And none of the party was a whit disappointed in the great exposition. In fact, it was far beyond expectations. For two weeks they remained in the California metropolis, spending every minute possible upon the large exposition grounds overlooking the Golden Gate and the broad expanse to the Pacific.
When the time came for them to betake themselves homeward, it was with regret that they realized it would be long before they could again hope to see the beauties of the far-off state of California.
There remains yet one incident to be told.
Two weeks after their return home, Mabel received a registered package postmarked Rome, Italy. Eagerly she ran to her room with it, where she opened it in solitude; nor could she repress a cry of admiration when she drew out a beautifully bejeweled cross, patterned after the Iron Cross of Germany—the Iron Cross with which the German Emperor decorates his troops for bravery.
With it there was a brief note, with the signature “Captain Von Blusen.”
Looking closer at the piece of paper on which the message was written, Mabel perceived a seal of peculiar design. She ran hastily for her dictionary, and turned to the seals of the various nations.
There was a striking similarity between the seal on the paper and the Imperial German seal, as reproduced, in colors, in her big dictionary.
For perhaps half an hour the girl sat silent, musing.
“Can it be possible?” she asked herself at last “I wonder——”
She rushed downstairs to consult Shirley, who at that moment was holding a tete-a-tete with Dick on the sunny front porch.