"No, no, mother, I did not say that; I mean that a girl who will give up a good chance in life—as this probably was to her—just to stay at home and help her mother, is not a common, vulgar girl, but has the making of a lady in her."
"Herbert, Herbert," said his mother, smiling.
"You forget, mother, her mother is your sister, very likely; so why shouldn't she be a lady? Now, what are you going to do?" he asked, the next minute.
"Do! What do you mean? Are we not going to look through this bag?"
"But—but—mother, you will surely write a letter to the governess of this school, and ask her to tell you where this Elsie Winn lives. You can find out easily enough that way whether her mother is my lost aunt. And, of course, they will be very glad of the money that is waiting for them."
His mother smiled at his eagerness. "I will write to Capon by-and-bye, and ask him to make enquiries about these people, as this may prove to be a clue."
"Oh, mother! And I shall be away at school before you can hear anything," he said, impatiently.
"My dear boy, suppose these people should be total strangers, what good could be done? No, no, we must wait and let Mr. Capon write, or send a messenger, to find out what he can about these people; and then, of course, if it should be your aunt, why, I will go and see her."
"Thank you, mother. I really should like to feel that I have a cousin of some sort; and this Elsie I could be proud of, because it was a plucky thing to give up a scholarship after she had won it, and I should like to feel that I had a cousin like that."
Mrs. Milner thought the matter was disposed of when she had given this promise; but her son fetched writing materials at once, that she might send to the lawyer without delay. For he was anxious to have some further tidings of this Elsie Winn, nearly a year having passed since the letter was written; and there was no telling what might have happened during that time, especially as her father had died, and he could not have been a wealthy man, or his daughter would not have worked for a scholarship to enable her to go to a higher grade school. And it seemed likely that his aunt would have to work for herself and her children now, as this girl had to stay at home and help.