age, is a woman's care. But for that
matter none of us ever get too old to need that."

"I'll have Tom hitch up and take you home," said the colonel, when the
doctor had finished with Phil, "unless you'll stay to dinner."

"No, thank you," said the doctor, "I'm much obliged, but I told my
wife I'd be back to dinner. I'll just sit here and wait for young
Dudley, who's going to call for me in an hour. There's a fine mind,
colonel, that's never had a proper opportunity for development. If
he'd had half the chance that your boy will, he would make his mark.
Did you ever see his uncle Malcolm?"

The colonel described his visit to Mink Run, the scene on the piazza,
the interview with Mr. Dudley, and Peter's story about the hidden
treasure.

"Is the old man sane?" he asked.

"His mind is warped, undoubtedly," said the doctor, "but I'll leave it
to you whether it was the result of an insane delusion or not--if you
care to hear his story--or perhaps you've heard it?"

"No, I have not," returned the colonel, "but I should like to hear
it."

This was the story that the doctor told:

* * * * *

When the last century had passed the half-way mark, and had started
upon its decline, the Dudleys had already owned land on Mink Run for a
hundred years or more, and were one of the richest and most
conspicuous families in the State. The first great man of the family,
General Arthur Dudley, an ardent patriot, had won distinction in the
War of Independence, and held high place in the councils of the infant
nation. His son became a distinguished jurist, whose name is still a
synonym for legal learning and juridical wisdom. In Ralph Dudley, the
son of Judge Dudley, and the immediate predecessor of the demented old
man in whom now rested the title to the remnant of the estate, the
family began to decline from its eminence. Ralph did not marry, but
led a life of ease and pleasure, wasting what his friends thought rare
gifts, and leaving his property to the management of his nephew
Malcolm, the orphan son of a younger brother and his uncle's
prospective heir. Malcolm Dudley proved so capable a manager that for
year after year the large estate was left almost entirely in his
charge, the owner looking to it merely for revenue to lead his own
life in other places.

The Civil War gave Ralph Dudley a career, not upon the field, for
which he had no taste, but in administrative work, which suited his
talents,