e he
has!"

"He is as good as he looks," said Carol, enthusiastically. "Next to
Father, Mr. Swift is the nicest man in the world. I have always been
quite a pet of his. His wife is dead, and so is his only daughter. She
was a lovely girl and died only two years ago. It nearly broke Mr.
Swift's heart. And he has lived alone ever since in that great big
house up at the head of Warner Street, the one you admired so, Ruth,
the last time we were uptown. There's the bell for the second time,
Mary can't have heard it. I'll go myself."

As Carol showed the caller into the room, Ruth rose to leave and thus
came face to face with him. Mr. Swift started perceptibly.

"Mr. Swift, this is my school friend, Miss Mannering," said Carol.

Mr. Swift seemed strangely agitated as he took Ruth's timidly offered
hand.

"My dear young lady," he said hurriedly, "I am going to ask you what
may seem a very strange question. What was your mother's name?"

"Agnes Hastings," answered Ruth in surprise. And then Carol really
thought that Mr. Swift had gone crazy, for he drew Ruth into his arms
and kissed her.

"I knew it," he said. "I was sure you were Agnes' daughter, for you
are the living image of what she was when I last saw her. Child, you
don't know me, but I am your Uncle Robert. Your mother was my
half-sister."

"Oh, Mr. Swift!" cried Carol, and then she ran for her mother.

Ruth turned pale and dropped into a chair, and Mr. Swift sat down
beside her.

"To think that I have found you at last, child. How puzzled you look.
Did your mother never speak of me? How is she? Where is she?"

"Mother died last year," said Ruth.

"Poor Agnes! And I never knew! Don't cry, little girl. I want you to
tell me all about it. She was much younger than I was, and when our
mother died my stepfather went away and took her with him. I remained
with my father's people and eventually lost all trace of my sister. I
was a poor boy then, but things have looked up with me and I have
often tried to find her."

By this time Carol had returned with her father and mother, and there
was a scene--laughing, crying, explaining--and I don't really know
which of the two girls was the more excited, Carol or Ruth. As for Mr.
Swift, he was overjoyed to find his niece and wanted to carry her off
with him then and there, but Mrs. Golden insisted on her finishing her
visit. When the question of returning to Oaklawn came up, Mr. Swift
would not hear of it at first, bu