the war on the very acres
my father inherited in Michigan. That's where I'm opening my camp."

"And the gold hasn't been found?" asked Archie deeply interested.

"Not a coin so far! You see grandfather made his will in war time and
only divided the land, being afraid to mention the buried treasure in a
document that would become a public record when he died."

"This is most exciting. It's only unfortunate that it's not pirate gold
to give zest to your enterprise."

"Oh, the pirate in the story is a cousin of mine, who inherited the land
up near the St. Lawrence and has dug all over it without results. My
father gave the Michigan scenery to me, but this cousin has been
digging on my land, most unwarrantably! He's rather a dashing young
person!"

Archie was so enthralled that he forgot the typewritten dietary he
always carried in his pocket and ate most of his portion of beef
tenderloin before he remembered that red meats were denied him. He laid
down his fork so abruptly that she asked him what was the matter.

"Nothing; only you've interested me so much that I've eaten a whole lot
of stuff that's positively forbidden. You've already scored a victory
over my specialists!"

"Splendid!" she cried. "Eat when you're hungry and never think about
your food. Don't let a mere piece of beef know that you're a coward.
Have you ever committed murder? You pale at the suggestion and yet a
pleasant little murder might be the very thing to set you on your feet
again!"

From time to time he caught Mrs. Featherstone's eyes fixed upon him
approvingly, and he knew that she was thinking that at last he had met a
girl who interested him. The impression that he was an invalid in
imminent peril of death caused his friends and acquaintances to talk to
him as though he were a sick child, and it was refreshing to find a girl
who openly chaffed him about his health and went the length of
prescribing a career of riotous crime as a cure for his ills. This was
enormously amusing for in prep school and college he had been guiltless
of the traditional pranks and in the six years that had elapsed since he
emerged into the world he had walked circumspectly in the eyes of all
men.

Isabel Perry was not afraid of him and she didn't treat him as girls
did who had an idea that if they talked to him very long he might faint
or even die on their hands. He noted her fine rounded arms and supple
fingers that spoke for strength, reflecting that very l