answer,
and it needed but a glance at the face of the scientist to disclose
this fact. "But perhaps I had better explain."

"Perhaps you had," said Jerry with a smile.

"And never mind about the insects--tell us about the girls," urged
Bob.

"Yes, relieve his mind," agreed Ned. "He hasn't heard from his dear
Helena in some hours, I guess."

"Oh, cut it out!" protested the stout lad.

"The two girls to whom I refer," went on Professor Snodgrass, "are the
nieces of my late friend, Professor Emil Petersen."

"The man who wrote the book on trigonometry that we used to study at
Boxwood Hall?" asked Ned.

"The same," murmured Professor Snodgrass. "Professor Petersen was an
eminent mathematician, and the world did not fully estimate his worth.
His mathematical work was only a branch of his many-sided activities.
Professor Petersen died about three months ago, and he left me a most
peculiar legacy."

"Peculiar in what way?" asked Ned.

"It is like this," said the little scientist, as he pulled up a blade
of grass, and examined it under a powerful hand glass to see if any
strange insects might be crawling on it. "Professor Petersen, unlike
most of us professional men, was very wealthy. He was a Swede, and his
wealth came to him from his father. He never used much of it, and the
money accumulated.

"After his death I was surprised to learn that he had made me one of
his heirs, but under certain conditions. It appears that in his
younger days Professor Petersen was estranged from his brother and
sister, on account of some family matters. They received an equal
share with him from their father's estate, but they made unwise
investments, and soon lost the major portion of their inheritances.
The professor kept his. Perhaps that was one reason for the
estrangement.

"At any rate, some coldness existed, and it was not until just before
his death that the professor wished to be reconciled. Then it was too
late, as his brother and sister were both dead. But each had left a
daughter, and the young ladies were studying abroad--somewhere in
France or Germany, I believe, when the war broke out.

"I was greatly surprised, when the will was made public, to learn that
I was to have half the professor's not inconsiderable wealth, on a
certain condition."

"And what condition?" remarked Jerry, as the professor hesitated.

"That condition is as follows. I am to seek out these two nieces of my
dead friend and give them each a f