l the last evening
we were there. Mother and Father had gone out to call on some friends,
but it was raining and I had a sore throat, so they decided not to take
me. I was so glad, because then I could stay home and talk to Great-aunt
Lucia, and it was the first time I'd been with her long alone.

"She had been telling me a lot about when she was a little girl, and
asking me about myself. And I had told her about you and how we'd been
together so many years, and what we did when we weren't in school. And
finally I mentioned, just casually, that we often played in the grounds
of this old house next door and described the place a little to her.
Well, that started her, as I was sure it would! She began telling me
that it was so strange,--that she had been in this house once, and
curiously enough, just before it was closed for good. Then, you can
warrant, I listened with all my ears!

"She said she had become acquainted with the lady through meeting her a
short time before at the house of a friend in New York. This friend had
then introduced them,--'Mrs. Hubert Kenway--Mrs. Fairfax Collingwood'!"

"_Mrs._ Collingwood!" cried Cynthia. "And we thought she wasn't
married!--"

"Well, she was,--and we've made several mistakes beside that, Cynthia
Sprague, as you'll find out later! It seems that Great-aunt Lucia took
quite a fancy to young Mrs. Collingwood. She was so sweet and gracious
and charmingly pretty. Later, Great-aunt Lucia discovered that she was a
widow, living out here. Her husband had been dead a number of
years,--ten, I think. She was a Southerner, having come originally from
South Carolina.

"Great-aunt Lucia did not see her again till a few weeks later, when she
received an invitation to go with her friend, take luncheon, and spend
the day at Mrs. Collingwood's. There were several others invited, about
a dozen in all. They all came out by train and drove here in hired
carriages from the station, which was a long way off then. It was a
beautiful, soft, balmy April day, and spring seemed well begun.

"Great-aunt Lucia said the place was delightful,--an old, Colonial house
(it seemed so strange to hear her describe everything just as we've seen
it!). And Mrs. Collingwood was a charming hostess. But they were just
finishing luncheon when the strangest thing happened!

"A servant came in and handed Mrs. Collingwood a telegram as she sat at
the head of the table. She excused herself to them, tore open the
envelo