aid Mr. Carteret, looking up from his paper.

'What is it, Father?' asked Pelham, the eldest boy.

'A lot of things were sent here from Vale Place last month, and amongst
them an oak chest, which I cannot unlock, try as I may, so I waited for
you two, as I know you are more handy with your fingers than I am,'
answered his father.

'We will soon tackle it!' said Pelham, confidently.

'Father,' here broke in George, 'I thought _you_ were to have Vale Place
when old Mr. Pelham died?'

'So did I,' said Mr. Carteret shortly.

'But it is left to some one else, is it not?' went on George, anxious to
understand the matter, which had greatly puzzled both boys for some
weeks.

'Yes, I meant to tell you about it when you came home,' said their
father. 'It was no good writing bad news, but you must know it sooner or
later. You know,' he continued, 'that my father and Mr. Pelham were
brother-officers in India, and when both my parents were swept away in
one week by cholera, Mr. Pelham brought me home to Vale Place, where I
was brought up as his son and heir. But after his death, a few months
ago, no will could be found, though he had repeatedly told me that he
had made one, leaving Vale Place to me and my children.'

'Then who has Vale Place now?' asked George, as his father paused a
minute.

'It passed to the heir,' said Mr. Carteret. 'He is a distant cousin, who
cares nothing about the property, and means to sell it for building
land.'

'What a shame!' said Pelham, hotly.

'Well, I do not know that there is any shame about it, for this cousin
has never lived there, and it has none of the old associations for him
that make me regret its loss so deeply. He seems a very considerate man
in some ways, and begged to be allowed to send me all the old furniture
which stood in my room at Vale Place, thinking I should value it, as
indeed I do. So that is how the old chest came to me, and here are the
keys. See what you can do with them.'

'Come on, George!' said Pelham. 'Where is the chest, father?'

'Upstairs in the attic. You will want a candle; it is in a dark corner,'
was the answer.

'I am coming too!' announced Nannie. 'I want to see what is in the
chest. I have fed my birds, and I may not stay out in the rain.'

'Little girls should not be inquisitive,' said George, who dearly loved
to tease his sister. 'You may see more than you want.'

'Oh, George! what?' said Nannie, in rather a shaky voice. 'What do you
think