“Hello, boys!” yelled the Rovers’ hired man, as soon as he was within hailing distance. “Got a very particular letter fer you!” And he waved the communication in the air.
“What is it, Jack?” demanded Dick, quickly.
“You jess read the letter, and you’ll find out as quick as I kin tell you,” answered the man.
“Anybody sick or hurt?” asked Sam.
“Nobuddy hurt—leas’wise not in body, an’ nobuddy sick nuther, in the ordinary way. But I reckon your friends from Cedarville is putty sick all the way through, when they think of their loss.”
Dick snatched the letter and glanced at it. It was in his father’s handwriting and bore only a few lines, as follows:
“Just received a telegram from Mrs. Stanhope, wanting to know if I had received her money, as asked for? Telegraphed back that I had not asked for money and had received none. Then she telegraphed that she had sent money to a certain place at my request. I don’t understand this at all. I fear something is wrong, and I am going to Cedarville without delay. Better come home and wait to hear from me.”
“Mrs. Stanhope’s money?” mused Dick, as he handed the letter to his brothers. “Can she mean the fortune from Treasure Isle?”
“More than likely,” answered Tom. “Before we came away father told me she has said something about investing it through him. He was to let her know when he wanted the money.”
“But he says in this letter that he didn’t send for the money,” put in Sam.