wrong turnings, wheeled past plain
grass beds where nothing could possibly be hidden; then we _both_ took
the back, and the General peered from side to side, and saw nothing, and
grew discouraged, and sighed, and said his luck had gone. No treasures
for him any more!

I will say for Ralph Maplestone that he is sweet to that old man! He
treats him just in the right way, as deferentially as though he were in
full health and strength, a martial figure riding gloriously to
conquest! We cheered him up between us (I did it rather nicely, too!)
and became quite friendly in the process. Two people can't join in
pushing a bath-chair and remain _de haut en bas_. The thing is
impossible. I was most nice to Ralph Maplestone, and he appeared to be
nice to me.

Suddenly, in the middle of a bush, I saw a glint of brighter green, the
tissue-paper wrapping of a treasure, and instantly my fingers gripped
the chair. Mr Maplestone would have pushed on, but I frowned and
grimaced, and he looked and saw too, and we both puffed and panted, and
demanded a rest, during which I stood elaborately at one side of the
bush, and he stood at the other, so that the old dear could hardly miss
seeing the paper.

Even then I had to give, it a surreptitious push before discovery came;
but he had no suspicions, not one, and was as pleased as a boy at the
thought that his old eyes had been sharper than our young ones. We all
took a turn at opening the parcel, and it turned out to be a vanity bag,
fitted with a mirror and other frivolities, so of course it was
presented to me, and I arranged my hair in the mirror, and powdered my
nose with the puff, just to shock them, which, by the way, it fully
succeeded in doing.

"Girls didn't do that in my day!" croaked the General.

"_All_ girls don't do it now!" grunted the Squire.

"My dear, you look far nicer without it." This was the General's second
venture. I turned to the Squire and asked solemnly, "_Do_ I?" and he
gave one quick look, and then stared past me--through me--blankly into
space.

"I am no judge," he said curtly.

Well, let me be honest! It _was_ flirtatious of me, I knew it was, and
hurried to rub off the powder, and get back to my briskest, most
business-like manner. As we had paid three entrance fees, we were
entitled to a treasure apiece, if we could find them, and I insisted
upon keeping up the search to the very last moment. It amused the
General; it amused me; I honestly