re and warmed my hands, and looked at him calmly. I
was a funny child in those days.

"'It's neither,' I answered. 'I've got measles.'

"'Then please don't give them to me,' he laughed. 'I assure you I don't
want them. Look here! I called to see your father, or, failing your
father, your mother. They're both out, and I've been waiting half an
hour for either of them to come in. I can't stay any longer. Will you
give them a message from me? Say I've been over at Pendlemere Abbey, and
that I've made a most interesting discovery there. If they care to
communicate with me, I'll tell them about it. Here's my card with my
address. Now I must bolt to keep an appointment. You'll remember the
message?'

[Illustration: "O-O-O-OH! HOW GORGEOUS TO BELONG TO A HIGH-FALUTING
FAMILY THAT'S GOT LEGENDS AND GHOSTS!"]

"He flung his card on the table, went out of the room, and I heard the
hall door bang after him. I stood for a moment thinking. If I gave this
message, Mother would know that I had been out of bed and downstairs,
and I should be sure to get a tremendous scolding. I was a naughty
little girl in those days; I took the card, flung it on the fire, seized
_At the Back of the North Wind_ from the bookcase, and tore upstairs
again. Of course I caught cold, and had rather a serious relapse which
puzzled everybody. No one except myself knew the reason, and I took good
care not to tell. Only six months afterwards I lost both my father and
mother, and went to live with my aunt at Liverpool. What became of the
stranger I don't know. I didn't even remember his name."

"You weren't living at the Abbey then?"

"No, no! We never lived at the Abbey. It was sold before I was born. I
believe at that time it was empty, and a caretaker used to allow
tourists to look through it. I suppose that gentleman was a tourist."

"What had he found?"

"That's a question I've asked myself a hundred times. Was it a sliding
panel or a secret door? Or was he simply some antiquarian crank who
wanted to prove that the Abbey was of Norman origin, or built on a Roman
foundation? How I wish I hadn't forgotten his name! When I heard that
Pendlemere had been turned into a school I begged my aunt to send me
here. For a long time she wouldn't, and I went to a day-school. Then two
years ago she and uncle decided to send me to a boarding-school, so
again I asked to come here, and after a great deal of urging they let
me. I hoped I might find out something. I'm