ell, well!" replied Mr. Sherwood, perhaps not without some secret
relief. "It will all come out right. At least, your cousin hasn't
refused his assistance. We shall be established somewhere before he
returns from his Mexican trip."

"I, I did depend so much upon Adair's good will and advice," signed
Momsey.

"But, dear me suz!" gasped Nan impatiently. "What are you folks
bothering over that for? It isn't Cousin Adair that I want to know
about. It's this letter, Momsey," and she seized the thin yet important
envelope from Scotland and shook it before her mother's eyes.

"Better look into it, Momsey," advised Mr. Sherwood easily, preparing to
return to the cinder sifting. "Maybe it's from some of your relatives in
the Old Country. I see 'Blake' printed in the corner. Didn't your father
have an uncle or somebody, who was steward on the estate of a Scotch
Laird of some renown?"

"Heck, mon!" cried Momsey, with her usual gaiety, and throwing off the
cloud of gloom that had momentarily subdued her spirit. "Ye air a wise
cheil. Ma faither talked muckle o' Uncle Hughie Blake, remimberin' him
fra' a wee laddie when his ain faither took him tae Scotland, and tae
Castle Emberon, on a veesit."

Nan and Papa Sherwood laughed at her when she assumed the Scotch burr of
her forebears. With precision she cut the flap of this smaller envelope.
She felt no excitement now. She had regained control of herself after
the keen disappointment arising from the first letter.

She calmly opened the crackly sheet of legal looking paper in her lap.
It was not a long letter, and it was written in a stiff, legal hand,
instead of being typewritten, each character as precise as the legal
mind that dictated it:

"Mistress Jessie Adair Blake, (Known to be a married woman, but wedded
name unknown to writer.)

"Dear Madam: It is my duty to inform you that your father (the late
Randolph Hugh Blake) was made sole beneficiary of his late uncle, Mr.
Hugh Blake, the Laird of Emberon's steward, by a certain testament, or
will, made many years ago. Mr. Hugh Blake has recently died a bachelor,
and before his demise he added a codicil to the above testament, or
will, naming you, his great niece, his sole heir and beneficiary.

"There are other relatives who may make some attempt to oppose your
claim; but none of near blood. Your title to the said estate is clear;
but it is quite necessary that you should appear before our Courts with
proofs of identity, a