asuring it. Are they diamonds, Father?"

Anxiously the young people hung on Mr. Nelson's answer.

He laid aside the packages he had brought from Boston, and turned for a
moment to greet his wife, who had come into the room. She had been told
of the find as soon as it was discovered, and had been properly
astonished.

"It takes the young folks to do things nowadays," he said, with a smile.

"Doesn't it?" she responded.

"But are they diamonds? That's what we want to know!" chanted Betty, her
arms around her father's shoulders.

Mr. Nelson tested the stones much as Allen had done, but he went
farther. From his pocket he produced a small but powerful magnifying
glass. It was one he used, sometimes, in looking at samples of carpet at
his office. He put one of the larger stones under the glass.

The young people hardly breathed while the test was going on. But the
result was not announced at once, for Mr. Nelson took several of the
sparkling stones, and subjected them to the scrutiny under the
microscope.

"Well," he announced finally, "I should say they are diamonds, and
pretty fine diamonds, too!"

The girls gave little squeals of delight.

"You were right, old man," spoke Henry to Allen, with a nod.

"Well, I wasn't sure, of course" began the young law student "but----"

"Of course I didn't look at all the stones," broke in Mr. Nelson, and
the talk was instantly hushed to listen to him, "but I picked several
out at random, and made sure of them. And it is fair to assume in a
packet of stones like this that, if one is a diamond, the others are
also."

"And how much are they worth?" asked Betty. She was not mercenary, but
it did seem the most natural thing to ask.

"Well, it's hard to tell," her father replied. "At a rough guess I
should say--oh, put it at fifty thousand dollars."

"Oh!" cried Mollie. "To think of it!"

"Catch me! I'm going to faint!" mocked Roy, leaning up against Will.

"Do you really think they are as valuable as that?" asked Amy, in a
gentle voice.

"She helped find them, and she wants to reckon her share," said Mollie,
who did not always make the most appropriate remarks.

"Nothing of the sort!" exclaimed Betty. "It's just the wonder of it
all."

"I think fifty thousand dollars would be pretty close to the mark," said
Mr. Nelson. "I once had to serve on a committee to value the contents of
a jewelry store for an estate. I didn't know much about precious stones,
but the others