use she realized they'd been left there and might be discovered by
some one else. What else could it be?"

"Of course you must be right," agreed Phyllis. "But it's the queerest
thing I ever heard of! Anyway, there's _one_ thing the lady doesn't
know--that we have still one of the beads! I wonder how she'd feel if she
_did_ realize it?"

"Do you ever wonder what that mysterious lady is like?" asked Leslie. "I
often try to picture her--from the very, very little we know about her. I
think she is tall and dark and slender, and very, very stylishly dressed.
She has rather sad brown eyes and is quite foreign-looking and would be
very interesting to know."

"Well, I don't imagine her that way at all," replied Phyllis. "To me it
seems as if she must be large and imposing, with light hair and blue eyes
and very quick, vivacious manners. I agree that she is no doubt dressed
in a very up-to-date style, and is probably about thirty-five or forty
years old. I don't know whether I'd like to know her or not, but I
_would_ like to know what she's after in that bungalow!"

So they continued to conjecture and imagine till Phyllis finally
exclaimed: "Why, there are Father and Ted back already! Fishing must have
been poor this morning. Thank goodness we got out of that place when we
did! But that reminds me, I ought to go to the village and order some
supplies. The grocer doesn't come here again for two days. Don't you want
to walk down with me? It's a gorgeous morning for a 'hike'!"

"I believe I will," agreed Leslie, "that is, if Aunt Marcia can get along
without me. I haven't had a good walk in so long that I fairly ache for
one. I'll go and see if Aunt Marcia would like me to get her anything,
and I'll meet you in five minutes."

It was indeed a glorious morning for a walk. The crisp October air was as
clear as crystal and the salt meadows back of the dunes were still gay
with goldenrod and the deeper autumn colorings. The creek that wound
through them was a ribbon of intense blue, and a thousand marsh-birds
twittered and darted and swooped over its surface. But the two girls
were, for once, almost blind to the beauty of it all, so absorbed were
they in the never-failing topic of their mystery. And the village was
reached almost before they realized they were in its vicinity.

Phyllis did her shopping first, in the general grocery store. Then Leslie
suggested that they visit the little fancy-goods store and look up some
wool fo