The next instant she dropped it again, a quick, startled cry breaking from her.
The receptacle was packed full of papers!
With a very grave face Lady Bromley arose from the floor, carefully placed the cricket in one corner of the room, and dropped an afghan over it.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE WINCHESTER HEIRLOOM.
“Gerald,” said her ladyship that same evening, upon coming up from their dinner, “how far back do you know your family history?”
Gerald turned to his friend with some surprise at this question, and then his fine face clouded.
“Not very far,” he gravely returned. “The most that I know is that—a long time ago—some of my ancestors came to this country from England. I have heard Aunt Honor speak of her great-grandfather, on her mother’s side, being a Scotch Presbyterian minister. Her grand-father was a blacksmith, her father a physician, and——”