"Gracious!" cried Marcia, frowning over the queer jargon. "I can't make a thing out of it—or at least I couldn't if he hadn't put the English right alongside of the others. Oh, this must be the name!—'chok-gàk ê lâng'-'maker of melodies.' Did you ever hear of such heathenish sounds? Well, now we'll see what Major Goodrich has to say to that. Father, will you send it right off to him?"
"At once!" announced the captain. "I'm just about as anxious as you folks, now, to get this mystery explained."
But the singular thing was that somehow the girls could not bring themselves to tell Cecily much about these latest developments. They thought it would make her feel strange and anxious to realize that there was a possibility of her being in any way related to a Chinese mandarin's daughter.
"And besides," remarked Janet, suddenly, when they were discussing it, "that's perfectly impossible, anyway, because her mother was English, and Cecily has lived with her all these years. So this talk about mandarin's daughters and things is perfectly ridiculous!"
"That's so!" echoed Marcia, in relief. "I didn't think of it at first. But, anyway, let's not tell Cecily about it till we know more. I do wish Aunt Minerva were here! I haven't written her about all this because there's so much to explain. I'd rather wait and tell her when she gets back. She said she was only going to be gone a little while, and here it's nearly two weeks!"
In three days an answer arrived from the major, and, as luck would have it, Cecily herself brought the letter upstairs with her as she came in.
"The postman was just going to drop it in your box," she explained, "and I asked him to let me take it to you, and save you the trouble of coming down for it." And she held it out to the captain.
"Aha!" he cried, as he caught sight of the writing. "Now we'll hear some news! Why—what's the matter?" He had just glimpsed Marcia and Janet frantically signaling to him behind Cecily's back. "Don't you want me to open it?"
"Oh, not now," explained Marcia, as nonchalantly as she could. "I want Cecily to come out to the kitchen and help us make some fudge. Later will do." And she dragged the wondering Cecily down the hall, while the captain stared after them muttering, "Well! of all the—"