n properly for tramping down your plants,
you knew that it was not in maliciousness he did it but in self-defence.
I am afraid it is time to go now" and with these words he heartily shook
his old acquaintance by the hand. The two little ones, who had never
left his side, were ready immediately to strike out once more.

They soon reached the hill and the castle, which was bathed in the soft
evening light, lay openly before them. A hushed silence reigned about
the gray building and the old pine trees under the tower, whose branches
lay trailing on the ground. For years no human hand had touched them.
Where the blooming garden had been wild bushes and weeds covered the
ground.

The mother and uncle, settling down on a tree-trunk, looked in silence
towards the castle, while the children were hunting for strawberries on
the sunny incline.

"How terribly deserted and lonely it all looks," Uncle Philip said after
a while. "Let us go back. When the sun is gone, it will get more dreary
still."

"Don't you notice anything, Philip?" asked his sister, taken up with her
own thoughts. "Can you see that all the shutters are closed except those
on the tower balcony? Don't you remember who used to live there?"

"Certainly I do. Mad Bruno used to live there," the brother answered.
"As his rooms alone seem to be kept in order, he might come back?"

"Why, he'll never come back," Uncle Philip exclaimed. "You know that we
heard ages ago that he is an entirely broken man and that he lay deadly
sick in Malaga. Mr. Tillman, who went to Spain, must certainly know
about it. Restless Baron Bruno has probably found his last resting-place
long ago. Why should you look for him here?"

"I only think that in that case a new owner of the place would have
turned up by now," was his sister's opinion. "Two young members of the
family, the children of Salo and Eleanor, are still alive. I wonder
where these children are. They would be the sole owners after their
uncle's death."

"They have long ago been disinherited," the brother exclaimed. "I do not
know where they are, but I have an idea on that subject. I shall tell
you about it to-night when we are alone. Here you are so absent-minded.
You throw worried looks in all directions as if you were afraid that this
perfectly solid meadow were a dangerous pond into which your little brood
might fall and lose their lives."

The children had scattered in all directions. Bruno had gone far to one
side an