your house the night
after to see if we could get anything out of the nurse, Gabrielle,
but she had gone during that day. I did not have a chance to tell
you, and then your father came in and-----"

"Talked genealogy till you fell asleep," laughed Margaret. "But,
Mrs. Hamilton, why are you so interested in this matter?"

"I'll tell you in a moment. You say it was a lady's watch?" to Jack.

"Yes, and a very handsome one. It is a Jurgensen with a gold
case set with diamonds. I understand these watches are very
valuable."

"Do you know the number?"

"Yes, Madame, do you?" Jack returned. "Pardon me, but I have grown
cautious. Several persons have claimed the watch who had no title
to it whatever, and I have become cautions. Have you lost a watch
of this sort?"

"Yes, and I know its number by heart. Is it this?" and the lady
gave the exact number of the watch, which Jack himself remembered.

"Yes, that is right," he said.

"I will tell you something else about it, which, perhaps, you do
not know, my boy," the lady continued. "The upper part of the
case, the one with the diamonds on it, is double, and the top of
it will unscrew, showing a small space beneath. In this is a
photograph of a little girl, one I lost, and a small gold coin.
When you return take off the top of the jeweled side of the case,
and if you find it as I say then you will know that the watch
is mine."

"I did not deny this, Madame," said Jack, coloring a little, "but
you can readily understand that I would be cautious after so many
persons have tried to get the watch away from me. By the way, did
you employ a detective, a rather self-important person, to find it
for you?"

"Higgins!" laughed the lady. "Yes, I did, and he told me that he
had discovered the person who had it."

"This was since the fire?"

"No, the day before."

"And you have not seen him since?"

"No, nor heard from him."

Jack laughed, and told how the detective had tried to get the watch
from him, and how and why Dr. Wise had refused to give it up.

"Higgins always struck me as being a bit too zealous," said the
lady. "I do not wonder that the doctor refused to deliver it after
the man's poor account of you. You seem to be a great favorite
both with the doctor and with the Hilltop boys."

"And deservedly so," echoed Percival. "We won't hear a word against
Jack, and it has not spoiled him either."

"And you know about the watch, too?"

"Yes, being i