nity you see
before you. I am the oldest, and, as I may modestly remark, the flower of
the family."

"Oh, I don't know," commented Patty, looking affectionately at Mabel.

"Well, anyway, as was only natural, the search for that hidden fortune
went on at times. Perhaps a visitor would stir up the interest afresh,
and attempts would be made to discover new meaning in Uncle Marmaduke's
last words. And it was my father who succeeded in doing this. He sat in
the library one day, looking over the old set of Dickens' works, which
always had a fascinating air of holding the secret. He had not lived here
long then, and was not very familiar with the books on the library
shelves, but looking about he discovered another set of Dickens, a much
newer set, and the volumes were bound in cloth, but almost entirely
covered by a gilded decoration. Wait, I'll show you one."

Sinclair rose, and going into the library, returned in a moment with a
copy of "Barnaby Rudge." It was bound in green cloth, but so ornate was
the gold tooling that little green could be seen.

"Dickens--gold----" murmured Patty, her eyes shining as she realised the
new meaning in the words.

"Yes; and, sure enough that was what Uncle Marmaduke meant. Just think!
For fifteen years that set of books had stood untouched on the shelves,
while people nearly wore out the older set, hunting for a clue to the
fortune!"

"It's great!" declared Patty; "go on!"

"Well, this set of Dickens proved extremely interesting. Between the
leaves of the books were papers of all sorts. Bills, deeds, banknotes,
memoranda, and even a will."

"Then you had the fortune, at last?"

"No such luck. The banknotes and the few securities in the books amounted
to a fair sum, which was gratefully appreciated by my parents, but as to
the bulk of the fortune, it only made matters more tantalising than
ever."

"Why?" asked Patty.

"One of the papers was a will, properly executed and witnessed, leaving
all the fortune of which Uncle Marmaduke died possessed, to my mother.
Then, instead of a definite statement of where this money was deposited,
were some foolish jingles hinting where to find it. These rhymes would be
interesting as an old legend, or in a story book, but to find them
instead of a heap of money, was, to say the least, disappointing."

"And did you never find the money?"

"Never. And, of course, now we never will. Remember all this happened
twenty years ago. I mean the disco