length observed the tree in question.

A great pollard oak it was, standing upon the very edge of the stream,
easily distinguishable by its unusual size and the fact that at some
time or another it had been riven by lightning. After all, the Imp's
description had been in the main correct; it was "fat," immensely fat:
and I hurried joyfully forward.

I was still some way off when I saw the distant flutter of a white
skirt, and--yes, sure enough, there was Lisbeth, walking quickly too,
and she was a great deal nearer the tree than I.

Prompted by a sudden conviction, I dropped my rod and began to run.
Immediately Lisbeth began running, too. I threw away my creel and
sprinted for all I was worth. I had earned some small fame at this
sort of thing in my university days, yet I arrived at the tree with
only a very few yards to spare. Throwing myself upon my knees, I
commenced a feverish search, and presently--more by good fortune than
any thing else--my random fingers encountered a soft, silken bundle.
When Lisbeth came up, flushed and panting, I held them in my hands.

"Give them to me!" she cried.

"I'm sorry--"

"Please," she begged.

"I'm very sorry--"

"Mr. Brent." said Lisbeth, drawing her self up, "I'll trouble you for
my--them."

"Pardon me, Lisbeth," I answered, "but if I remember anything of the
law of 'treasure-trove' one of these should go to the Crown, and one
belongs to me."

Lisbeth grew quite angry--one of her few bad traits.

"You will give them up at once--immediately?

"On the contrary," I said very gently, "seeing the Crown can have no
use for one, I shall keep them both to dream over when the nights are
long and lonely."

Lisbeth actually stamped her foot at me, and I tucked "them" into my
pocket.

"How did you know they--they were here?" she inquired after a pause.

"I was directed to a tree with 'stickie-out' branches," I answered.

"Oh, that Imp!" she exclaimed, and stamped her foot again.

"Do you know, I've grown quite attached to that nephew of mine
already?" I said.

"He's not a nephew of yours," cried Lisbeth quite hotly.

"Not legally, perhaps; that is where you might be of such assistance to
us Lisbeth. A boy with only an aunt here and there is unbalanced, so
to speak; he requires the stronger influence of an uncle. Not," I
continued hastily, "that I would depreciate aunts--by the way, he has
but one, I believe?" Lisbeth nodded coldly.

"Of course," I nodded; "