ssibly have done.

Not long after the disappearance of Catherine, Ella, and George, a
message was sent to us in the drawing-room requesting our presence in
the laundry; and on all flocking there with more or less eagerness, we
found a fire burning on the old-fashioned hearth and chairs arranged
round it.

It appeared that with the help of Sam, our factotum, who was a kind of
Jack-of-all-trades, George had succeeded in loosening the planks of the
dais, which, although strongly put together, were rotten and worm-eaten,
and that we were now summoned to be witnesses of its removal. We found
Catherine trembling with a strange eagerness, and her face quite pale
with excitement. This was shared by Ella and George; and, judging by the
important expression on their faces, I fancied they were let further
into the secret than any one else.

We all sat down in the chairs placed for our accommodation, and the wild
whistling of the wind in the huge chimney, together with the sheets of
snow which darkened the window-panes, enhanced the mystery of the whole
affair, while George and his coadjutor worked lustily on.

At length, after a great deal of panting and puffing, George was heard
to exclaim, "Now for the tug of war!" and there followed a minute's
pause, and then a crash as the loosened planks were torn asunder, and a
cloud of dust enveloped both workmen and spectators.

Involuntarily we all started forward, and a moment of the direst
confusion ensued, during which the boys of our party greatly endangered
their limbs among the broken boards.

"By George!" exclaimed my son at last--in his eagerness invoking his
patron saint--as he stumbled upon something, "there is something here
and no mistake;" and, hastily clearing away the rubbish and clinging
cobwebs, he disclosed to view what proved on examination to be an
immense oaken chest, about four feet in height, heavily carved, and
ornamented with brass mouldings corroded with age and damp.

Here was a piece of excitement indeed; never in my most imaginative
moments had I thought of anything so mysterious as this. The most
sceptical among us grew interested.

"Oh, do open it!" cried Ella, when the first exclamations of surprise
were over.

"Easier to say than to do, miss," replied Sam, exerting his Herculean
strength in vain. With the aid of a hammer and the kitchen-poker,
however, he at last succeeded in forcing it open. We all pressed forward
eagerly to peer inside. There