"Indeed it isn't. I know no more about them than either of you children; but it's a most astonishing thing, and one I should like very much to have explained."
"Well, come out and have another look at the box," suggested Guy.
"Wait till your father's finished his tea," interposed Mrs. Ormond. "I wonder where Brian is all this time," she added. "I wish he were back. He'll be interested to hear of this discovery."
The children were so excited that they found it difficult to keep still. Guy especially wandered restlessly up and down the room as though he were a wild beast in a cage.
"I'll tell you what I believe it is," he exclaimed suddenly; "that old box has got either a false lid or a false bottom. That's where the papers were hidden, and in moving it about, the spring was somehow released, and they tumbled out."
After so many surprises, the young folks were ready to believe almost anything.
"Well, let's go out and see!" cried Ida.—"Father, you come when you've finished your tea."
Once more there was a rush to the tool-house, Guy, this time, borrowing a lamp from the kitchen, which gave a better light than the candle. Certainly this old box of Uncle Roger's seemed just the very sort of chest which one might expect to possess some concealed spring which, when touched, would disclose a secret hiding-place; but tapping and measurements inside and out proved that there was nothing in its construction which caused it to differ from any other oak chest strengthened with bands of iron.
"Well, this licks me!" exclaimed Guy, rising from his knees. "The only explanation I can give is that the thing must be enchanted."
"I should like to know what it all means," said Ida. "Perhaps father will be able to tell when he comes. I hope he won't be long."