r eyes traveled along the Top
Notch Trail and finally came back to the Cliffs at home. She watched the
boys gather the stones and suddenly remembered Kenneth's likeness to
Montresor.

"Oh, Kenneth! I 'most forgot to ask you something!" cried she.

Ken stood up and looked at her with a broad smile. As he waited thus,
she was struck by the singular look that was so like her old friend's.

"That gold mine we told you boys about, was first found and staked by a
white-haired man who called himself Montresor. He lost it again in just
the same way as we did--a land-slide buried it and his stakes, and no
one could locate it again.

"Then he died and left his claim to me. I always believed he had one,
but every one else laughed at him and said he was crazy. Father was
good to him after the mine was lost, and took his part when folks
jeered. When he died, Daddy paid for the funeral and has the certificate
where he is buried. But we never learned who he was, except the fact
that he came from the East, although we advertised a lot.

"Just the day you arrived in Oak Creek, Mr. Simms, our lawyer, read a
letter which Old Man Montresor left. It was written to a wife and child,
but there was no name or address on it. Then I heard how father spent
lots of money trying to identify the dear old man and trace his
relatives but to no account.

"When we first saw you, we-all were impressed with your resemblance to
our old friend. So now I want to ask you if there ever was any one in
your family who went to the Klondike and was reported lost there?"

"Wh-y, ye-es, there is some such story in our family, but I do not know
the exact truth about it. And we seldom discussed it as mother always
felt badly afterwards.

"As far as I can understand it, my mother's only brother Peter was a
clever mining engineer in the East, but he was too ambitious to be
contented with his income. Mother says it was his wife who wanted to
spend money like water, who finally urged him to try his luck in
Alaska--and he left home to seek wealth in the Klondike.

"He placed all the money he had in the bank for his family, and left
Aunt Ada and my Cousin Gail with sufficient to live on if they were
economical. But my Aunt was not content with a simple home and a meager
income, and thought to add to her comfort and wealth by starting a fine
boarding-house.

"She knew nothing about the business, however, and soon lost all the
money she had been left with and then