tory in? It would make a whopper, it would! I'll
carry the boys away with me, and I won't let on a bit, and I'll come
back surely. Just this once, may I? I never had a chance before?"

It struck even Towsley himself as an odd circumstance that he should
ask this permission; he who had never before consulted anybody as to
his goings or comings; or that he should wait so eagerly for her
reply.

But Miss Lucy scarcely heard him. She was thinking of something else.
The clasp of those young arms about her neck thrilled her with a joy
unspeakable. With such an expression as it now wore, Towsley's face
seemed, indeed, that of the lost, innocent Lionel restored to life.
She was ready and anxious to give him all he desired, even to the half
of her kingdom; and she comprehended less of what he was just then
saying, than what he had so greatly desired on the previous evening.

"Yes, my dear. You may. We will certainly hire the great stage, and
give a ride to as many as it will hold. You shall tell me just what
you want, and I will gratify you if it is possible."

"Thank you--oh! thank you!" he cried, and dashed a kiss at her. At
that moment, however, he was more loyal to his paper than generous to
his friends, and he ran out hastily.

His mates beheld and construed this action after their own way.

"Pshaw! She's give him the go-by. He ain't no swell. Anybody could
work the 'doption racket for just one night, he could. Let's chase
him. If she's give him money, he must treat!" cried Battles
contemptuously.

So, in a twinkling, the place was deserted, and Miss Lucy sat alone
trying to understand just what had happened.

The silence about her was complete, and continued for a long time.

"What did he mean? Evidently not what I did, or had in mind," pondered
the perplexed mistress of the house on the Avenue; and, as if in
answer to her unspoken question, again there fell upon the stillness
that startling, inexplicable ringing of a bell.

"Oh oh! There is that uncanny sound again! What can cause it? I don't
wonder the servants are frightened. I am, myself; though I know, of
course, there are no such things as ghosts. And yet----"

As if in derision of her doubt, once more the bell pealed; this time
both for long and violently.

CHAPTER VII.

THE END OF IT ALL.

Breathless with haste and excitement, Towsley rushed into the
editorial rooms of the _Express_ office and sank into the nearest
chair to recover himself