g at every pore, and was mopping his forehead with a huge silk
handkerchief. "I have just made a great discovery. You are aware that
Herondale, the whole estate, is heavily mortgaged, and that there was a
foreclosure; that means that the whole of it would have passed away
from you."

Ida sighed.

"Yes, I know," she said, in a low voice.

"Very well, then. I went over to the house the other day to--well, to
look out any little thing which I thought you might like to buy at the
sale--"

Ida pressed his hand and turned her head away.

"It was a sad business, sad, very sad! and I wandered about the place
like a--like a lost spirit. I was almost as fond of it as you are, my
dear. After I had been over the house I went into the grounds and found
myself in the ruined chapel. Donald and Bess followed me, and
Bess--what a sharp little thing she is, bless her!--she began to rout
about, and presently she began to dig with her claws in a corner under
the ruined window. I was so lost in thought that I stood and watched
her in an absent kind of way: but presently I heard her bark and saw
her tearing away like mad, as if she had found a rat or a rabbit. I
went up to where she was clawing and saw--what do you think--"

Ida shook her head and smiled.

"I don't know; was it a rabbit?"

"No!" responded Mr. Wordley, with suppressed excitement. "It was the
top of a tin box--"

"A tin box?" echoed Ida.

"Yes," he said, with an emphatic nod. "I called Jason to bring a spade;
but I could scarcely wait, and I found myself clawing like--like one of
the dogs, my dear. Jason came and we had that box up and I opened it.
And what do you think I found?"

Ida shook her head gently; then she started slightly, as she remembered
the night Stafford and she had watched her father coming, in his sleep,
from the ruined chapel.

"Something of my father's?"

Mr. Wordley nodded impressively.

"Yes, it was something of your father's. It was a large box, my dear,
and it contained--what do you think?"

"Papers?" ventured Ida.

"Securities, my dear Miss Ida, securities for a very large amount! The
box was full of them; and a little farther off we found another tin
case quite as full. They were securities in some of the best and
soundest companies, and they are worth an enormous sum of money!"

Ida stared at him, as if she did not realise the significance of his
words.

"An enormous sum of money," he repeated. "All the while--God forgive
me