it can have got there!" said Guy, as the family prepared
to move back into the warmer room. "What could be the good of locking up
and sealing a cork in an iron-bound box for twenty years?"

"I don't suppose it was put there on purpose," answered his father. "It
dropped in by mistake."

"Oh, come on! Let's get to our lessons," said Ida. "I'm sick of that
stupid box."

At that moment Brian, who had stayed behind to put the chest back in its
place, appeared in the room.

"Uncle," he said, "this cork has got a little round label on the top,
with the name of a chemist on it--'Greenworthy.'"

Mr. Ormond took the cork, looked at it, held it nearer the lamp, and
looked at it again.

"This is curious," he muttered.

"What's curious, father?" asked Elsie.

"Why, this cork has Greenworthy's name on it, and Greenworthy hasn't
been in business for more than ten years at the outside, so how can one
of his corks come to be inside a box that has been shut for twenty?"

"Then the box has been opened," said Brian.

Mr. Ormond seemed to doubt this. "One of you children must have dropped
the cork in just now," he said. "Are you sure you didn't, Brian?"

"Quite sure, uncle," answered the boy.

"And I'm sure neither of us did," added each of his cousins.

"Perhaps there's a knot-hole in the box through which the cork might
have been poked some time," suggested Elsie.

"I don't think there is," said Guy, moving towards the door. "But I'll
soon see."

He returned a few moments later, but only to report that there was not
the smallest crack or hole in the wood through which a pin could be
dropped.

"It's certainly very funny," said Mr. Ormond. "The cork must have fallen
out of some one's pocket after we'd opened the box. I may have dropped
it in myself."

"But we heard it rolling about in the box some time ago," remarked
Elsie.

"Well, it's a mystery," answered her father, laughing--"one which I
can't explain."

The children prepared to retire to the breakfast-room and begin their
day's lessons. Brian, however, had still one more question to ask.

"Uncle," he said, "supposing a thief had opened that box, wouldn't it be
possible for him to imitate the seals?"

"Of course it would be possible to get a duplicate die made," was the
answer. "But I'll tell you why I feel sure that in this case the locks
have not been tampered with. Uncle Roger's seal came into my possession
directly after his death, and has been in my safe