erve the
change on his face, began to wonder what could be the cause of his
surprise.

"You say you found these in the old box?" he asked.

"Yes, father. What are they?"

Mrs. Ormond rose from her chair at the end of the table, and came
round to where her husband was sitting. She, too, had seen his look
of amazement, and wondered what it could mean.

"What are they, father?" repeated Guy.

"What are they?" was the reply. "Why--why, I'll tell you what they are.
This is Uncle Roger's legacy."

"Uncle Roger's legacy!" cried Ida. "D'you mean to say that all he left
you, father, was that dirty old bundle of papers? Pooh! he might have
kept them to himself!"

"You don't understand, Ida," was the answer, in a voice which showed
that her father himself was not a little excited. "These papers are
valuable."

"Oh!" cried Elsie suddenly. "Are they as valuable as bank-notes?"

"Well, yes," replied Mr. Ormond, laughing. "I think one may say they
are. They are deeds and securities which represent a nice bit of property;
and a good sum of money must have accumulated on some of them in twenty
years. In fact, I'm not sure, Elsie, if we shan't be able to consider
that promise about a pony."

There was a yell from Guy. He, Ida, and Elsie all tore round and round
the room in a state of frantic excitement.

"Hurrah! hurrah for old Uncle Roger!" cried the boy.

"But, father," exclaimed Ida, pausing at length, completely out of
breath, "if he meant it to be yours, why did he make you wait twenty
years?"

"I'm sure I can't explain," was the reply, "more than this, that he was
a curious old fellow, and often did the most eccentric things. What
puzzles me more than that is to know where these papers have suddenly
sprung from. You say you found them in the box. When did you first
discover that it had anything inside?"

"Only this afternoon," answered Guy. "We turned it up, and heard
something slide along the bottom and go bump against the end."

"Then how in the world was it that when we opened the chest the other
day it was empty?"

"We thought you must have put it in," murmured Ida. "It is strange. How
can it have happened?"

"D'you think they really were in the box all those years?" asked Mrs.
Ormond.

"Undoubtedly. Where else could they have been?"

"O father," cried Ida suddenly, "I believe you knew about them all the
time! You took them away yourself just to tease us. It's some joke."

"Indeed it isn't. I know no