riedly forward as they approached the staircase
and stammered a nervous greeting.

"Miss Farrell! Miss Mary! I hope you have had a pleasant journey. I
am Mrs Wolff. Mr Farrell was kind enough to ask me--yes! I hope you
are not cold. Your uncle thought you would like to have tea in your own
room. It will be brought up to you at once. Mr Farrell desired me to
say that he wished to see you both in the library at half-past five.
Shall I take you upstairs at once? We have given you one room--a very
large one; but if you prefer to have two separate ones, it can easily be
arranged--yes!"

The girls protested that they wished to be together, and followed their
guide up the broad staircase to a room on the first story, where the
curtains were already drawn, and a cosy tea-table spread before the
fire. Mrs Wolff had called it large, and she might truthfully have
used a more emphatic word, for what had originally been the best bedroom
in the house had been, like the drawing-room beneath, enormously
enlarged by the addition of a curved, mullioned window, the entire width
of the floor.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, _nine_! Nine dear
little windows!" counted Mollie rapturously, as the door closed behind
the figure of the lady chaperon. "What a view we shall have to-morrow
morning, Ruth! Sofas, armchairs, writing-tables, two long mirrors to
show the set of our skirts--this is a room after my own heart! I shall
have one exactly like it when I marry my duke!"

"But I didn't expect to have tea in it, all the same," Ruth objected, as
she took off her hat and jacket. "The house feels very quiet and
deserted. If we hadn't uncle's own word for it, I should think there
was no one here except ourselves. He might have come to meet us
himself! It seems so cold to leave us to strangers!"

"You will be disappointed, my dear, if you expect warmth from Uncle
Bernard. My short interview taught me so much, at least. But he wants
to see us at half-past five, Ruth. I'll prophesy something--he is going
to talk to us about the `important matters'! It would be just like him
to explain his position before we have been an hour in the house, so
that there can be no misunderstanding. I'm right--I know I am! We are
on the eve of solving the mystery!"

Ruth shivered, and drew closer to the fire.

"Don't make me nervous. It will be bad enough when it comes to the
point, without thinking of it beforehand!" she c