lot more interesting
than that!"

"Lady Betty Merriweather! I'm sure it was hers," exclaimed Kit.

"Wrong again! No, the fan once belonged to a queen, a beautiful,
light-hearted queen of France, who came to a tragic end."

"Marie Antoinette!" gasped Bet. "Oh, Daddy, think of it!"

"Yes. When she first came to France as the bride of the Dauphin, Louis
XV admired her for her great beauty and showered her with gifts. And
we believe this fan was given to her by the king. As soon as I hear
from an expert who is working on the case, I will know for sure."

"A queen's fan!" exclaimed Kit. "Doesn't it sound romantic?"

"And she would use it like this!" And Bet took the fan from her
father, flourished it back and forth coquettishly with a flippant
smile, half hidden by the fan.

A chorus of laughter greeted Bet's imitation of a flirt.

"Where did my daughter learn all those arts?" asked her father.

"She didn't have to learn them. They came natural," sang Joy, as she
danced out of the room.

"Ladies used their fans to send messages to the lovers they preferred
and to tease them with arch glances at other suitors," explained Bet.
"It was a gay life at Court!"

"And I can imagine that Marie Antoinette knew how to flirt with her
fan. She was so gay and lighthearted," mused Kit.

"Poor Marie Antoinette! I've always pitied her, even if she was
thoughtless and spoiled. She didn't deserve to be punished as she
was!" Shirley said pensively.

"I always like to think of her at Little Trianon, where she used to
play at being a farm girl and churn, and feed the chickens. She was
just a child. --I do hope the fan was hers," said Kit.

"And I hope so for many reasons," smiled Colonel Baxter. "It will be
worth three times as much money if she owned it."

"Wouldn't old Peter Gruff open his eyes wide if he could see it?"
exclaimed Bet. "How that man loves antiques!"

Peter Gruff was a second-hand dealer in Lynnwood whose hobby was
picking up antiques at a ridiculously low price and selling them at
fabulous sums. In a trade, he could stand watching.

As the Colonel folded up the fan carefully and put it away, Bet
exclaimed: "Come on, girls, there's something in my room that I'd like
to show you."

"Wait a minute, Shirley," called the Colonel. "Do you want to take a
picture of the queen's fan for me?"

"Oh, Colonel Baxter, do you suppose I can do it?"

"Certainly, there's no trick about it. Bring your c