o,' said Allan; 'it isn't nice to think of any of our people
being dishonest.'

'If it was a stranger,' said Reggie; 'they may never catch him.'

'I heard father say that he would be traced by the money-orders,'
replied Allan. 'It seems that there were several post-office orders in
a registered letter addressed to father, and that is one of the letters
that is missing. Father says that the thief is sure to try to make use
of the orders sooner or later, and they have sent the numbers to every
post-office in the kingdom.'

'And then the man will be caught!' said Tricksy in an awestruck tone.

'That will be the best chance of getting him,' replied Allan.

'The fellow will find himself in the wrong box then, won't he, Neil?'

'I suppose he will,' replied Neil, rather absently.

'I hope it won't turn out to have been some one on the island,' said
Reggie.

'I hope not,' said Marjorie, looking over to the green fields and brown
heather moors of Inchkerra. 'Isn't it dreadful to think that it may
have been some one whom we know; some one we have spoken to quite
lately?'

'Well, Miss Marjorie,' said Neil, 'do you not think we had better be
getting the table cleared and the things put away? We have plenty of
work before us, if we are to plant all Reggie's ferns; and we must not
stay too late, for it iss anxious about you that Mrs. Stewart and Mrs.
MacGregor will be.'

'Not they,' said Tricksy; 'no one is anxious when they know that you
are with us, Neil.'

Neil looked gratified, and the young people began to collect the dishes.

'Now, don't you bother about this piece of work,' said Marjorie, when
the boys had carried the plates into the cottage; 'you go and amuse
yourselves out-of-doors while Tricksy and I wash the dishes.'

'I wonder why you don't let them do their share of the disagreeable
work, Marjorie,' said Tricksy a little discontentedly, when the boys
had vanished.

'Pooh,' said Marjorie, with her arms in the hot water; 'what's the
good? They'd only hate it, and besides, boys always do these things
badly.'

When the dishes and cooking utensils had been arranged upon the
shelves, Marjorie and Tricksy went out into the garden, their eyes
somewhat dim with peat smoke.

'Come along and help, you two,' cried Reggie; 'must get these things in
this afternoon, or they'll be dead before we come back again. Bother
it, though; we haven't enough tools to go round.'

'Here, Miss Tricksy,' interposed Neil; '