, like Andy Daly's pig!" Again came that
sibilant whisper.

"Alene, don't mind her!"

"But why does she say that?"

"It's an old Irish saying. You see, Andy Daly took his pig to market
and they objected to its size--'If it's little, it's old' said Andy
Daly; and so they say, 'If it's little, it's old, like Andy Daly's
pig!'"

Alene laughed and called over to the whisperer:

"If I'm little, I'm old enough to be a Happy-Go-Lucky--so there!"

CHAPTER II

UNCLE FRED

"Where is Peggy-Alone, Prince?" inquired Mr. Frederick Dawson.

The dog had come bounding over the grass to meet him at the Tower House
gate, strange to say unaccompanied by the little girl who was usually
the first to greet him each evening on his return from the office.

With Prince barking and snapping at his hand, the young man hurried
along the path and into the great hall.

"Yes, Prince, I know she's hiding somewhere, to jump out and scare her
poor old Uncle and set his nerves all a-tremble! It was thoughtful of
you to give me warning!" he said aloud. He hung up his hat, keeping a
sharp lookout for the delinquent but she was nowhere in sight; no
dancing footsteps were heard coming from any part of the house.

"I hope she isn't sick," he soliloquized, beginning to feel uneasy.
"She's getting pale and listless. The poor little thing must be lonely
here all day with no one but the servants. I wish she knew some
children to play with! Confounded luck for the governess to fall sick
and leave me as a sort of head nurse!" His grumbling anxious thoughts
ended in an abrupt exclamation.

"Hello, there!"

Through the open door of the library he saw a little white-robed maid,
seated in a great leather revolving chair, with her eyes fixed upon an
object on the table beside her. If she noticed the young man's
entrance or heard his voice she gave no sign, nor did she pay any
attention to Prince, who led the way into the room, and strove with a
great show of canine solicitude, in merry barks and gambols, to attract
his young mistress' attention.

"Alene!" her Uncle said sharply, but the silence remained unbroken.

Half alarmed, he came forward and shook her by the shoulder.

"For heaven's sake, child, is anything the matter?"

Still she made no reply; she kept gazing, gazing in one direction as
though fascinated.

Following her glance, he saw the fragments of a fancy Mexican
tobacco-jar, which he had shown to her only the day befor