There was a yell from Guy. He, Ida, and Elsie all tore round and round the room in a state of frantic excitement.
"Hurrah! hurrah for old Uncle Roger!" cried the boy.
"But, father," exclaimed Ida, pausing at length, completely out of breath, "if he meant it to be yours, why did he make you wait twenty years?"
"I'm sure I can't explain," was the reply, "more than this, that he was a curious old fellow, and often did the most eccentric things. What puzzles me more than that is to know where these papers have suddenly sprung from. You say you found them in the box. When did you first discover that it had anything inside?"
"Only this afternoon," answered Guy. "We turned it up, and heard something slide along the bottom and go bump against the end."
"Then how in the world was it that when we opened the chest the other day it was empty?"
"We thought you must have put it in," murmured Ida. "It is strange. How can it have happened?"
"D'you think they really were in the box all those years?" asked Mrs. Ormond.
"Undoubtedly. Where else could they have been?"
"O father," cried Ida suddenly, "I believe you knew about them all the time! You took them away yourself just to tease us. It's some joke."