The Phantom Treasure

affairs strictly. Yet it was hard to do it in this environment. Jannet felt that Jan was joking considerably when he talked of the ghosts of the old house, but Paulina

o be entirely unshaken by the stories, especially when remembering the blue comforter. It had

would make the most of it. Forsaking Chick and his other friends, Jan devoted himself to taking Jannet riding over the f

" Jan told her, and on the land of her ancestors. With this she was quite content. She liked Nell Clyde and f

etje Jan, and they all had several rides together on the roads near home. As Nell was being tutored at home, Jannet expected to have her companionship after the boys had gone back to school. Tom

ake any inquiry concerning them. At odd times she browsed among her uncle's books and it was when she opened one of them that she

ing the pages of the book to see whether it looked interesting or not. But seeing th

looking at it. Surely,-well, how odd! "Please, please, Pieter, help me find them," it said. "I have"-here the paper was torn, but below in the irregula

mother to Uncle Pieter," thoug

oor, across a tiny path between tulip beds to the old door with its queer knocker. Soon she was in her room and at the desk. It was scarcely wo

r interest, too, because less distracted by the newness of everything as at first. Jannet admired the rich beauty of the desk, although she di

riting she found in them. Quickly she learned to recognize her mother's hand. She was scarcely old enough to appreciate the

date at the head and the accounts that followed. In a moment she was bending over it with deep interest. One day's account recorded what had been said of her mother's singing at a priv

I have not worn them since, and they are gone! It is a great loss in money as well. Father made some sacrifices to raise the sum necessary for my pearls,-but he would do it. I was to have them, and Pieter did not like it, of course. He just smiled when I told him that I had

nd I really are going to be married, Douglas boy,-we could sell a pearl or two, or the whole necklace. Perhaps I shall find them ye

k. But someway, I imagine from her letter that she is not real happy about her boy's getting married at all. Perhaps it is just as well for her to get used to the idea be

trying to write it all down," Jannetje Van Meter had written at the close. "And to write of my thoughts and feelings abo

of course, it would be natural, if she had died before her husband. But if she had been carried off in an epidemic, that would be the reason why her grave would be out West. Then "Gramma" would want her son buried in the Eldon lot. That was it. Jannet had once visi

well sorted, Jannet found a note book and drew out several sheets of writing paper pinned together. True to her promise, Miss Hilliard had l

to her grandmother, because she "ought to," One of the

tell you all that I know when I feel stronger. The nurse is writing for me. I never saw your mother and the only letters I have had from her were destroyed by mistake. They were to stop on their way to New

own near by. I took you both from the train and to a hospital in the nearest place, a hospital of which I happened to know. Both of you were ill for weeks and after it was all over and I could think of sending for any of your father's things, it was t

y had so little interest, I was only too glad to have my boy's little girl to myse

t. Even there, her grandmother had not mentioned names, and Miss Hilliard said that

laid this letter, with the scrap from the book, with them. That scrap must refer to the l

the worn place, thinking of Aladdin's lamp, but nothing happened. Then she noticed a tiny glint of brass by the ridge and pressed it with the point of her knife. There! a drawer, sticking a little, began to move out. Jannet inser

m she took hold of the glistening strand and drew it up, letting the loops of pearls unfold from their long curling. What wonderfu

cture. Yes, she had worn these when that photograph was taken. Why had Jannet not thought of that when she read the diary just now? She looked at the shimmering little pile t

earls on her neck. She would like to wear them all the time, she thought, but she sighed as she thought of their value. How many things might have happened to them in these years, and why had

t right. A more peculiar circumstance than s

d know her uncle a little better first before she made a confidant of him. And if she did tell him about the pearls, or the scrap of paper, for that matter, she would have somebody else p

ve the surroundings a rub with her handkerchief, for want of a duster, and then closed the desk just in t

the call, with the

n the door, for she had slipped the bolt

adding, when the door was opened, "and worse luck, I've got to go back

'm aching for a ride. Will you g

Jannet, elated with her discovery, the mystery of it all, and the pr