eturning home.

"Will someone fetch Monica? I believe she is in the churchyard with the
Rector's wife," she said.

Lindsay and Cicely volunteered to go, and found their friend under a big
yew tree, engaged in talking to a lady who was evidently making
enquiries about Mrs. Courtenay. Not liking to intrude and interrupt the
conversation, they stood waiting until they should be noticed.

"The doctor was over yesterday," Monica was saying, with a choke in her
voice. "He told me our only chance is to send to London for Sir William
Garrett. And how can we? His fee is a hundred guineas."

"That is a heavy amount."

"Impossible for us. You know how gladly I would sell even the Manor to
raise the money, but I cannot touch a penny of my property until I come
of age, and that won't be for more than four years. I try not to blame
Uncle Giles, yet sometimes----"

Here Monica broke down altogether, and wiped her eyes.

"You mustn't give up hope, my dear child," said the Rector's wife
kindly. "Perhaps your mother may be spared to you after all. Strange
things come to pass sometimes, and good can often result from evil."

"I wish I could believe so," sobbed Monica. "I don't care in the least
about the fortune for myself; I only want it when I think of what it
might do for her!"

* * * * *

"Cicely!" said Lindsay solemnly the next morning, as she tied her hair
ribbon before the looking-glass, "we simply must have another try to
find that treasure."

Cicely paused with her brush in her hand.

"It's dreadful that Mrs. Courtenay may die because they can't scrape
together a hundred guineas," she agreed.

"And Monica is breaking her heart over it," continued Lindsay. "She goes
about looking so unhappy, it makes me quite miserable too. I'd give
everything in the world I have to help her."

"I don't know where we're to hunt next. We seem to have explored every
corner, and we never have any luck."

Cicely's voice sounded utterly despondent.

"We can only go to the lantern room again. It's the one place where
we're sure there's a secret. If Merle could discover something there,
why shouldn't we?"

It appeared a forlorn hope, but anything was better than just sitting
down and making no effort at all. Monica's troubles weighed much on
Lindsay's mind. The idea that the invalid must slip out of life for lack
of the money that might save her seemed too cruel to be endured.

"I wish I had a hundred