Polly and Eleanor

by Lillian Elizabeth Roy

Ken stood up and looked at her with a broad smile. As he waited thus, she was struck by the singular look that was so like her old friend's.

"That gold mine we told you boys about, was first found and staked by a white-haired man who called himself Montresor. He lost it again in just the same way as we did—a land-slide buried it and his stakes, and no one could locate it again.

"Then he died and left his claim to me. I always believed he had one, but every one else laughed at him and said he was crazy. Father was good to him after the mine was lost, and took his part when folks jeered. When he died, Daddy paid for the funeral and has the certificate where he is buried. But we never learned who he was, except the fact that he came from the East, although we advertised a lot.

"Just the day you arrived in Oak Creek, Mr. Simms, our lawyer, read a letter which Old Man Montresor left. It was written to a wife and child, but there was no name or address on it. Then I heard how father spent lots of money trying to identify the dear old man and trace his relatives but to no account.

"When we first saw you, we-all were impressed with your resemblance to our old friend. So now I want to ask you if there ever was any one in your family who went to the Klondike and was reported lost there?"

"Wh-y, ye-es, there is some such story in our family, but I do not know the exact truth about it. And we seldom discussed it as mother always felt badly afterwards.

"As far as I can understand it, my mother's only brother Peter was a clever mining engineer in the East, but he was too ambitious to be contented with his income. Mother says it was his wife who wanted to spend money like water, who finally urged him to try his luck in Alaska—and he left home to seek wealth in the Klondike.

"He placed all the money he had in the bank for his family, and left Aunt Ada and my Cousin Gail with sufficient to live on if they were economical. But my Aunt was not content with a simple home and a meager income, and thought to add to her comfort and wealth by starting a fine boarding-house.

"She knew nothing about the business, however, and soon lost all the money she had been left with and then she ran in debt. When her investment was sold out, she came to us for help. She and Cousin Gail lived with us for two years; then Aunt Ada had pneumonia and died. She begged us to adopt Gail as she had never heard from Uncle after he wrote to her to send him money to get out of Nome. But she had none, so she never told mother about this letter; we would have helped poor Uncle.

"As it was a year since he wrote that letter, and he was in wretched health while in the far North, mother felt sure that he had succumbed to the cold and his discouragement. Aunt Ada left a note in which she said that Gail and I were to share like brother and sister in anything Uncle Peter left us.