Max," he added, "there is yet the cellar
+where you and Win have decided that the passage enters the house."
+
+"May we knock a hole there?" Max asked quickly. Win had said nothing
+more but his disappointment was evident.
+
+"Certainly, if you like," assented the Colonel, smiling. "Only be
+prepared for another disillusion when you get the wall down. The
+existence of the tunnel doesn't ensure that of the chest."
+
+Max whistled, evidently a signal, for Pierre promptly appeared with a
+rope over his shoulder.
+
+"We sha'n't need that now," said Max. He proceeded to add some rapid
+directions in French. Pierre nodded, grinned cheerfully and set off at
+a fast pace.
+
+"I've told him to get another man and come to knock in the vault wall,"
+Max explained as they started toward the Manor. "We may not get it down
+this afternoon, but that's all that's left to try. I'm beastly annoyed
+about that tiresome hole. Why should a ripsnorter of a storm come on
+the one day when it could spoil our plans?"
+
+"It's provoking." agreed Win. "Do you suppose there is really anything
+in the passage?"
+
+"Blessed if I know!" replied Max. "The one thing sure is that there is
+a passage. There must be since we located one end of it in the cave. If
+it hadn't been for that, we might not be permitted to tear down the
+wall, but even Uncle is convinced now that the tunnel exists."
+
+"Come and have tea," said Connie as they reached the Manor. "It's a bit
+early, but we may as well begin, for nobody knows how long it will take
+to pierce the vault."
+
+Max went down to show the men where to work and reported that the stone
+seemed soft and inclined to break easily. "This isn't going to be much
+of a job," he reported. "I told Pierre to send word as soon as he
+struck through."
+
+"What do you suppose the chest will look like?" asked Frances. "Will it
+be silver?"
+
+"No such luck," Max replied. "Possibly metal, probably wood, always
+provided that we find it."
+
+"You mustn't throw cold water, Max," reproved Connie from behind the
+tea-table. "Since we have found the passage, why not the chest? Let's
+have it a gorgeous one while we are about it, gold studded with uncut
+rubies and the Spanish crown in diamonds."
+
+Frances and Edith shrieked at thought of such sumptuousness and one by
+one each expressed an opinion as to what the box would resemble and its
+probable contents. Roger decided that the chest was of solid iron,
+fastened by seven locks of which they would have to find the seven keys
+and that inside would be discovered a complete suit of royal armor.
+
+"I fear that Prince Charles would not have made good his escape from
+England clad in a clanking suit of mail," said the amused Colonel.
+
+Just then Yvonne entered with her usual pretty air of importance. "It
+is Pierre who desires M'sieur to attend in the cellar," she said,
+addressing herself to Max.
+
+The entire party rose, hastily placing tea-cups on any convenient
+article of furniture. Roger found the floor most accessible for his,
+but with prudent foresight took with him such easily conveyed articles
+as the jam sandwiches and plum cake upon his plate.
+
+Down in the cellar, Pierre and McNeil, the Scotch gardener, stood
+facing the northern wall just where the newer wing joined the oldest
+Manor vault. Before them yawned a hole already two feet in diameter.
+
+With a grin on his face, Pierre thrust his crowbar through and showed
+that a space not quite a yard wide intervened before the tool brought
+up against what was in reality the outer wall of the cellar. The
+partition itself was only a foot thick, but because it was of equal
+thickness throughout its length, Max had not been able to detect any
+difference in resonance.
+
+"_Bien, Pierre!_" exclaimed Max eagerly. "_En avant!_"
+
+Pierre and McNeil attacked the wall again, Pierre all smiles and gay
+glances over this remarkable whim of M'sieur Max, whose whims as a rule
+he found enjoyable; McNeil looking perhaps not grimmer than usual, but
+as though the whole affair was quite below his dignity. To knock a hole
+in a perfectly good stone partition which would require a mason to fill
+and put in proper shape again at an expense of solid Jersey shillings,
+struck his thrifty Scotch soul as folly. Still, if Colonel Lisle wished
+to indulge Mr. Max in this youthful eccentricity, it was not McNeil's
+place to protest.
+
+After fifteen minutes a cavity yawned in the cellar wall, disclosing a
+passage leading to the left.
+
+"That will do, McNeil," said the Colonel. "That's enough for the
+purpose. Go ahead, boys. It was through your efforts that the tunnel
+was located, so it is for you to see this out."
+
+"Win shall be first," said Max. "Step in, old fellow."
+
+Pale with excitement, Win took the offered lantern and approached the
+hole. Once inside the opening he found that he could stand erect for
+the passage ran straight along the cellar wall about three feet wide
+and over five feet high. It seemed dry and the air was not musty. Rough
+stones formed its floor and roof but the crude workmanship had been
+strong and only a few scattered stones had fallen during the centuries.
+
+Max followed with another lantern, and Roger made the third explorer.
+The excited heads of the girls were thrust into the passage but only
+Frances actually stepped within.
+
+Win went slowly down the gently sloping tunnel, and presently the eager
+watchers who could catch only glimpses of shadowy roof and walls in the
+fitful light of the lanterns, saw the three stop. In her excitement,
+Fran forgot her fear of the distance stretching before her and ran to
+them. The next second came a wild warwhoop from Roger.
+
+"It's here!" Max called more quietly.
+
+At this wonderful news the rest entered the passage, the Colonel as
+eager as the others. Fifty feet from the opening at one side of the
+tunnel was a rough niche or alcove and in it stood a box about two feet
+square. Upon its cover lay the dust of ages, and it was scarcely to be
+distinguished in color from the stones about it.
+
+"We'll bring it out, Uncle," said Max. "No place to open it here. You
+hold the lanterns, Win. Lend a hand, Roger. Go easy; we don't know how
+much knocking it will stand."
+
+His eyes almost starting from his head, Roger took one of the handles,
+the girls stepped back and in two minutes the party stood in the open
+cellar, looking at what was undoubtedly the Spanish chest.
+
+[Illustration: WHAT WAS UNDOUBTEDLY THE SPANISH CHEST]
+
+"Is it heavy?" asked Fran breathlessly, while Pierre went for a brush
+to remove the silted dust.
+
+"Rather," said Max, looking boyishly excited. "Ah, now we know the
+style of the chest. No gold box nor uncut rubies, Connie!"
+
+Relieved of its heavy coating of dust, the box proved of dark wood,
+carefully finished and ornamented by plates and corners of steel. Upon
+its cover was inlaid a scroll engraved with the Manor arms and the name
+of Richard Lisle.
+
+"Gracious, what great-grandfather bought that bit of bric-a-brac!"
+exclaimed Connie, seeing her father's eyes light with interested
+pleasure. "It must have been the original Richard himself. Is it
+locked?"
+
+Max tried the lid. "No," he said, straightening up and looking at the
+Colonel. "It is your play, Uncle Dick. Only a Lisle of Laurel Manor
+should open Richard's chest."
+
+The Colonel smiled, stepped forward and with his single hand lifted the
+lid. The excited group about him bent forward eagerly.
+
+At first glance a roll of dark cloth was all that appeared. When
+Colonel Lisle lifted this, it unfolded into a long-skirted coat
+ornamented with many buttons. The fabric was stained and rotten, in
+places moth-eaten. Below the coat lay a pair of leather gloves with
+long wrists, stiff as boards, and two blackened bits of metal that
+proved to be spurs.
+
+For a moment no one spoke. The young people were silent, impressed with
+the fact that long years ago these things had been the property of a
+prince of England.
+
+With a smile the Colonel looked first at Max and then at Win. "Are you
+satisfied?" he asked. "Though the contents of the Spanish chest have no
+value in money, they certainly are rich in historical interest."
+
+"Oh, it was the fun of finding it that I cared about," said Win
+quickly. "That was the point for me. And I am so glad there is
+something in it."
+
+"Let's take it up-stairs," suggested Connie. "We can see so much
+better."
+
+The boys and Max delayed to inspect the empty secret passage, following
+to the spot where it was blocked by its stopper of stone. Then they
+joined the group in the study. In bright daylight, the fine workmanship
+on the Toledo steel trimmings of the chest stood out in full beauty.
+
+"The design on these buttons is very significant," remarked Colonel
+Lisle, who was inspecting the wreck of the once handsome coat. "And I
+suspect that they are of silver."
+
+Examination showed on the tarnished metal the three ostrich feathers
+that have marked the badge of the Prince of Wales since the far-off
+days of Edward the Black Prince. Below was the motto, "Ich dien," and
+the single letter C.
+
+"On my next new suit I guess I'll have buttons marked R," said Roger
+solemnly.
+
+The others laughed. A feeling of real awe had been creeping over them
+to think that garment had once been worn by Prince Charles.
+
+"Here's a loose button," said Max, picking it out of the box. "The
+whole coat is falling in pieces."
+
+"The buttons will last indefinitely," said Colonel Lisle, regarding
+thoughtfully the one Max had just rescued. "Thanks to Win's clever
+brain, the Manor has acquired an unsuspected secret passage and a
+valuable antique; of especial value to me because of the name it bears.
+I want you to keep this button, Win, for I think you, almost more than
+any one I know, will appreciate it and what it stands for."
+
+Win turned pale. To possess a silver button once the property of bonnie
+Prince Charlie rendered him speechless.
+
+"Oh, Colonel Lisle," he said after a minute, "I oughtn't to take a
+thing of such value. It belongs here."
+
+"I want you to have it, my boy," replied the Colonel kindly. "I really
+am indebted to you, for we have positive proof now that the Manor walls
+once sheltered the Prince."
+
+"I should value that button above all things," said Win simply, "if you
+really wish me to have it. Only it seems as though Mr. Max had done
+much more toward solving the mystery."
+
+"I merely followed the lead you gave me," said Max, who was looking at
+him with a very friendly expression. "You played a pretty fine game
+yourself, Win."
+
+"As for that," said the Colonel smiling, "Maxfield may have a button
+too, if he cares for it."
+
+"Thank you, Uncle Dick," Max replied promptly. "I do value it, but
+perhaps for the present, it would better stop with the others."
+
+As Max spoke, he looked not at the Colonel but at Constance, leaning
+against the table beside him. Something in their attitude struck Win's
+always acute perception. For the first time he doubted whether the
+young people of the Manor had been as genuinely absorbed in that search
+as he supposed. About Max, half-sitting on the corner of the study
+table, about Connie, with her hands loosely clasped before her, there
+was a certain air of quiet detachment, as of those who politely look on
+at some interesting comedy, but who, as soon as courtesy permits, will
+return to affairs of more importance.
+
+"You need not have the least scruple about accepting it, Win," the
+Colonel went on. "We hope this will not be your last visit to the
+island, but in any case, whenever you look at that old relic, you will
+have to give us a thought as well."
+
+Win turned the tarnished button on his palm. Yes, the sight of it would
+always bring back memories of the green lanes, the red cliffs, the
+turquoise sea of Jersey, not least the hours in the library, the
+Spanish chest and the Lisles of Laurel Manor.
+
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+AFTERWORD
+
+
+After the story was finished and the characters were going away, Max
+and Connie turned back.
+
+"We have kept our promise?" they asked. "We have played quite nicely
+and haven't been silly?"
+
+"You have really been very good," admitted the author. "If Max hadn't
+appeared just when he did to rescue Edith and Frances from the tide,
+probably the story must have stopped there. And Connie has been most
+helpful about lending the Manor house and the beach dog."
+
+"May we play again?" Max asked.
+
+"I think not," decided the author. "This is five months later. You
+really must be grown-up now and stay so."
+
+"We have been all the time," said Connie. "We've pretended just to
+please you. But since you let us come into the story when we weren't
+expected nor invited, it is only polite to tell you what we are going
+to do now."
+
+They looked at each other and smiled.
+
+"Every girl who reads this story will want to know," Connie went on.
+"It would indeed be very diverting to be Princess Santo-Ponte, but
+somehow I think the chances of 'living happily ever after' are greater
+with Max. There's nothing at all romantic about marrying Max, but you
+might just mention that I'm going to do it."
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spanish Chest, by Edna A. Brown
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPANISH CHEST ***
+
+***** This file should be named 6998.txt or 6998.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/6/9/9/6998/
+
+Produced by Vital Debroey, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
+be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
+States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
+specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
+eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
+for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
+performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
+away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
+not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
+trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
+
+START: FULL LICENSE
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
+person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
+1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
+Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country outside the United States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
+on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+
+  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
+  United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
+  are located before using this ebook.
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
+other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
+Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+provided that
+
+* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
+  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+  Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
+  works.
+
+* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+  receipt of the work.
+
+* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
+Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
+www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
+mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
+volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
+locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
+Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
+date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
+official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+
+    Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+    Chief Executive and Director
+    gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
+state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
+facility: www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+