ll let Roger and me count
your guineas for you."

"Count my guineas?" cried Miss Merriam.

"Certainly they're your guineas. You're a direct descendant of
Algernon and Patience. The bag and its contents belong to you."

Gertrude stared at Mr. Emerson as if she could not understand him.

"Mine?" she repeated, "mine?" but when Mr. Emerson insisted and the
other elders congratulated her and the girls kissed her and Roger shook
hands formally, she began, to realize that this little fortune really
was hers by right and not through the kindness of her friends.

The count of the coins proved exact. There were 569 of them.

"Here are the two that fell on the floor when we were hammering," said
Roger, laying them on the table. "They make 571."

"And here is the one that Ayleesabet found," added Mr. Emerson, drawing
it from his pocket. "That is the five hundred and seventy-second.
Young Vladimir's trophy has gone for good, I'm afraid. He must have
sold it to some passer-by who knew enough to realize that it was a
valuable coin and wasn't honest enough to hunt for the owner or to pay
the child its full value."

"Every one of the 573 is accounted for, anyway," declared Roger. "You
won't think it impertinent if I figure out how much you're worth, will
you Miss Gertrude?"

"I shall be glad if you will," she answered.

"A guinea is 21 shillings and a shilling is about 24 cents in
American money. That makes a guinea worth about $5.04. Five
hundred-and-seventy-two times that makes $2882.88."

"Almost three thousand dollars!" exclaimed Gertrude, her face radiant;
"why--why now--" she broke off suddenly and hid her face on Mrs.
Smith's shoulder, sobbing.

"Now I can pay all my indebtedness and be free to do what I please,"
she said to her friend in an undertone.

Mrs. Smith patted her gently, for she knew what it was she wanted to be
free to do.

"This fortune is going to mount up to more than three thousand
dollars," declared Mr. Emerson. "There isn't a coin here that was
minted later than 1774. There can't be, because Algernon came to this
country in the early part of 1775. Pile them up according to the dates
on them, children, and let's see what there is that will appeal to the
dealer in antiquities."

"At that rate every coin here, even the youngest, is worth more than
$5.04," exclaimed Roger.

"You get the idea, my son," smiled his grandfather. "We'll sell these
coins separately for Miss Gertrude and