at's_ not swearing, bless you."

"I thought that anything about the devil was swearing."

"Oh no, I don't think so," put in Marjory. "Peter often talks about the
'deil,' and he's not a bad man."

"But somehow 'deil' doesn't sound as bad as devil," argued Blanche. "I
think it is a horrid word; it frightens me."

"Very well, I won't say it again," said Alan consolingly. "But look
here; we must make some plan of campaign as to our doings when this
cousin of yours comes poking her beastly nose in. If there's anything I
can do to annoy her, I'm your man. I'm a regular corker at all sorts of
tricks, from apple-pie beds to booby traps. A little ragging sometimes
takes all the side out of fellows at school, and it might work with her.
Anyway I'm at your service, and it would be a good thing if we could
turn her out a decent girl."

"We'll never do that," said Blanche decidedly.

"_We'll see_," replied Alan, with a world of determination in his tone;
and then they started off at such a gallop across the moor that all
disagreeables were forgotten for the time being.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE OLD CHEST.

"What could be the wealth the casket held?...
Perhaps the red gold nestled there,
Loving and close as in the mine;
Or diamonds lit the sunless air,
Or rubies blushed like bridal wine.
Some giant gem, like that which bought
The half of a realm in Timour's day,
Might here, beyond temptation's thought,
Be hidden in safety; who could say?"

HENRY MORFORD.

Marjory obtained permission from her uncle to invite Blanche and Alan to
spend the next day with her. It would be the last before the arrival of
the unwished-for visitors, and they wanted to make the most of it. They
decided to have a rat hunt in the morning, and in the afternoon Marjory
intended to ask the doctor if they might try again to open the old
chest. She thought Alan might be a help.

Marjory did not much like the idea of killing even a rat. She was not
quite sure that it was right, but Peter had no such compunctions.

"Vermin o' the land, an' mischeevious reptiles they are, an' the mair
deid rats we see the morn's mornin' the better pleased Peter'll be,"
said the old man as they were planning the hunt.

Alan kept a ferret, which he offered to bring, and he thought he could
borrow his brother Herbert's fox-terrier, which was a famous ratter.

"That's a' richt," agreed the old man. "An' I can get the loan o'
anither dog fr