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diff --git a/old/69521-0.txt b/old/69521-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d65a35d..0000000 --- a/old/69521-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3086 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Surprise house, by Abbie Farwell Brown - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Surprise house - -Author: Abbie Farwell Brown - -Illustrator: Helen Mason Grose - -Release Date: December 10, 2022 [eBook #69521] - -Language: English - -Produced by: David E. Brown and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SURPRISE HOUSE *** - - - - - -By Abbie Farwell Brown - - - SURPRISE HOUSE. Illustrated. - - KISINGTON TOWN. Illustrated. - - SONGS OF SIXPENCE. Illustrated. - - THEIR CITY CHRISTMAS. Illustrated. - - THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL. Illustrated. - - JOHN OF THE WOODS. Illustrated. - - FRESH POSIES. Illustrated. - - FRIENDS AND COUSINS. Illustrated. - - BROTHERS AND SISTERS. Illustrated. - - THE STAR JEWELS AND OTHER WONDERS. Illustrated. - - THE FLOWER PRINCESS. Illustrated. - - THE CURIOUS BOOK OF BIRDS. Illustrated. - - A POCKETFUL OF POSIES. Illustrated. - - IN THE DAYS OF GIANTS. Illustrated. - - THE BOOK OF SAINTS AND FRIENDLY BEASTS. Illustrated. - - THE LONESOMEST DOLL. Illustrated. - - - HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - BOSTON AND NEW YORK - - - - -Surprise House - - - - -[Illustration: “I DIDN’T!” PROTESTED JOHN. “IT WAS--SOMETHING, I DON’T -KNOW WHAT--THAT SPOKE” (_Page 19_)] - - - - - SURPRISE - HOUSE - - BY - - Abbie Farwell Brown - - _With Illustrations_ - - [Illustration] - - BOSTON AND NEW YORK - HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - The Riverside Press Cambridge - 1917 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN COMPANY - COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY ABBIE FARWELL BROWN - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - _Published October 1917_ - - - - - --_And I as rich in having such a jewel - As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, - The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold._ - - - - -Contents - - - I. THE HOUSE 1 - - II. THE LIBRARY 10 - - III. A VISITOR 17 - - IV. THE BOOKS 25 - - V. INSTRUCTIONS 34 - - VI. THE LANTERN 43 - - VII. CALIBAN 50 - - VIII. THE BUST 58 - - IX. THE ATTIC 72 - - X. THE PORTRAIT POINTS 84 - - XI. GEMS FROM SHAKESPEARE 91 - - XII. THE PARTY 99 - - NOTE:--Thanks are due to the publishers of _The Young Churchman_ for - courteous permission to reprint chapters of this book which appeared - as a serial in that publication under the title of “Aunt Nan’s - Legacy.” - - - - -Illustrations - - - “I DIDN’T!” PROTESTED JOHN. “IT WAS--SOMETHING, - I DON’T KNOW WHAT--THAT SPOKE” _Frontispiece_ - - “OH, KATY, WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE AUNT NAN - MEANT THIS TIME?” 62 - - THINGS THAT HAD BEEN WAITING THROUGH GENERATIONS - OF AUNT NAN’S ANCESTORS FOR SOME ONE TO MAKE - THEM USEFUL 80 - - “OH, THEY ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL,” SAID MARY 96 - - _From drawings by Helen Mason Grose._ - - - - -SURPRISE HOUSE - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE HOUSE - - -On the main street of Crowfield stood a little old red house, with a -gabled roof, a pillared porch, and a quaint garden. For many weeks it -had been quite empty, the shutters closed and the doors locked; ever -since the death of Miss Nan Corliss, the old lady who had lived there -for years and years. - -It began to have the lonesome look which a house has when the heart has -gone out of it and nobody puts a new heart in. The garden was growing -sad and careless. The flowers drooped and pouted, and leaned peevishly -against one another. Only the weeds seemed glad,--as undisturbed weeds -do,--and made the most of their holiday to grow tall and impertinent -and to crowd their more sensitive neighbors out of their very beds. - -But one September day something happened to the old house. A lady and -gentleman, a big girl and a little boy, came walking over the slate -stones between the rows of sulky flowers. The gentleman, who was tall -and thin and pale, opened the front door with a key bearing a huge tag, -and cried:-- - -“Good-day, Crowfield! Welcome your new friends to their new home. We -greet you kindly, old house. Be good to us!” - -“What a dear house!” said the lady, as they entered the front hall. “I -know I am going to like it. This paneled woodwork is beautiful.” - -“Open the windows, John, so that we can see what we are about,” said -Dr. Corliss. - -John shoved up the dusty windows and pushed out the queer little wooden -shutters, and a flood of September sunshine poured into the old house, -chasing away the shadows. It was just as if the house took a long -breath and woke up from its nap. - -“What a funny place to live in!” cried Mary. “It’s like a museum.” - -“Whew!” whistled John. “I bet we’ll have fun here.” - -The hallway in which they stood did, indeed, seem rather like the -entrance to a museum, as Mary Corliss said. On the white paneled walls -which Mrs. Corliss admired were hanging all sorts of queer things: -huge shells, and ships in glass cases, stuffed fishes, weapons, and -china-ware. On a shelf between the windows stood a row of china cats, -blue, red, green, and yellow, grinning mischievously at the family -who confronted them. On the floor were rugs of bright colors, and odd -chairs and tables sprawled about like quadrupeds ready to run. - -“Gee!” whispered John Corliss, “don’t they look as if they were just -ready to bark and mew and wow at us? Do you suppose it’s welcome or -unwelcome, Daddy?” - -“Oh, welcome, of course!” said Dr. Corliss. “I dare say they remember -me, at least, though it’s thirty years since I was in this house. -Thirty years! Just think of it!” - -They were in the parlor now, which had been Miss Corliss’s “best room.” -And this was even queerer than the hallway had been. It was crowded -with all sorts of collections in cabinets, trophies on the walls, -pictures, and ornaments. - -Dr. Corliss looked around with a chuckle. “Hello!” he cried. “Here are -a lot of the old relics I remember so well seeing when I was a boy, -visiting Aunt Nan in the summer-time. Yes, there’s the old matchlock -over the door; and here’s the fire-bucket, and the picture of George -Washington’s family. I expect Aunt Nan didn’t change anything here in -all the thirty years since she let any of her relatives come to see -her. Yes, there’s the wax fruit in the glass jar--just as toothsome as -ever! There’s the shell picture she made when she was a girl. My! How -well I remember everything!” - -They moved from room to room of the old house, flinging open the blinds -and letting fresh air and sunshine in upon the strange furniture and -decorations. Mrs. Corliss looked about with increasing bewilderment. -How was she ever to make this strange place look like their home? Aunt -Nan and her queer ways seemed stamped upon everything. - -“It’s a funny collection of things, Owen!” she laughed to her husband. -“All this furniture is mine, I suppose, according to Aunt Nan’s will. -But I am glad we have some things of our own to bring and make it seem -more like a truly home. Otherwise I should feel, as Mary says, as if we -were living in a kind of museum.” - -“We can change it as much as we like, by and by,” her husband reassured -her. - -“What a funny old lady Great-Aunt Nan must have been, Daddy!” said -John, who had been examining a hooked rug representing a blue cat -chasing a green mouse. “Did she make this, do you think?” - -“Oh, yes,” said Dr. Corliss. “I remember seeing her working at it. She -hooked all these rugs. It was one of her favorite amusements. She was -strange enough, I believe. I can remember some of the weird things she -used to do when I was a lad. She used to put on a man’s coat and hat -and shovel coal or snow like any laborer. She was always playing tricks -on somebody, or making up a game about what she happened to be doing. -We must expect surprises and mysteries about the house as we come to -live here. It wouldn’t be Aunt Nan’s house without them.--Hello!” - -John had sat down on a little three-legged stool in the corner; and -suddenly he went _bump!_ on the floor. The legs of the stool had spread -as if of their own accord and let him down. - -“That was one of Aunt Nan’s jokes, I remember!” laughed Dr. Corliss. -“Oh, yes! I got caught myself once in the same way when I was a boy.” - -“Tell about it, Father,” said Mary. - -“Well; I was about your age, John,--about ten; and I was terribly -bashful. One day when I was visiting Aunt Nan the minister came to -call. And though I tried to escape out of the back door, Aunt Nan spied -me and made me come in to shake hands. As soon as I could I sidled away -into a corner, hoping he would forget about me. - -“This innocent little stool stood there by the stuffed bird cabinet, -just as it does now, and I sat down on it very quietly. Then _bump!_ -I went on to the floor, just as John did. Only I was not so lucky. I -lost my balance and kicked my heels up almost in the minister’s face. -I can tell you I was mortified! And Aunt Nan laughed. But the minister -was very nice about it, I will say. I remember he only smiled kindly -and said, ‘A little weak in the legs,--eh, John? I’m glad my stool in -church isn’t like that, Miss Corliss. I’d never trust you to provide me -with furniture,--eh, what?’” - -“I don’t think that was a bit funny joke,” spluttered John, who had got -to his feet looking very red. - -“Neither do I,” said his mother. “I hate practical jokes. I hope we -shan’t meet any more of this sort.” - -“You never can tell!” Dr. Corliss chuckled reminiscently. - -“What a horrid mirror!” exclaimed Mary, peering into the glass of a -fine gilt frame. “See! It makes me look as broad as I am long, and ugly -as a hippopotamus. The idea of putting this in the parlor!” - -“Probably she meant that to keep her guests from growing conceited,” -suggested Dr. Corliss with a grin. “But we shall not need to have it -here if we don’t like it. There’s plenty of room in the attic, if I -remember rightly.” - -“Yes, we shall have to change a great many things,” said Mrs. Corliss, -who had been moving about the room all by herself. “What do you suppose -is in that pretty carved box on the mantel?” - -“It’s yours, Mother. Why don’t you open it?” said John eagerly. - -Mrs. Corliss lifted the cover and started back with a scream. For out -sprang what looked like a real snake, straight into her face. - -“Oh! Is it alive?” cried Mary, shuddering. - -But John had picked up the Japanese paper snake and was dangling it -merrily to reassure his mother. “I’ve seen those before,” he grinned. -“The boys had them at school once.” - -“Come, come!” frowned Dr. Corliss. “That was really too bad of Aunt -Nan. She knew that almost everybody hates snakes, though she didn’t -mind them herself. I’ve often seen her put a live one in her pocket -and bring it home to look at.” - -“Ugh!” shuddered Mrs. Corliss. “I hope they don’t linger about -anywhere. I see I shall have to clean the whole house thoroughly from -top to bottom. And if I find any more of these jokes--!” Mrs. Corliss -nodded her head vigorously, implying bad luck to any snakes that might -be playing hide-and-seek in house or garden. - -Secretly John thought all this was great fun, and he dashed ahead of -the rest of the family on their tour of the house, hoping to find still -other proofs of Aunt Nan’s special kind of humor. But to the relief of -Mary and her mother the rest of their first exploring expedition was -uneventful. - -They visited dining-room and kitchen and pantry, and the room that was -to be Dr. Corliss’s study. Then they climbed the stairs to the bedroom -floor, where there were three pretty little chambers. They took a peep -into the attic; but even there, in the crowded shadows and cobwebs, -nothing mysterious happened. It was a nice old house where the family -felt that they were going to be very happy and contented. - -Down the stairs they came once more, to the door of the ell which they -had not yet visited. It was a brown wooden door with a glass knob. - -“Well, here is your domain, Mary!” said Dr. Corliss, pausing and -pointing to the door with a smile. “This is your library, my daughter. -Have you the key ready?” - -Yes, indeed, Mary had the key ready; a great key tagged carefully,--as -all the other keys of Aunt Nan’s property had been,--this one bearing -the legend: “LIBRARY. Property of Mary Corliss.” - -“Here is the key, Father,” said Mary, stepping up proudly. “Let me -put it in myself. Oh, I hope there are no horrid jokes in here!” And -she hesitated a moment before fitting the key in the lock of her -library--her very own library! - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE LIBRARY - - -According to the will left by that eccentric old lady, Miss Nan -Corliss, her nephew, Dr. Corliss,--whom she had not seen for thirty -years,--was to receive the old house at Crowfield. His wife inherited -all the furniture of the old house, except what was in the library. -John Corliss, the only grandnephew, was to have two thousand dollars to -send him to college when he should be old enough to go. And to Mary, -the unknown grandniece whom she had never seen, Aunt Nan had declared -should belong “my library room at Crowfield, with everything therein -remaining.” - -Mary was now going to see what her library was like, and what therein -remained. She drew a long breath, turned the key, pushed open the -door, and peered cautiously into the room, half expecting something to -jump out at her. But nothing of the sort happened. John pushed her in -impatiently, and they all followed, eager, as John said, to see “what -sister had drawn.” Dr. Corliss himself had never been inside this room, -Aunt Nan’s most sacred corner. - -What they saw was a plain, square room, with shelves from floor to -ceiling packed tightly with rows of solemn-looking books. In one corner -stood a tall clock, over the top of which perched a stuffed crow, black -and stern. In the center of the room was a table-desk, with papers -scattered about, just as Aunt Nan had left it weeks before. On the -mantel above the fireplace was a bust of Shakespeare and some smaller -ornaments, with an old tin lantern. Above the Shakespeare hung a -portrait of a lady with gray curls, in an old-fashioned dress, holding -a book in her hand. The other hand was laid upon her breast with the -forefinger extended as if pointing. - -“Hello!” said Dr. Corliss when he spied the portrait, “this is Aunt Nan -herself as she looked when I last saw her; and a very good likeness it -is.” - -“She looks like a witch!” said John. “See what funny eyes she has!” - -“Sh! John! You mustn’t talk like that about your great-aunt,” corrected -his mother. “She has been very good to us all. You must at least be -respectful.” - -“She was eccentric, certainly,” said Dr. Corliss. “But she meant to -be kind, I am sure. I never knew why she refused to see any of her -family, all of a sudden--some whim, I suppose. She came to be a sort of -hermitess after a while. She loved her books more than anything in the -world. It meant a great deal that she wanted you to have them, Mary.” - -“I wish she had left _me_ two thousand dollars!” said Mary, pouting. -“These old books don’t look very interesting. I want to go to college -more than John does. But I don’t suppose I ever can, now.” - -“Books are rather useful, whether one goes to college or not,” her -father reminded her. “She needn’t have left you anything, Mary. She -never even saw you--or John either, for that matter. She hadn’t seen me -since I was married. I take it very kindly of her to have remembered us -so generously. I thought her pet hospital would receive everything.” - -“What do you suppose became of her jewelry, Owen?” asked Mrs. Corliss -in an undertone. “I thought she might leave that to Mary, the only girl -in the family. But there was no mention of it in her will.” - -“She must have sold it for the benefit of her hospital. She was very -generous to that charity,” said Dr. Corliss. - -Mary and John had been poking about the library to see if they -could find anything “queer.” But it all seemed disappointingly -matter-of-fact. They stopped in front of the tall clock which had not -been wound up for weeks. - -“We’ll have to start the clock, Father,” said Mary. “The old crow looks -as if he expected us to.” - -“The key is probably inside the clock case,” said Dr. Corliss, opening -the door. - -Sure enough, there was the key hanging on a peg. And tied to it was -the usual tag. But instead of saying “Clock Key,” as one would have -expected, this tag bore these mysterious words in the handwriting which -Mary knew was Aunt Nan’s: “_Look under the raven’s wing._” - -“Now, what in the world does that mean?” asked Mary, staring about the -room. “What did she mean by ‘the raven,’ do you suppose?” - -“I guess she means the old crow up there,” cried John, pointing at the -stuffed bird over the clock. - -“Do you suppose she meant that, Father?” asked Mary again, looking -rather ruefully at the ominous crow. - -“Maybe she meant that,” said her father, sitting down in a library -chair to await what would happen. “But I believe this is another of -Aunt Nan’s little jokes. It sounds so to me.” - -“Pooh! It’s just an old April Fool, I bet!” jeered John. - -Mary still stared at what Aunt Nan called “the raven,” and wondered. -“Under which wing am I to look?” she thought. Finally she gathered -courage to reach up her hand toward the right wing, very cautiously. -She half expected that the creature might come alive and nip her. But -nothing happened. There was nothing under the right wing but moth-eaten -feathers, some of which came off in Mary’s fingers. - -“I’ll try the other wing,” said Mary to herself. She poked her fingers -under the old bird’s left wing. Yes! There was something there. -Something dangled by a hidden string from the wing-bone of Aunt Nan’s -raven. Mary pulled, and presently something came away. In her hand she -held a little gold watch and chain. On the case was engraved the letter -_C_, which was of course as truly Mary’s initial as it had been Aunt -Nan Corliss’s. - -“Why, it is Aunt Nan’s watch, sure enough!” said Dr. Corliss, beaming. -“Well, Mary! I declare, that is something worth while. You needed a -watch, my dear. But I don’t know when I could ever have bought a gold -one for you. This is a beauty.” - -“It’s a bird of a watch!” piped John, wagging his head at the crow. - -“I like it better than wriggly snakes,” said Mrs. Corliss, smiling. - -“Oh, how good Aunt Nan was to leave it here for me!” said Mary. “I am -beginning to like Aunt Nan, in spite of her queerness.” - -“I like this kind of joke she plays on you,” said John enviously. “I -wish she’d play one like that on me, too. I say, Mary, do you suppose -there are any more secrets hidden in your old library? Let’s look now.” - -“I wonder!” said Mary, looking curiously about the dingy room. “But I -don’t want to look any further now. I am satisfied. Oh, Mumsie! Just -look!” Mary put the chain of the new watch around her neck, tucked the -little chronometer into her belt, and trotted away to see the effect in -the crooked old mirror of the parlor. - -John wanted to take down the crow and examine him further. - -“Come along, John,” said his father, pushing the little brother toward -the door. “This is Mary’s room, you know. We aren’t ever to poke -around here without her leave, mind you.” - -“No,” said John reluctantly. “But I do wish--!” And he cast a longing -glance back over his shoulder as his father shut the door on Mary’s -mysterious library. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -A VISITOR - - -The very next day Dr. Corliss shut himself up in his new study while -Mrs. Corliss and Mary set to work to make the old house as fresh as -new. They brushed up the dust and cobwebs and scrubbed and polished -everything until it shone. They dragged many ugly old things off into -the attic, and pushed others back into the corners until there should -be time to decide what had best be done with them. Meanwhile, John -was helping to tidy up the little garden, snipping off dead leaves, -cheering up the flowers, and punishing the greedy weeds. - -The whistles of Crowfield factories shrieked noon before they all -stopped to take breath. Then Mrs. Corliss gasped and said:-- - -“Oh, Mary! I forgot all about luncheon! What are we going to feed your -poor father with, I wonder, to say nothing of our hungry selves?” - -Just at this moment John came running into the house with a very dirty -face. “There’s some one coming down the street,” he called upstairs; -“I think she’s coming in here.” He peeped out of the parlor window -discreetly. “Yes, she’s opening the gate now.” - -“Let Mary open the door when she rings,” warned his mother. “It will be -the first time our doorbell rings for a visitor--quite an event, Mary! -I am sure John’s face is dirty.” - -“I’m not very tidy myself,” said Mary, taking off her apron and the -dusting-cap which covered her curls, and rolling down her sleeves. - -The latch of the little garden gate clicked while they were speaking, -and looking out of the upstairs hall window Mary saw a girl of about -her own age, thirteen or fourteen, coming up the path. She wore a -pretty blue sailor suit and a broad hat, and her hair hung in two long -flaxen braids down her back. Mary wore her own brown curls tied back -with a ribbon. On her arm the visitor carried a large covered basket. - -“It’s one of the neighbors, I suppose,” said Mrs. Corliss, attempting a -hasty toilet. “Go to the door, Mary, as soon as she rings, and ask her -to come in. Even if we are not settled yet, it is not too soon to be -hospitable.” - -Mary listened eagerly for the bell. Their first caller in Crowfield -looked like a very nice little person. Perhaps she was going to be -Mary’s friend. - -But the bell did not ring. Instead, Mary presently heard a little -click; and then a voice in the hall below called, apparently through -the keyhole of the closed door,--“Not at home.” - -There was a pause, and again,--“Not at home.” A third time the tired, -monotonous voice declared untruthfully, “Not at home.” Then there was -silence. - -“John!” cried Mary, horrified. For she thought her brother was playing -some naughty trick. What did he mean by such treatment of their first -caller? Mary ran down the stairs two steps at a time, and there she -found John in the hall, staring with wide eyes at the front door. - -“What made you--?” began Mary. - -“I didn’t!” protested John. “It was--Something, I don’t know What, that -spoke. When she pushed the bell-button it didn’t ring, but it made -_that_. And now I guess she’s gone off mad!” - -“Oh, John!” Mary threw open the door and ran to the porch. Sure enough, -the visitor was retreating slowly down the path. She turned, however, -when she heard Mary open the door, and hesitated, looking rather -reproachful. She was very pretty, with red cheeks and bright brown -eyes. - -“Oh! I’m so sorry!” said Mary. “You didn’t ring, did you?” - -“Yes, I did,” said the girl, looking puzzled. “But I thought no one was -at home. Somebody said so.” Her eyes twinkled. - -Mary liked the twinkle in her eyes. - -“I don’t understand it!” said Mary, wrinkling her forehead in -puzzlement. Then an idea flashed into her head, and she showed her -teeth in a broad smile. “Oh, it must have been one of Aunt Nan’s patent -jokes.” - -The girl gave an answering smile. “You mean Miss Corliss?” she -suggested. “I know she didn’t like callers. We never ventured to ring -the bell in her day. But Mother thought you new neighbors might be -different. And I saw you going by yesterday, so I thought I’d try--” -She looked at Mary wistfully, with a little cock to her head. “My name -is Katy Summers, and we are your nearest neighbors,” she added. - -“Oh, do come in,” urged Mary, holding open the door hospitably. “It is -so nice to see you! I am Mary Corliss.” - -Katy Summers beamed at her as she crossed the doorsill. And from that -moment Mary hoped that they were going to be the best of friends. - -John appeared just then, much excited and forgetting his dirty face. -“It must be a kind of graphophone,” he said, without introduction. “Let -me punch that button.” - -Twisting himself out into the porch, John pushed a dirty thumb against -the bell-button of the Corliss home. Instantly sounded the same -monotonous response,--“Not at home-- Not at home-- Not at home.” - -“I say! Isn’t it great!” shouted John, cutting a caper delightedly. -“Aunt Nan must have had that fixed so as to scare away callers. Wasn’t -she cute?” - -Mary blushed for her brother, and for the reputation of the house. -“It wasn’t cute!” she said hastily. “We shall have to get that bell -changed. We aren’t like that, really,” she explained to her visitor. -“We love to see people. You were very good to come to this inhospitable -old house.” - -“I wanted to,” said Katy simply, “and Mother thought you’d perhaps all -be busy this morning, getting settled. So she sent you over this hot -luncheon.” And she held out to Mary the heavy basket. - -“Oh, how kind of you!” cried Mary. “Let me tell Mother. She will be so -pleased! It is so nice to have our nearest neighbor call on us right -away.” - -“I can’t stop but a minute this time,” said Katy, “for my own luncheon -is waiting on the table. But I’d like to see your mother. I’ll wait -here in the hall.” - -At the end of the hall facing the front door was an armchair with a -back studded with brass nails. Katy sat down in this chair to wait -for Mrs. Corliss. Mary ran up the stairs feeling very happy, because -already she had found this new friend in the town where she was afraid -she was going to be lonesome. - -But hardly had she reached the top of the stairs when she heard a funny -little cry from the hall below. It was Katy’s voice that called. “Oh!” -it cried. “Help! Mary Corliss!” - -“What is it?” called Mary, leaning over the banisters to see what the -matter was. - -And then she saw a queer thing. The chair in which Katy Summers sat was -moving rapidly of its own accord straight toward the front door. Katy -was too startled to move, and there she sat, grasping the arms of the -chair, until it reached the doorsill. When it touched the sill, the -chair stopped and gently tilted itself forward, making Katy slide out, -whether she would or no. - -“Well, I never!” said Katy with a gasp. “If that isn’t the impolitest -chair I ever saw!” - -“Oh, Katy!” cried Mary, flying down the stairs. “I am so sorry. We -didn’t know it was that kind of chair. We hadn’t cleaned the hall yet, -so we never suspected. It must be another of Aunt Nan’s jokes. She -probably had this made so that peddlers or agents who got inside and -insisted on waiting to see her would be discouraged. Please don’t blame -us!” - -Then down came Mrs. Corliss, with Katy’s basket in her hand. “What a -reception to our first caller!” she said with a rueful smile. “And you -came on such a kind errand, too! But you must try to forget, little -neighbor, that this was ever an inhospitable house, and come to see us -often. We are going to change many things.” - -“Yes, indeed, I shall come again,” said Katy Summers. “I hope that Mary -and I shall be in the same class at High School.” - -“So do I,” said Mary. “I begin to-morrow. Will you call for me so that -I can have some one to introduce me on my first day?” - -“Yes,” said Katy, with a roguish look, “if you’ll let me wait for you -in the garden.” - -Mary turned red. “You needn’t be afraid,” she said. “We won’t let -those things happen any more, will we, Mother?” - -“No,” said Mrs. Corliss. “We will have the carpenter attend to those -‘jokes’ at once.” - -But until the carpenter came John had a beautiful time riding down -the front hall on the inhospitable chair, and making the automatic -butler cry, “Not at home.” John thought it a great pity to change these -ingenious devices which made the front hall of Aunt Nan’s house so -interesting. But he was in the minority, and that very afternoon the -carpenter took away an electric device from the old armchair, which -ended its days of wandering forever. And instead of the “bell” he put -an old-fashioned knocker on the front door. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE BOOKS - - -The town of Crowfield was built on a swift-flowing river with a -waterfall, which gave it strong water-power. So the houses were easily -fitted with electricity. Even the old Corliss mansion was up to date -in that respect, at least. This was why Aunt Nan had been able to -carry out her liking for queer devices and unexpected mechanical -effects, as Mr. Griggs, the carpenter, explained when he came to make -more hospitable the front hall. He chuckled over the moving chair, -the secret of which was a spring concealed under one of the brass -nail-heads. Any one who sat down and leaned back was sure to press this -button, whereupon the chair would begin to move. - -“It beats all how clever that old lady was!” said Mr. Griggs. “I never -saw anything like this before. She must ’a’ got some electrician down -from the city to fix this up for her. We don’t do that kind of job in -Crowfield.” - -“Do you suppose there are any more such things about the house?” -inquired Mrs. Corliss anxiously. - -“I’ll take a look,” said Mr. Griggs. “But I mightn’t find ’em, even so.” - -And he did not find them; Aunt Nan had her secrets carefully concealed. -But for weeks the family were continually discovering strange new -surprises in their housekeeping. - -That very night at supper, just after Mr. Griggs had left the house -with his kit of tools, a queer thing happened. They were sitting about -the round dining-table, the center of which, as they had noticed from -the first, seemed to be a separate inlaid circle of wood. In the middle -of this Mary had set a pretty vase of flowers--nasturtiums, mignonette, -marigolds, and yellow poppies, the last lingerers in their garden. - -They were talking about their first day in Crowfield, about the visit -of Katy Summers, and the funny things that had happened to their first -caller; and they were all laughing merrily over Mary’s description of -how Katy had looked when she went riding out toward the door in the -inhospitable chair. Dr. Corliss had just reached out his hand for the -sugar. Suddenly the table center began slowly to revolve, and the sugar -bowl retreated from his hand as if by magic. - -“Well, I never!” said the Doctor. “This is a new kind of butler’s -assistant!” - -“It makes me feel like Alice in Wonderland!” exclaimed Mary. “It is -the Mad Hatter’s breakfast; only instead of every one’s moving on one -place, the place moves on by itself!” - -They found that Mary had hit her knee by accident against a spring -concealed under the table. - -“Aunt Nan lived here all alone,” said Mrs. Corliss, “and I dare say she -found this an easy way to pass things to herself when she was eating -her lonely meals.” - -“Let’s keep it like this,” said Mary. “Now I shan’t be needing always -to ask John to pass the salt.” - -“I don’t think it’s fair!” protested John. “Now, Mary has the seat by -the button, and she can make the table turn when she likes. I wish I -had a button, too.” - -“You’d keep the table whirling all the time, John,” laughed his father. -“No, it is better as it is. We chose our seats this way, before we knew -about the lively center-piece. Let’s stick to what chance gave us. Aunt -Nan’s house seems to be a kind of good-luck game, doesn’t it?” - -But in spite of the queer things that were continually happening there, -it did not take long for the Corliss family to feel quite at home -in this old house, and in Crowfield. Mary was admitted to the High -School, and found herself in the same class with Katy Summers, which -pleased them both very much. They soon became the closest chums. John -went to the Grammar School, where he found some nice boys of his own -age who lived just down the road; Ralph and James Perry, cousins in -opposite houses, and Billy Barton a little farther on. - -These promptly formed the Big Four; and the neighborhood of the Big -Four was the liveliest in town. The Corliss house, with its collections -and curiosities, became their favorite meeting-place, and in these -days could hardly recognize itself with the merry streams of children -who were always running in and out, up and down the stairs. It was -fortunate that Dr. Corliss, who kept himself shut up in his study with -the book he was writing, was not of a nervous or easily distracted -temperament. - -As for Mrs. Corliss--being a mother, she just smiled and loved -everybody. It was her idea that first of all a home should be a happy -place for the family and for every one who came there. The first thing -she did was to send for the familiar furniture of the city house -which they had left when Dr. Corliss was obliged to give up his -professorship in college and move into the country. Now the queer rooms -of Aunt Nan’s inhospitable old house were much less queer and much more -homelike than they had ever been, and every corner radiated a merry -hospitality. - -But in the library nothing was changed. Mary would not let anything be -moved from the place in which Aunt Nan had put it. For she had grown -much attached to the old lady’s memory, since the finding of that -little watch and chain. - -You may be sure that Mary and John looked about the library carefully, -to see if more of the same kind of nice joke might not be concealed -somewhere. But they found nothing. It was not until nearly a week -later, when there came a rainy Saturday, that they found time to look -at the books themselves. - -“Hello! Here’s a funny book to find in an old lady’s library!” cried -John. “It’s our old friend ‘Master Skylark,’ one of the nicest books I -know. But how do you suppose a children’s book came to be here, Mary? -Daddy says for years Aunt Nan never allowed any children in the house.” - -“I wonder!” said Mary. “And here’s another child’s book, right here -on the desk. I noticed it the first time I came in here, but I never -opened it before. ‘Shakespeare the Boy’ is the name of it. I wonder if -it is interesting? I like Shakespeare. We read his plays in school, and -once I wrote a composition about him, you know.” - -“Papa says Aunt Nan was crazy about Shakespeare,” said John. - -“Why, here’s a note inside the cover of the book, addressed to me!” -said Mary wonderingly. - -“Let me look!” cried John, darting to her side. “Yes, it’s in that same -handwriting, Mary. It’s a letter from Aunt Nan. Do hurry and open it!” - -Mary held the envelope somewhat dubiously. It was not quite pleasant -to be receiving letters from a person no longer living in this world. -She glanced up at the portrait over the mantel as she cut the end of -the envelope with Aunt Nan’s desk shears, and it seemed to her that the -eyes under the prim gray curls gleamed at her knowingly. She almost -expected to see the long forefinger of the portrait’s right hand point -directly at her. - -It was a brief letter that Aunt Nan had written; and it explained why -she had left her library of precious books to this grandniece Mary whom -she had never seen. - - Mary Corliss (it began): I shan’t call you dear Mary because I - don’t know whether you are dear or not. You may be if you like the - sort of things I always liked. And in that case I shall be glad you - have them for your own, when I can no longer enjoy them. I mean - the things in this room, which I have given all to you, because - there is no one else whom I can bear to think of as handling them. - I heard your father say once that he hated poetry. That was enough - for me! I never wanted to see him again. He can have my house, but - not my precious books. Well, I read in the paper which your mother - sent me that you had won a prize at school for a composition about - William Shakespeare, the greatest poet who ever lived. You have begun - well! If you go on, as I did, you will care as I have cared about - everything he wrote. So you shall have my library and get what you - can out of it. Be kind to the books I have loved. Love them, if you - can, for their own sake. - Your Great-Aunt, - NAN CORLISS. - -“What a queer letter!” said John. “So it was your composition that did -it. My! Aren’t you lucky, Mary!” - -“I do like Shakespeare already,” said Mary, glancing first at Aunt -Nan’s portrait, then at the bust of the poet below it. “And I guess I -am going to like Aunt Nan.” She smiled up at the portrait, which she -now thought seemed to smile back at her. “I must go and tell Father -about it,” she said eagerly, running out of the room; and presently she -came back, dragging him by the hand. - -“Well, Mary!” said Dr. Corliss. “So it was your Shakespeare essay that -won you the library! I remember how fond Aunt Nan used to be of the -Poet. She was always quoting from him. I am glad you like poetry, my -dear; though for myself I never could understand it. This is, indeed, -a real poetry library. I am glad she gave it to you instead of to me, -Mary. There are any number of editions of Shakespeare here, I have -noticed, and a lot of books about him, too. I suppose she would have -liked you to read every one.” - -“I mean to,” said Mary firmly. “I want to; and I am going to begin with -this one, ‘Shakespeare the Boy.’ I feel as if that was what she meant -me to do.” - -As she said this Mary began to turn over the leaves of the book in -which she had found the note from Aunt Nan. “The story sounds very -nice,” she said. - -Just then something fell from between the leaves and fluttered to the -floor. Her father stooped to pick it up. - -“Aunt Nan’s bookmark,” he said. “It would be nice to keep her marks -when you can, Mary. Why!” he exclaimed suddenly, staring at what he -held in his fingers. It was long and yellow, and printed on both sides. - -“Mary!” he cried, “did you ever see one of these before? I have -never seen many of them myself, more’s the pity!” And he handed the -“bookmark” to his daughter. - -It was a hundred-dollar bill. - -“Papa!” gasped Mary, “whose is it?” - -“It is yours, Mary, just as much as the watch and chain were; just as -much as the library is,” said her father. “Everything in the room was -to be yours; Aunt Nan said so in her will. This is certainly a part of -your legacy. I wonder if Aunt Nan forgot it or put it there on purpose, -as another of her little jokes?” - -“I think she put it there on purpose,” said John. “My! But she was a -queer old lady!” - -“I think she was a very nice old lady,” said Mary. “Now I must go and -tell Katy Summers about it.” - - - - -CHAPTER V - -INSTRUCTIONS - - -With the hundred dollars which she had found in the book Mary started -an account in the Crowfield Savings Bank, under her own name. She was -very proud of her little blue bank-book, and she hoped that some time, -in some unexpected way, she would save enough money to go to college, -as John was to do. - -But the outlook was rather hopeless. The Corliss family were far from -well off. Even in Crowfield, where expenses were low, they had a hard -time to live on the small income from what Dr. Corliss had managed to -save while he was Professor of Philosophy in the city college. Dr. -Corliss was writing a book which he hoped would some day make his -fortune. But the book would not be finished for many a day. Meanwhile, -though there was very little money coming in, it was steadily going -out; as money has a way of doing. - -The best thing the family could do at present was to save as much as -possible by going without servants and dainties and fine clothes--just -as people have to do in war-time; and by doing things themselves, -instead of having things done for them. Mrs. Corliss was a clever -manager. She had learned how to cook and sew and do all kinds of things -with her deft fingers; and Mary was a good assistant and pupil, while -John did everything that a little boy could do to help. He ran errands -and built the fires, and even set the table and helped wipe the dishes -when his mother and sister were busy. - -The neighbors were very friendly, and there were so many pleasant new -things in Crowfield that the family did not miss the pleasures they -used to enjoy in the city, nor the pretty clothes and luxuries which -were now out of the question. And Mary did not spend much time worrying -about college. There would be time enough for that. - -After the finding of that hundred-dollar bill, Mary and John spent a -great deal of time in opening and shutting the leaves of books in the -library, hoping that they would come upon other bookmarks as valuable -as that first one. But whether Aunt Nan had left the bill there by -mistake, as Dr. Corliss imagined, or whether she had put it there -on purpose, as Mary liked to think, apparently the old lady had not -repeated herself. The only foreign things they found in the musty old -volumes were bits of pressed flowers and ferns, and now and then a -flattened bug which had been crushed in its pursuit of knowledge. - -John soon grew tired of this fruitless search. But Mary came upon -so many interesting things in the books themselves that she often -forgot what she was looking for. Many of the books had queer, -old-fashioned pictures; some had names and dates of long ago written -on the fly-leaf. In many Mary found that Aunt Nan had scrawled notes -and comments--sometimes amusing and witty; sometimes very hard to -understand. - -Mary loved her library. She had never before had a corner all to -herself, except her tiny bedroom. And to feel that this spacious -room, with everything in it, was all hers, in which to do just as she -pleased, was a very pleasant thing. - -“Where’s Mary?” asked Katy Summers one afternoon, running into the -Corliss house without knocking, as she had earned the right to do. - -“I think she is in the library,” said Mrs. Corliss, who was busy sewing -in the living-room. “That is a pretty likely place in which to look -nowadays, when she isn’t anywhere else!” - -“Shall I go there to find her?” asked Katy. - -“Yes, Dear; go right in,” said Mrs. Corliss. “She will be glad to see -you, I am sure.” - -The door of the library was hospitably open. And Katy Summers, creeping -up on tiptoe and peeping in softly, saw Mary with her thumb between the -leaves of a book, kneeling before one of the bookshelves. - -“I spy!” cried Katy. “What’s the old Bookworm up to now? Or perhaps I -ought to say, considering your position, what’s she _down_ to now?” - -Mary jumped hastily to her feet. “Hello, Katy,” she said cordially. “I -was just looking up something. Say, Katy, do you know what fun it is to -look up quotations?” - -“No,” said Katy, laughing. “I don’t see any fun in that. No more fun -than looking up things in a dictionary.” - -“Well, it _is_ fun,” returned Mary. “I think I must be something like -Aunt Nan. She loved quotations. Just look at this row of ‘Gems from the -Poets.’ They’re full of quotations, Katy. I’m going to read them all, -some time.” - -“Goodness!” cried Katy. “What an idea! I think poetry is stupid stuff, -sing-song and silly.” - -“So Daddy thinks,” said Mary. “But it isn’t, really. It is full of the -most interesting stories and legends and beautiful things. This library -bores Daddy almost to death, because all the books on these two walls -are poetry. I believe that Aunt Nan had the works of every old poet who -ever wrote in the English language. And see, these are the lives of the -poets.” She pointed to the shelves in one corner. - -“Huh!” grunted Katy. “Well, what of it?” - -“Well, you see,” said Mary, looking up at Aunt Nan’s portrait, “the -more I stay in this library, the more I like Aunt Nan’s books, and the -more I want to please Aunt Nan herself. I like her, Katy.” - -“I don’t!” said Katy, eyeing the portrait sideways. “You never had her -for a neighbor, you see.” - -“She never did anything to you, did she?” asked Mary. - -“No-o,” drawled Katy reluctantly. “She never did anything either good -or bad to me. But--she was awfully queer!” - -“Of course she was,” agreed Mary. “But that isn’t the worst thing in -the world, to be queer. And she was awfully kind to me.-- Say, Katy, -don’t you like Shakespeare?” - -“Not very well,” confessed Katy. - -“Well, I do,” Mary asserted. “I haven’t read much of him, but I’m going -to. Every time I look at that head of Shakespeare on the mantelpiece, I -remember that it was my composition about Shakespeare that was at the -bottom of almost everything nice that has happened in Crowfield. Why, -if it hadn’t been for him, perhaps we shouldn’t have come to live here -at all, and then I shouldn’t ever have known _you_, Katy Summers!” - -“Gracious!” exclaimed Katy. “Wouldn’t that have been awful? Yes, -I believe I do like him a little, since he did _that_. I wrote a -composition about him once, too. It didn’t bring anything good in my -direction. But then, it wasn’t a very good composition. I only got a -_C_ with it.” - -“Well,” said Mary, “I feel as if I owe him something, and Aunt Nan -something. And sooner or later I’m going to read everything he ever -wrote.” - -“Goodness!” said Katy. “Then you’ll never have time to read anything -else, I guess. Look!”-- She pointed around the walls. “Why, there are -hundreds of Shakespeares. Hundreds and hundreds!” - -“They are mostly different editions of the same thing,” said Mary -wisely. “I shan’t have to read every edition. There aren’t so very -many books by him, really. Not more than thirty, I think. I’ve been -looking at this little red set that’s so easy to handle and has such -nice notes. I like the queer spelling. I’m going to read ‘Midsummer -Night’s Dream’ first. I think that’s what Aunt Nan meant.” - -“What do you mean by ‘_what Aunt Nan meant_’?” asked Katy curiously. -“Has she written you another letter?” Mary had told her about the will. - -“No, not exactly,” confessed Mary. “But see what I found just now when -I finished reading ‘Shakespeare the Boy,’--the book that was lying on -her desk with that first note she wrote me.” And she opened the volume -which she held in her hand at the last page. Below the word “Finis” -were penned in a delicate, old-fashioned writing these words:-- - - Mem. Read in this order, _with notes_. - - 1. Midsummer Night’s Dream. - 2. Julius Cæsar. - 3. Twelfth Night. - 4. Tempest. - 5. As You Like It. - 6. Merchant of Venice. - 7. Hamlet, etc. - - -“Pooh!” cried Katy. “I don’t believe she meant that for you, at all! -She was just talking to herself. Let’s see if there was anything -written at the end of ‘Master Skylark.’ Didn’t you say that was lying -on her desk, too?” - -They ran to get this other child’s book, which, queerly enough, had -also been left lying on the desk, as if Aunt Nan had just been reading -both. And there, too, at the end was written exactly the same list, -with the same instructions. - -“That settles it!” exclaimed Mary. “She did mean me to see that list, -so she left it in both those children’s books, which she thought I -would be sure to read first. I am going to read Shakespeare’s plays in -just the order she wished. I’m going to read my very own books in my -very own library. I’m going to begin this very afternoon!” Mary was -quite excited. - -“Oh, no! Please not this afternoon!” begged Katy. “I want you to come -with me while I do an errand at the express office in Ashley. It is a -three-mile walk. I don’t want to go alone. Please, Mary!” - -“Oh, bother!” Mary was about to say; for she wanted to begin her -reading. But she thought better of it. Katy had been so kind to her. -And, after all, it was a beautiful afternoon, and the walk would be -very pleasant down a new road which she had never traveled. She laid -down the book reluctantly. - -“Well,” she said. “I can read my books any time, I suppose. Isn’t it -nice to think of that? Yes--I’ll go with you, Katy. It will be fun. -Just wait till I get my hat, and tell Mother.” - -“You’re a dear!” burst out Katy, hugging her. - -“If I go with you this time, Katy, you’ll have to read Shakespeare with -me another time,” bargained Mary with good-natured guile. - -“All right,” said Katy. “Sometime, when it is not so nice and crisp and -walky out of doors, as it is to-day.” - -And off the two girls started, with comradely arms about one another’s -shoulders. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE LANTERN - - -Mary had no chance to begin reading her Shakespeare until the following -day. But just as soon as she had finished her French and algebra home -lessons, she laid aside those books and seized the list which Aunt Nan -had made for her. - -“‘Mem. Read in this order--Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ That sounds good -for a beginning,” she said to herself. “I just love the name of it. I -wonder what it’s about?” Running to the bookshelves on the left side -of the fireplace, where one whole section was devoted to the works of -William Shakespeare, Mary began fumbling among the little red books. -“Here is ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’!” said she, settling herself -in the big leather armchair to read. “Why, it’s full of fairies and -private theatricals! I know it is going to be nice!” - -Mary read for some time and found that she liked the play even better -than she had expected. She always liked to read about fairies, of whom, -indeed, the book was full. And the scene of the play-acting was very -funny, she thought, especially where Bottom wanted to play all the -parts himself. - -Presently she came to a place in the text where a line was heavily -underscored. It was where Moon says, “_This lantern is my lantern_.” “I -wonder why Aunt Nan marked that line?” thought Mary. She turned to see -if there was anything about a lantern in the notes. And there she found -this remark in the writing which she had come to recognize as Aunt -Nan’s: “_See lantern on mantelshelf._ CAREFUL!” - -“That is a funny note!” thought Mary. “What mantelshelf? There isn’t -any in the play. Can she mean--why, yes! There’s a lantern over there -on _my_ mantelshelf!” - -Sure enough! Mary had not noticed it especially until this minute. -But there, not far from the bust of Shakespeare, was a queer old tin -lantern, pierced with holes for a candle to shine through--the very -kind that Moon must have used in the play, in Shakespeare’s day. - -Mary dropped the book and went over to the lantern, with a pleasant -sense of possession. Everything in the room was hers. This would -be just the thing to play Pyramus and Thisbe with! She took up the -old lantern and examined it curiously. In the socket was the stub -of a candle. “I wonder who lighted it last?” thought Mary idly. -She tried to pull out the candle, but it stuck. She pulled harder, -and presently--out it came! There was something in the socket -below--something that rattled. Mary shook the lantern and out fell a -tiny key; a gilt key with a green silk string tied to the top. That was -all. - -“What a funny place for a key!” thought Mary. “I wonder how it got -there.” Then she thought again of the quotation which had been -underlined--“‘_This lantern is my lantern_.’ She wanted me to find it, -I am sure!” thought Mary eagerly. “It is the key to something. Oh, if -I could only find what that is! How in the world shall I know where to -look?” - -“Oh, John!” she cried, “John!”--for just then she heard his whistle in -the hall, and she ran down to show him her find. - -Up came John; up the stairs two steps at a time, with Mary close after -him. “I bet I know what it is!” he cried. “It’s the key to a Secret -Panel. I’ve read about them in books, lots of times. Let’s hunt till we -find the keyhole.” - -The wall of the library between the bookshelves was, indeed, paneled -in dark wood, like the doors. But there was little enough of this -surface, because the built-in bookshelves took up so much space. With -the aid of the library ladder it took Mary and John comparatively -little time to go over every inch of the paneling very carefully, -thumping the wall with the heel of Mary’s slipper, to see if it might -be hollow. But no sound betrayed a secret hiding-place. No scratch or -knot concealed a tiny keyhole. Tired and disgusted at last, they gave -up the search. - -“I think that’s a pretty poor joke!” said John. “A key without anything -to fit it to is about as silly as can be!” - -“Aunt Nan made some silly jokes in other parts of the house,” said -Mary. “But she hasn’t done so in the library. I don’t believe she meant -to tease me. Let’s go and tell Father. Perhaps he will know what it -means.” And forthwith they tripped to the Doctor’s study, with the key -and the lantern and the marked copy of “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” to -puzzle the Philosopher. They laid the three exhibits on his desk, and -stood off, challenging him with eager eyes. - -Dr. Corliss looked at these things critically; then he followed them -back to the library and glanced about the walls. - -“Well, Father?” asked Mary at last. “What do you think it means?” - -The Doctor hummed and hawed. “Why, I think it means that Aunt Nan was -playing a joke on _you_ this time, Mary!” he said, laughing. “It would -be just like her, you know. You can’t hope to be the only one to escape -her humors. Besides, this key doesn’t look to me like a real key to -anything. You mustn’t expect too much, my girl, nor get excited over -this legacy of yours, or I shall be sorry you have it. I suspect there -are no more gold watches and hundred-dollar bills floating around in -your library. It wouldn’t be like Aunt Nan to do the same thing twice. -It was the unexpected that always pleased her. You had better make the -most of your books for their own sakes, Mary.” - -“Yes, I am going to do that,” said Mary, taking the key from her father -and putting the green string around her neck. “I am going to wear it as -a sort of ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ charm. And I believe that some day -I shall find out the key to the key, if I look long enough.” - -“If you read long enough, perhaps you may,” said her father, -laughing. “I have heard that they find queer things in Shakespeare -sometimes--ciphers and things like that. But I never had time to study -them up. A cipher is _nothing_ to me.” And he chuckled at his little -joke. - -“If I read long enough, perhaps I may find out something. That’s so!” -said Mary. “I’ll keep on reading.” - -“Pooh! That’s a slow way!” said John. “If there was anything in _my_ -library, I’d want to find it out right away!” - -“If she has put anything in my library, that isn’t the way Aunt Nan -meant me to find it,” retorted Mary. “I am going to do what Aunt Nan -wanted, if I can discover what that is.” - -“That’s right, Mary!” said her father. “I believe you are on the right -track.” - -Just at this moment there was a queer sound, apparently in one corner -of the room. - -“Hark!” said Dr. Corliss. “What was that, Mary?” - -“It sounded like something rapping on the floor!” said John, with wide -eyes. - -“Oh, I hear sounds like that quite often,” said Mary carelessly. “At -first it frightened me, but I have got used to it. I suppose it must be -a rat in the cellar.” - -“Yes, I dare say it is a rat,” said her father. “Old houses like this -have strange noises, often. But I have never seen any rats.” - -“It sounded too big for a rat,” declared John. “Aren’t you afraid, -Mary?” - -“No,” declared Mary; “I’m not afraid, whether it’s a rat or not. Some -way, I think I couldn’t be afraid in this room.” - -“I thought girls were always afraid of rats,” murmured John. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -CALIBAN - - -With rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes Mary returned from a walk with Katy -Summers. It had been pleasant but uneventful. Just as she turned in at -the little dooryard of home, she thought she spied a black Something -dart like a shadow across the little strip of green beside the house. - -“It looks like a cat,” said Mary to herself. “I will see where it went -to.” She followed to the end of the house, where the shape had seemed -to disappear. There was nothing to be seen. She went around the ell, -and back to the front of the house again. Still there was no trace of -the little shadow that had streaked into invisibility. - -“If it was not my imagination, it must have gone under the house,” -said Mary to herself. “Two or three times I have thought I spied a -black blur in the act of disappearing; and I believe we are haunted by -something on four legs. I will ask the family.” - -That night at the supper-table she broached the question. - -“Mother, have you ever seen a cat about the place--a black cat, a swift -cat, a cat that never stays for a second in one spot--a mysterious cat -that is gone as soon as you see it?” - -“That sounds spooky enough!” commented Dr. Corliss. “You make the -shivers run down my sensitive spine!” - -“I have not seen any cat,” said Mrs. Corliss. “I think you must be -mistaken, Mary.” - -“Yes, I’ve seen a cat!” volunteered John,--“a thin black cat, oh, so -thin! I saw him run across the lawn once; and once I saw him crouching -down by the lilac bush near the back door. I think he was catching -mice.” - -“Then there _is_ a cat,” said Mary. “I thought I might be dreaming. He -must be very wild. I believe he lives under our house.” - -“Under the house!” exclaimed Mrs. Corliss. “Surely, we should all have -seen him if he lived so near. I can’t think he could have escaped my -eyes. But now, I remember, I have heard strange noises in the cellar -once or twice.” - -“I have, often,” said Mary, “under my library.” - -“Maybe it is a witch-cat!” suggested Dr. Corliss, pretending to look -frightened. “You people are all so fond of poetry and ravens and -mystery and magics--you attract strange doings, you see. Maybe Aunt Nan -had a witch-cat who helped her play tricks on the ever-to-be-surprised -world.” - -“Daddy!” cried John, “there’s no such thing as a witch-cat, is there, -truly?” - -“Of course not!” laughed his mother. “Daddy is only joking. And now I -come to think of it, I have wondered why the scraps I put out for the -birds always vanished so quickly. A hungry cat prowling about would -explain everything.” - -“It might be Aunt Nan’s cat,” said Mary thoughtfully. “Poor thing! He -might have run away when he couldn’t find Aunt Nan any more. He might -have been frightened, and have hid under the house.” - -“I think in that case he would have starved to death in all these -weeks,” said Mrs. Corliss. “Besides, I should think the neighbors would -have told us, or that Aunt Nan herself would have left some word.” - -“I’m going to find out, if I can,” said Mary. “If it’s Aunt Nan’s cat I -want to be good to him. We want to be good to him, anyway, don’t we?” - -“Of course we do,” said Mrs. Corliss. “But there is nothing so hard to -tame as a wild cat.” - -Katy Summers knew nothing of any cat belonging to Miss Corliss. Neither -did the other neighbors. - -That next day on coming home from school Mary again spied the cat. Just -as she clicked the gate she saw the long, black shape scurry across the -lawn and vanish under the ell, under Mary’s library. Mary tiptoed to -the house and, stooping, called gently, “Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!” - -At first there was no response. But presently there came a feeble and -doleful “Miaou!” And Mary thought she could catch the gleam of two -green eyes glaring out of the darkness. - -“I must get him something to eat,” said Mary. “Perhaps I can tempt him -to make friends.” And running into the house she returned with a saucer -of milk and a bit of meat, which she set down close to the house. -“Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!” she called, in a tone of invitation. - -“Miaou!” cried the forlorn cat again. But he did not come forth from -his hiding-place. - -“I shall have to go away, and give him a chance to eat when I am not -by,” thought Mary. And this she did. From her chamber window she could -just manage to watch the hole under the ell. After a long time she was -rewarded by seeing the cat’s head emerge from the hole. For a minute -he stared around with wild eyes, his body ready to spring. But finding -himself safe, he hungrily seized the meat and retreated with it under -the house. Presently he came out again, licking his chops eagerly, -and began to lap the milk, retreating every now and then as if some -fancied sound alarmed him. The poor creature’s sides were so thin that -he resembled a cut-out pasteboard cat. His tail was like that of a long -black rat. He seemed to be wearing a collar about his neck. - -“He must have been somebody’s pet cat,” said Mary to herself. “I must -try to tame him.” - -But it took a great deal of time and patience to make friends with -the poor black pussy, which had evidently been greatly frightened and -almost starved. Day after day Mary set out the saucer of milk and a -bit of meat. And each time she did so, she talked kindly to the cat -hidden under the house, hoping that he would come out while she was -still there. But it was many days before she got more than the mournful -“Miaou!” in answer to her coaxing words. - -At last, one day, after waiting a long time beside the saucer of milk -and a particularly savory plate of chicken-bones, Mary was rewarded -by seeing the cat timidly thrust out his head while she was talking. -He drew back almost immediately. But finally the smell of the chicken -tempted him beyond caution, and he got up courage to face this stranger -who seemed to show no evil intentions. He snatched a chicken-bone and -vanished. But this was the beginning of friendship. - -The next day the cat came out almost immediately when Mary called -him. Presently he would take things from her hand, timidly at first, -then with increasing confidence, when he found that nothing dreadful -happened. But still Mary had no chance to examine the collar, on which -she saw that there were some words engraved. - -At last came a day when the cat let Mary stroke his fur, now grown -much sleeker and covering a plumper body. And from that time it became -easier to make friends. Soon Mary held the creature on her lap for a -triumphant minute. And the next day she had a chance to examine the -engraved collar. On the silver plate was traced,--“_Caliban. Home of N. -Corliss. Crowfield_.” - -“He was Aunt Nan’s cat!” cried Mary in excitement. And she ran into the -house with the news. - -Mrs. Corliss was astonished. “We must make Caliban feel at home -again,” she said. “He must have had a terrible fright. But we will help -him to forget that before long.” - -In a little while Mary succeeded in coaxing Caliban into the house. -And once inside he did not behave like a stranger. For a few moments, -indeed, he hesitated, cringing as if in fear of what might happen. But -presently he raised his head, sniffed, and, looking neither to right -nor left, marched straight toward the library. Mary tiptoed after -him, in great excitement. Caliban went directly to the big armchair -beside the desk, sniffed a moment at the cushion, then jumped up and -curled himself down for a nap, giving a great sigh of contentment. From -that moment he accepted partnership with Mary in the room and all its -contents. - -“Well, I never!” cried Mrs. Corliss, who had followed softly. “The -cat is certainly at home. I wonder how he ever happened to go away? I -suppose we shall never know.” - -And they never did. They made inquiries of the neighbors. But nobody -could tell them anything definite about Aunt Nan’s cat. Some persons -had, indeed, seen a big black creature stalking about the lawn in the -old lady’s time, and had not liked the look of him, as they said. But -as Miss Corliss had never had anything to do with her neighbors, so -her cat seemed to have followed her example. And when Aunt Nan’s day -was over, the cat simply disappeared. - -Caliban must have lived precariously by catching mice and birds. But he -never deserted the neighborhood of the old house when the new tenants -came to live there; though it took him some time to realize that these -were relatives of his mistress whom he might trust. - -Once more an inmate of the house, Caliban never wandered again. He -adopted Mary as his new mistress, and allowed her to take all kinds of -liberties with him. But to the rest of the family he was always rather -haughty and stand-offish. John never quite got rid of the idea that -Caliban was a witch-cat. And sometimes he had a rather creepy feeling -when the great black cat blinked at him with his green eyes. - -But Mary said it was all nonsense. “He’s just a dear, good, soft -pussy-cat,” she cried one day, hugging the now plump and handsome -Caliban in her arms. - -And Caliban, stretching out a soft paw, laid it lovingly against his -little mistress’s cheek. - -But John vowed that at the same moment Caliban winked wickedly at him! - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE BUST - - -For some weeks life went on quietly for the Corliss family, made more -interesting by the coming of Caliban, who resembled his late mistress -in some unexpected qualities. But the family had got used to being -surprised by Aunt Nan’s jokes, so that they were no longer jokes at -all. And nothing further of a mysterious nature happened in Mary’s -library, so that everybody had about forgotten the excitement of the -watch, the bookmark, and the unexplained key. - -The more Mary read her Shakespeare, the better she liked the plays, -which, as she said, were “just full of familiar quotations!” Caliban -approved heartily of Mary’s reading. He liked nothing better than -to curl up in her lap while she sat in the big easy-chair, with her -book resting on its broad arm; and his rumbling purr made a pleasant -accompaniment whenever she read aloud. For Mary liked to read aloud to -herself and to him. It made her understand the story so much better. - -Probably Caliban was used to assisting Aunt Nan in this same way. He -was truly a cat of fine education. Mary wondered if he knew all the -books in the library. “He looks wise enough to,” she thought. - -“I think Caliban likes some plays better than others,” she confided -to her mother. “He didn’t seem to care so much for ‘Midsummer Night’s -Dream,’ But then, I had almost finished it before he came. He was crazy -over ‘Julius Cæsar,’--you ought to have heard him purr at Marc Antony’s -great speech! And now that I have begun ‘The Tempest,’ he gets so -excited, Mother!” - -“Of course,” said Mrs. Corliss; “that’s where he comes in, isn’t it?” - -“Yes,” said Mary. “Oh, Mumsie, I was so surprised when I found -Caliban’s name in the list of characters! I just shouted it right out; -and you ought to have seen Caliban arch his neck and rub his head -against me, and purr like a little furnace. I’m sure he knew it was -_his_ play. And isn’t it a lovely play, Mother? I like it best of all.” - -“So do I,” said her mother. - -One day Mary coaxed Katy Summers home with her after school. “The time -has come for you to keep your promise, Katy,” said Mary. “You’ve got -to listen to Shakespeare now.” - -“All right,” said Katy resignedly. “I suppose I must, sooner or later.” - -“I am going to read you some of ‘The Tempest,’” said Mary. “I want you -to like it as well as I do.” - -“You know I never cared for poetry,” said Katy doubtfully. - -“But you will care for _this_,” said Mary positively, “especially if -you hear it read. That’s the way everybody ought to know poetry, I -think. Why, even Caliban likes to hear me read poetry. See, here he -comes to listen.” - -Sure enough, at the sound of Mary’s voice Caliban had come running into -the library with a little purr. He looked very handsome and fluffy -these days. Waving his tail majestically, he jumped up into Mary’s lap -and sat on her knee blinking his green eyes at Katy as if to say, “Now -you are going to hear something fine!” - -“I believe John is right,” said Katy. “He does look like a witch-cat. -He’s too knowing by half! I suppose I shall have to like the reading, -if he says so.” Katy was just a bit jealous of Mary’s new friend. - -“Of course Caliban knows what is best!” chuckled Mary. “Now, listen, -Katy.” And she began to read the beautiful lines. Presently she caught -up with her own bookmark, and went on with scenes which she had not -read before. Mary read very nicely, and Katy listened patiently, while -Caliban purred more and more loudly, “knitting” with busy paws on -Mary’s knees. - -After a while Katy saw Mary’s eyes grow wide, and she paused in the -reading, ceasing to stroke Caliban’s glossy fur. Caliban looked up at -her and stopped purring, as if to say, “What is it, little Mistress?” - -“What is the matter? Go on, Mary,” cried Katy. “I like it!” - -“It’s a Song,” said Mary, in a queer voice, “and words of it are -underlined, Katy, in the same way that the other place I told you of -was underlined.” - -Katy nodded eagerly. She had heard about the clue to the finding of the -key. “What does it say?” she asked. - -And Mary read the lines of the Song:-- - - “Full fathom five thy father lies; - _Of his bones are coral made_; - _Those are pearls, that were his eyes_; - Nothing of him that doth fade, - But doth suffer a sea-change - Into _something rich and strange_. - Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell; - Hark! now I hear them--Ding-dong, bell!” - -“It’s lovely!” cried Katy. “And which lines are underscored, Mary?” - -“‘_Of his bones are coral made_,’ and ‘_Those are pearls that were -his eyes_,’ and ‘_something rich and strange_.’ Oh, Katy, what do you -suppose Aunt Nan meant this time?” said Mary with eager eyes. - -[Illustration: “OH, KATY, WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE AUNT NAN MEANT THIS -TIME?”] - -At this point Caliban arched his back and yawned prodigiously, then -jumped down on the floor and sat at Mary’s feet, switching his tail. - -“Hurry and look at the notes at the end of the book, Mary!” cried Katy, -almost as much excited as her friend. “I did not know that poetry could -be so interesting.” - -Mary turned hastily to the back of the book. In the margin beside the -printed notes were penned several words; references to other plays -which evidently Aunt Nan wanted Mary to look up. “Bother!” said Mary in -disappointment; “it’s only more quotations. I don’t want to stop for -_them_.” - -“You had better, Mary,” suggested Katy. “Perhaps if you do they will -give you still another clue. See how queer Caliban looks!” - -The cat was looking up in Mary’s face expectantly; and when she stooped -to pat him, he opened his mouth and gave a strange, soundless “Miaou!” - -“It looked as if he said ‘Yes!’ didn’t it, Katy?” said Mary. “Well, -then, I suppose I had better do it. The first reference is to ‘As You -Like It,’ Act II, Scene i.” - -Mary went to the Shakespeare shelf, found the volume quickly, and -looked up the proper place. “Yes!” she exclaimed, “there is a line -underscored here, too,--‘_Wears yet a precious jewel in his head_.’ -What a queer saying, Katy! What do you suppose it means? And this is -the next quotation, in the ‘Sonnets’--Number CXXXV, Line 1. Here it is! -‘_Whoever has her wish, you have your Will._’ Now, what connection can -there be between those two things, Katy?” - -“I don’t know!” said Katy, disappointed. “Is that all, are you sure? It -doesn’t seem to mean anything, does it?” - -“Wait a minute!” added Mary. “Here in the Sonnet-margin she has -written, ‘_Will S.--Yours. Look!_’” - -“Look where?” wondered Katy. “What _Will S._ have you, Mary?” - -At the word “_Look!_” Mary had glanced up at the portrait of Aunt Nan, -and it seemed to her as if the eyes in the picture were cast down on -something below them. Mary’s own eyes followed the look, and fell on -the bust of Shakespeare in the middle of the mantelshelf. “Does she -mean--perhaps she does--that bust of Will Shakespeare?” said Mary. -“It is mine now, of course. ‘_Whoever has her wish_’--‘_Wears yet a -precious jewel in his head_’--‘_Something rich and strange_.’” - -“Oh, Mary! It all fits together!” cried Katy, clapping her hands. “Do -have a look at that bust, dear! If it is your Will.” - -“That’s just what I will do!” cried Mary, running to the mantelpiece, -with Katy close behind her, and Caliban following them both. - -The bust was a plaster one about six inches high, and it stood on a -black marble block like a little pedestal. Mary had dusted it many -times and she knew it was not fastened to the pedestal and that it was -hollow. But was it also empty? - -While the girls were looking at the bust, Caliban suddenly made two -leaps, one to a chair, then to the mantelshelf which he reached -without a slip. Then he took up his pose beside the bust of -Shakespeare, and sat blinking wisely at them. - -“Do look at Caliban!” cried Katy. “He certainly looks as if he knew -secrets!” - -“Perhaps he does,” said Mary. “Maybe there is a secret about this bust. -I am going to see. If you please, Master Will S.” - -She took down the bust and shook it gently. Nothing rattled inside. -Nothing fell out. She poked with her finger as far as she could reach. -There seemed to be nothing in the interior. - -“Try again, Mary,” begged Katy, producing something from her pocket. -“Here’s my folding button-hook.” Cautiously Mary thrust the hook up -into the place where the brains of William S. would have been, were -they not distributed about the library instead in the form of books. - -Yes! There was something up in the head; something that was yielding to -the touch of the steel; something that came out at last in her hand. It -was a piece of soft chamois-skin, folded and tied with green silk cord -like that on which hung the mysterious key. - -“Oh, Mary!” cried Katy, holding her breath. “What is it?” - -“Sh!” said Mary, with shining eyes. Cautiously she undid the little -packet; and there inside was another packet, wrapped in silver foil, -very tiny, very hard. Mary squeezed it gently, but the feeling gave no -clue as to the contents. - -While Katy watched her with bulging eyes, Mary peeled off the silver -paper, a bit at a time. First of all was revealed a pink bead; more -pink beads; a whole necklace, strung on a pink thread, of the most -beautiful coral. - -“Miaou!” cried Caliban suddenly. - -“Oh-h!” cried Katy. “I never saw anything so sweet!” - -“‘_Of his bones are coral made_,’” quoted Mary. “Oh, clever Aunt Nan!-- -What else?” for the next quotation was running in her head, and she -was very eager. With trembling fingers she unwrapped the rest of the -package, and brought to light a tiny pasteboard box of not more than an -inch in any dimension. - -“I know what it is!” whispered Katy. - -But she gasped when she saw what really came out--yes, a ring, on a -white velvet bed. But such a ring! It had two big pearls in it, side by -side, as big as the end of Mary’s little finger. - -“Oh!” cried Mary with delight. “What a beautiful ring! I do love -pearls.--‘_Those are pearls which were his eyes_,’ Katy, do you see? -And this is the ‘_something rich and strange_.’ What fun it is to find -a treasure all by the aid of lovely quotations!” - -“I think it is wonderful!” said Katy. “It is so poetic.” - -“Come; let’s show these to Father and Mother,” said Mary, giving -Caliban a big hug. And off the two girls ran to exhibit the treasures. - -Mrs. Corliss was delighted with her daughter’s find. “I am glad you -have the pretty necklace to wear with your best dresses,” she said. “It -is very nice and suitable for a schoolgirl. But the pearl ring--I think -we must put that away until you are older. It is too valuable and too -conspicuous. I don’t like to see little girls wearing jewelry.” - -“I can wear it when I go to college--if I go; may I not, Mother?” asked -Mary wistfully. - -“Oh, yes, _if_ you go to college, Dearie,” sighed her mother. “At any -rate, you can wear it when you are eighteen.” - -Dr. Corliss examined the ring carefully. “Yes, I am sure I have seen -Aunt Nan wear it,” he said. “It must be one of the set of famous -pearls that she was once proud of. Doubtless she sold the rest long ago -and gave the money to her hospital. I am glad Mary has this; but Mother -is right. School-girls should not wear jewelry. Put it away until you -are grown-up, my daughter.” - -So Mary fastened the pretty necklace about her round throat, and shut -the pearl ring away in her bureau drawer, with a sigh. - -But Katy Summers said:-- - -“I wouldn’t mind, Mary, even if you can’t wear it yet. Just to think -that you have it, and that you got it in such a mysterious way! Why, it -is like a story-book!” - -“Doesn’t it make you want to hear some more Shakespeare?” demanded -Mary, laughing. - -“Indeed it does!” agreed Katy. “I’ll come and listen whenever you will -let me. Who knows what may happen? Yes, I’ll wager that Caliban knows.” - -“The same thing never happens twice,” sighed Mary. - -John was disgusted when he came home from a meeting of the Big Four to -find that he had missed this most exciting discovery; although, after -all, when it came to the jewelry, John thought the result rather -small. “My goodness, Mary!” he exclaimed, “I’ll bet there are lots more -things hidden in that old library of yours. Don’t you go and do all the -hunting when I’m not here.” - -“I don’t,” said Mary. “I didn’t mean to hunt. I don’t ever mean to -hunt. But if things come--all right.” - -“I wish you’d let me have the fun of hunting in the library all I want, -just once,” said John wistfully. - -Mary hesitated. She did not want anybody to rummage among her books. -But she hated to be “stingy,” and she felt as if she were really having -more than her share of fun out of Aunt Nan’s legacy, in spite of John’s -two thousand dollars. So she said generously, without letting John see -how great an effort it was: “All right, Johnny. To-morrow is Saturday, -and I’ll give you free leave to hunt all you want to in my library. I -won’t even come to bother you.” - -“Bully for you!” crowed John. “Finding’s having?” - -But that was more than Mary bargained for. - -“Oh, no, John!” she cried. “I don’t think Aunt Nan would like that. Do -you?” - -“Oh, bother! I suppose not,” grumbled John. “She was a queer one!” - -The next Saturday morning John spent in hunting that library from floor -to ceiling. Caliban, sitting on a corner of the mantelpiece, watched -him gravely during the whole operation, but offered no suggestions. -John poked behind the books, in every corner, under every rug. He even -ripped open a bit of the cover on the old sofa. But nothing interesting -could he find. - -“I say, Caliban, can’t you help me?” he said once, to the watching cat. - -But Caliban only blinked, and gave his tail a little switch. - -“I’ll give it up!” growled John at last, disgustedly, when Mary came to -call him to dinner. “I guess you’ve got about all you are ever going to -get out of Aunt Nan’s legacy. If Caliban knows anything more about it -he won’t tell _me_. Anyway, I’ve got my two thousand, and that’s best -of all.” - -“All right, John,” retorted Mary good-naturedly. “I’ve got my two -thousand books, anyway, and Caliban. So I am not complaining.” - -She did not tell John that she still hoped to solve the mystery of the -key on the green silk cord; not to solve it by hunting or by hurrying, -but in Aunt Nan’s own way, whatever that might be. - -And Caliban, looking up at her, switched his tail and gave a wise, -solemn wink. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE ATTIC - - -The Corliss family were sadly in need of funds. There were the butcher -and the baker and the candlestick-maker politely presenting their bills -to the family recently arrived in Crowfield, suggesting in print and -in writing and by word of mouth that “bills are payable monthly.” Now -it was the end of the month, and there was no money to pay these same -bills; for the expense of moving and settling in a new place had been -heavy, and their small income had already disappeared. - -“How much money is it that we need for immediate bills, Mother?” asked -Dr. Corliss wearily. It always tired him to talk about money. - -“Just about a hundred dollars would bridge us over nicely,” said his -wife, with an anxious pucker in her forehead. “But I don’t see any sign -of our getting that hundred dollars for a month to come. And then it -will be needed for fresh bills.” - -“Why, of course, you must take my hundred dollars that I found in Aunt -Nan’s book,” said Mary cheerfully, though it cost her a pang to think -of using up her wonder-gift so soon in this way. “I’ll just take it out -of the bank next Saturday morning.” - -“I hate to touch that money of yours, Mary, even if we put it back for -you when we can,” sighed her mother. “I hoped we could save that for -your nest-egg toward a college fund. Let me think it over a bit longer. -Perhaps something will happen to help us. Or I may think of some way to -earn the money.” - -They left discussion of the matter for that time. But they all took the -troublesome problem away with them into their daily tasks. - -“It is a shame for Mary to have to give up her hundred dollars,” -thought John. “I wish I could help earn some money so that she needn’t -do it. If I was in the city I could sell papers or something. But what -can I do here when I have to go to school every day? School takes up -such a lot of time!” - -John sighed as he swung his books over his shoulder and started off for -school. All day he thought about that needed money; and it was in his -mind when he turned in at the gate that night. - -“I wish I was clever and could think up something,” said John to -Caliban, who was sitting on the top step looking at him when John came -in. “I wonder you don’t help us, Caliban. Come, now, can’t you think of -something, old witch-cat?” - -Caliban did not seem to mind being spoken to in this impolite way. But -he did look at John in a fashion that the boy thought very knowing, and -he did unmistakably wink one eye. - -“Miaou!” said Caliban, and he turned his back on John, and began to -walk upstairs. - -John was going upstairs too; so he followed Caliban, who, however, -hopped three steps at a time, while John could only take two with his -short legs. When they reached the top of the flight, Caliban looked -about to see if John was still following him. John had not meant to do -so, but when he saw Caliban turn and look, with that queer expression -in his green eyes, John had an idea. - -“Maybe he wants me to follow him,” said he to himself. He tossed his -books on to a chair and tiptoed after the big black cat. Caliban ambled -unconcernedly along the hall and suddenly darted up the attic stairs. -“Hello!” said John, with a whistle under his breath. “What is Caliban -up to now? I thought he never went far from Mary’s library. But, I -declare, he is coaxing me to follow him up into the attic! You bet I’ll -follow you, old boy!” - -John had never paid much attention to the attic. He had looked into it, -of course. But it was so dark and dusty and cobwebby that it was not -much fun poking about up there. Since their first visit the family had -not been there except to store away some of Aunt Nan’s superfluous old -furniture and ornaments. - -If the house had seemed like a museum to the family when they first -entered it, this attic looked like a junk-shop. Every corner was -filled with furniture, boxes, bundles, strange garments hanging from -hooks, bales bursting with mysterious contents. Away back in the dusty -corners, where it was so dark that John’s eye could not distinguish, -bulked other dim shapes. - -Caliban walked across the floor in a furtive fashion, then suddenly -made a dive into a distant dark corner, where John immediately heard a -scurrying and scratching. - -“He’s after a mouse!” thought John excitedly. And he, too, dived into -the darkness after the cat, who had disappeared. But Caliban had -scuttled into some hole too small for John to enter. John could hear -him still scratching and sniffing. And an occasional squeak betrayed -the misfortune of some long-tailed dweller in the garret that Caliban -had taken by surprise. - -John got down on his hands and knees the better to investigate that -corner. But still he could not spy the cat and his prey. He only bumped -his nose against the low beams, and got his mouth full of cobwebs. But -in that dark hiding-place he came upon an unexpected thing. This was -something that at first he took to be a bicycle. But he soon found by -feeling of it that there was but one wheel, and that it was made of -wood. At one end was a curious bunch of what felt like long hair; it -made John shudder. But presently he remembered. - -“It must be a spinning-wheel,” said John to himself. “I remember seeing -one in the picture of Priscilla and John Alden.” Just then he bumped -his head on something hard. “What is this great long-handled pan?” he -said. “I’ve seen those in the curiosity shops, too. Hello! Here’s a -cradle, the kind that rocks. I’ve seen those in pictures. And here’s -a pair of andirons. My! this is a regular old curiosity shop. These -things must be worth a lot of money.” - -Then a sudden wonderful idea popped into John’s head. “Why can’t we -sell them, if they are worth a lot of money? Why, of course we can -sell them, and save Mary’s hundred dollars! Maybe that is just what old -Caliban knew, when he coaxed me to follow him up here. Say, you old -rascal, where are you? Here, ’Ban! ’Ban! Come on out and let me see -what you think about it!” - -But Caliban had disappeared with his mouse, or whatever it was, which -had ceased to squeak. And there was nothing but darkness and silence in -the old attic beside the little boy and that strange litter of ancient -things. - -John looked around and shivered. “I guess I’ll be going,” he said. “I -won’t stop to examine anything more. They all belong to Mother. I’ll -let her do the looking-up. I’ll run down and tell her what I’ve found.” - -And hurrying as fast as he could out of the dark corner, where the -cobwebs and the dust were trying to keep intruders away from the old -things to which they clung, John made for the attic stairs. Two or -three times he thought he heard strange noises behind him, and he -couldn’t go fast enough. Probably it was Caliban still scratching in -some dark subway under the rafters. But John had no wish to stop and -investigate. He came clattering down the stairs, and burst into his -mother’s room. - -“Mother!” he cried, “I’ve found something!” - -“Goodness, John!” she said. “What a dirty face you have, and your -eyebrows are all cobwebby. Where in the world have you been, and what -have you found?” - -“I’ve found things up in the attic!” exclaimed John triumphantly. -“Caliban showed me the way. It was all his doings. I think he did it on -purpose--to help Mary.” - -“To help Mary! What in the world do you mean?” cried Mrs. Corliss. -“Have you found a treasure, John, or some more mysterious secrets?” - -“Well, no, not exactly,” confessed John, somewhat crestfallen. “Unless -we make it a secret. I’d like that. But I think it’s a nice surprise, -Mumsie, and I _think_ it will save some of Mary’s hundred dollars. -Mother,--all the furniture belongs to you, doesn’t it?” - -“Why, yes, Johnny,” she answered, wondering. “Why do you ask?” - -“Because,” said John importantly, “I have been snooping around the -attic, Mumsie, and I think there are a lot of things you can sell.” - -“What kind of things do you mean, John?” she asked, looking interested. - -“Why, you know, Mother,” said John, “there’s a lot of old truck in the -corners up there that looks just like the stuff we used to see in the -curiosity shops in the city. I didn’t look very far, Mumsie, ’cause it -was so--well, so dirty in there. But there’s wheels and andirons and -things that I bet are worth lots of money!” - -“Are there, John?” said Mrs. Corliss. “How clever of you to think of -it! I never dreamed of looking in Aunt Nan’s attic to find the way out -of our difficulty. Perhaps this is the solution!” - -“It’s Caliban’s idea,” said John, wishing to be fair and not to claim -too much credit, but feeling well pleased with himself, just the same. - -“Let’s go up right away and see what we can find; shall we, John?” said -his mother. “I can’t wait!” - -“All right,” agreed John. “But you’d better take a candle, Mumsie. It’s -terribly dark and spooky up there. And noises sound louder in the dark.” - -Back to the garret they went, Mrs. Corliss as eager as John. And into -those dark corners which had been undisturbed for many, many years they -shed the light of their blinking, inquisitive candle. Mrs. Corliss was -more thorough than John had cared to be. She untied strings, and lifted -lids of trunks, and unwrapped coverings. Out of chests and bundles and -crates they dragged things that had been waiting through generations of -Aunt Nan’s ancestors for some one to make them useful; things that had -been discarded or pushed back still farther in order to make room for -her whims and “jokes.” - -[Illustration: THINGS THAT HAD BEEN WAITING THROUGH GENERATIONS OF AUNT -NAN’S ANCESTORS FOR SOME ONE TO MAKE THEM USEFUL] - -Besides the old spinning-wheel, andirons, and warming-pan, they found -parts of a four-post bedstead, a tall clock, and many quaint chairs. -They unearthed a hair trunk, foot-warmers, mirrors, crockery, and lamps -with prisms dangling; shawls and bonnets and carpet-bags. All of these -things were old and most of them were ugly. But Mrs. Corliss knew that -they would look beautiful to many persons, just because they were old; -which seemed to John a strange reason. - -When they had brought all this old stuff together in the middle of the -attic floor, Mrs. Corliss looked about and smiled through a face-veil -of dusty cobwebs. - -“Well, John!” she said, “I believe my part of the legacy is not to be -laughed at, either. We don’t want to keep these old things, for they -have no history for us and they are not beautiful in themselves--the -only two excuses I see for cherishing useless old things. Luckily -there are plenty of people who think differently. I’ll go up to town -to-morrow with a list of what you and I have found, and see what I can -get for them at some reliable antique shop. Let’s keep it a secret, and -surprise your father and Mary, if we have good luck with the venture. -Shall we?” - -“Let’s!” cried John, clapping his hands. - -Just then out of the darkness crept Caliban, licking his chops, and -looking very sly. - -“Now, don’t you go and tell Mary, Caliban!” charged John. “For this -is our secret. You let me into it yourself, and you’ve got to be our -partner now. Don’t you dare even to _purr_ about it!” - -Caliban did not promise; but he trotted downstairs before them very -discreetly. And all that evening no one would have guessed by the -manner of those three conspirators what a tremendous secret they were -concealing in their hearts. John did not dare to look at his mother’s -face, however, he was so bursting with importance. - -The next day Mrs. Corliss went to town on an errand which she explained -rather vaguely to the rest of the family. She returned with a queer -little old man with round shoulders and a white beard, who spoke -English strangely and whose hands were not very clean. Mrs. Corliss -took him straight up to the attic, which was the only part of the house -he seemed anxious to visit. They stayed up there some time, and there -was a great noise of pushing and rolling of furniture. When they came -down, the little old man was looking very much pleased and rubbing his -dirty hands together. And he went away still rubbing. - -Mrs. Corliss came to the supper-table with something which she -fluttered triumphantly before the eyes of her bewildered family. - -“Hurrah!” she cried. “I’ve got it!” - -“What is it, Mother?” said Mary. - -“How much is it, Mumsie?” begged John at the same minute. - -“It is a check for a hundred dollars!” cried Mrs. Corliss. “It’s to pay -the horrid bills. Hurrah!” - -“Where in the world did you get it?” asked Dr. Corliss. “Is it another -of Mary’s bookmarks?” - -“Not a bit of it!” sang Mrs. Corliss. “Mary’s bookmark is all her own, -safe in bank. I got this out of the attic--out of my furniture. Now, -perhaps you will think something of my despised legacy. I sold only -a few of the old things that are of so much less use to us than the -space they occupy. There are plenty of them left, and the dealer is -crazy to get them, too. We need be in no hurry to part with them. Aunt -Nan’s attic is a perfect storehouse of treasures in that man’s eyes. It -was Johnny who found it out.” - -“Me and Caliban,” said John loyally; “don’t forget him.” And he told -the others the whole story of his following the cat. - -“You blessed old Caliban!” cried Mary, catching up the great bundle of -fur and hugging him tightly. “You shall have an extra saucer of milk -for your supper, so you shall!” - -Caliban did not explain to her about the nest of fat mice which he had -discovered in the attic. That was his share of the “treasure.” - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE PORTRAIT POINTS - - -One winter afternoon some weeks after the discovery of the coral -necklace and the pearl ring, Mary was in the library alone, reading -“Hamlet.” It was the last play on the list which Aunt Nan had -suggested, and Mary liked it best of all. Nothing further of a -“mysterious” nature had happened in the library; but Mary had almost -forgotten to think about anything of the kind. She was reading now for -the pleasure of it. - -She had kindled a little fire in the fireplace, and the library was -very cozy, full of flickering shadows and dancing lights, that played -about the old volumes, and seemed every minute to change the expression -on the bust of Shakespeare and on Aunt Nan’s picture above it. - -But Mary, cuddled up in the big armchair with Caliban in her lap and -the little red book in her hand, was too much interested in the fate -of poor Ophelia and the unlucky Prince to notice lights or shadows. -She had come to the scene where Hamlet is talking sorrowfully to his -mother in her chamber, and every word was wonderful. Suddenly she came -upon a line underscored; the last part doubly underscored:-- - -“_Look here upon this picture_, THEN ON THIS.” - -Hamlet was pointing out to his mother the portraits of two kings, the -good one who had been murdered, and his wicked brother who had killed -him. The underscored line made Mary’s heart beat faster. She had -learned to connect some pleasant surprise with Aunt Nan’s choice of -quotations. In the margin opposite this line was penned an exclamation -point--just that and nothing more. Eager as she was to go on with the -story, and to find out what Hamlet had to say next, Mary knew that -it was time to turn to the notes at the back of the book, to see if -Aunt Nan meant anything in particular by that exclamation. She could -not help feeling as if Aunt Nan herself had called out, “Stop! Look! -Listen!”--just as the signs at the railway crossings do to absorbed -travelers. - -Yes; there was something written in the notes, in a blank space at the -end of a paragraph: “_Look at my portrait! Then turn to the play of -Othello._--” - -“Oh, dear!” said Mary to herself. “I believe we are coming to another -Secret!” And she felt her heart give a little jump of excitement. “‘_My -portrait._’ There is only one portrait of Aunt Nan.” And she glanced -up at the picture over the fireplace. Then, indeed, she noticed how -the firelight was making Aunt Nan’s queer eyes dance and glitter, and -how her mouth seemed to be smiling in the most knowing way. “_Look -here upon this picture_, THEN ON THIS.” What did the last part of this -line, doubly underscored, mean to Aunt Nan? Mary studied the picture -long and earnestly. There was something about it that she did not quite -understand. It was as if Aunt Nan were trying to tell her something, -but could not make the words plain. Mary felt that she almost had the -clue to something--but not quite. Caliban did not seem to help her. If -John were only here; John was so good at guessing riddles! - -Mary put down Caliban, who promptly jumped up onto the desk. Then she -ran out into the hall and called, “John! John!” for she knew that he -was in the house, probably, as usual, ravenous for tea. “Come to the -library, John!” she called again, in answer to his “Hello! What?”--“I -think it’s another Secret. Quick!” she added, to bring him the sooner. - -Down came clattering boots, and John dashed into the room all -excitement. “What’s up?” he asked eagerly. And Mary showed him the -line. “H’m!” commented John, looking at the portrait curiously. “She -does look sly, doesn’t she, Mary? But you haven’t looked up the other -thing yet. I say, hurry! Let’s see what your old ‘Othello’ has to tell -about it.” - -Sure enough! Mary had forgotten the reference to “Othello.” Hurriedly -she got out the proper volume, and turned to the right page and line. - - “_A fixéd figure for the time of scorn - To point his slow unmoving finger at._” - -She read slowly. “What in the world does that mean? I’m sure I don’t -know.” - -John had been all this time studying the portrait with its queer -expression. When Mary read the quotation he clapped his hands. “Oh, I -say!” he cried. “It talks about a _finger_, pointing. That’s it! She -means the hand of the portrait is pointing to something. It has been -pointing all the time, and we’ve only got to find out _what at_! Look, -Mary. Don’t you see she is pointing, just as plainly as can be?” - -Mary dropped “Othello” and ran to look at the picture. The queer eyes -of Aunt Nan seemed to meet hers, and yes! she certainly seemed to be -pointing with the long forefinger of her right hand which rested on her -breast. - -Mary followed the direction of the pointing finger, as John was trying -to do in the fading light. It seemed to point to a corner of the wall -on which the portrait itself hung; to a shelf in the left-hand alcove -by the fireplace. Both Mary and John ran eagerly to the corner and -began to sight from finger to shelf and back again, to get a straight -line from the pointing finger. - -“I think it falls _here_” said John, touching a fat brown book labeled -“Concordance,” on the fourth shelf from the bottom. “But I have looked -behind all the books on this shelf. I know I have!” - -“No, it doesn’t fall there,” said Mary. “I am sure she is pointing -about _here_.” And she laid her hand on a row of green-and-gold -volumes, whose titles she could hardly read in the dim light. - -“‘Gems from the Poets,’” spelled John with difficulty. “Do you suppose -she means these? And what does she want us to do, anyway? Let’s try -this one.” He took down Volume I, which turned out to be “Gems from -Marlowe,” a poet of whom neither of them had even heard. John looked -under the book, and examined the wall behind where it had stood, and -began to look through the book itself, as carefully as possible. But -Mary was searching farther. “I don’t think it is that one,” she said. -“I think she is pointing farther along in the row.” - -“Let’s try them all,” suggested John, seizing another volume,--“‘Gems -from Beaumont and Fletcher’--whoever they are!” He flapped the leaves -and looked in the space at the back where the cover was loose. But -there was nothing unusual about that book. Meanwhile Mary was still -drawing an imaginary line from the point of the portrait’s finger to -the shelf in the corner. - -“I am sure she is pointing _here_,” she said, laying her hand on the -last volume in the row, which looked exactly like the others. “‘Gems -from Shakespeare,’” she read the label on the back. “Yes, of course -this ought to be the right one. She liked him best of all the poets, -John. I believe this is it!” - -Mary pulled the volume from the shelf eagerly. But when she held it in -her hands she uttered a cry of surprise that made John drop the book he -was flapping strenuously, and turn to her. - -“What is it, Mary?” he asked. “Have you found something?” - -“Oh, John!” she whispered in the greatest excitement, “it isn’t a book -at all! It is--something else! I think it is the Secret!” - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -GEMS FROM SHAKESPEARE - - -It was an exciting moment when Mary stood with the “Gems from -Shakespeare” in her hand, declaring that this was not a book at all, -but something else! What was it, then, which made her so excited? -Caliban eyed her from the desk benevolently. “Miaou!” he cried. But no -one noticed him. - -“What do you think it is, Mary?” cried John. For he, too, saw in a -moment that it was not a mere book at which his sister was gazing with -wide eyes. - -The back, with its green-and-gold leather and its label, “Gems from -Shakespeare,” matched the rest of the set, so far. And the sides were -flat and cover-like. But the front and top and ends, where the edges -of leaves would naturally show in any proper book, were enclosed in -leather, so as to make the whole thing into a sort of case. - -“It’s a box!” said Mary solemnly. - -John thrust his face up close to the mystery, and presently he gave a -start. In the end where you would naturally open the book to read, he -had spied something strange. - -“Oh, Mary!” he cried; “Look! Here is a little keyhole! I believe we’ve -found the clue to your key that was in the lantern. Have you got the -key here? Quick, Mary!” - -Mary was shaking the box very gently. “Something rattles!” she said. -“What do you suppose it is?” - -“Oh, do be careful. Maybe it is something breakable. Hurry and find out -what it is!” begged John in the greatest excitement. - -Mary always wore the puzzling key about her neck, on the green silk -cord which had come with it. She now pulled it out, and they carried -the “Gems from Shakespeare” over to the table, so that they might see -better under the lamp. - -Just then there came a knock at the door, and both children jumped as -if they had been caught in doing something wrong. “Mary! John!” cried -the voice of their mother, “where are you both? What in the world are -you doing? I rang the bell for tea three times; and I never knew you -both to be so late before!” - -“Oh, come in, Mother,” said Mary; “do come in, quickly!” - -The door opened, and there stood Mrs. Corliss with the Doctor close -behind her. - -“I thought I heard you shouting at one another in here,” said Dr. -Corliss. “What’s up? More surprises, eh? Something better than tea?” - -“Caliban looks as if he thought so,” said Mrs. Corliss. “See how his -green eyes glitter!” - -“Oh, yes, Father!” said Mary; “it’s the most exciting surprise of all, -we think; because Aunt Nan has taken pains to make it a part of her -portrait.” - -“Part of the portrait! What do you mean, Mary?” exclaimed her father, -advancing into the room, and like the rest of them forgetting all about -tea in the excitement of the occasion. - -Mary showed them the “Gems from Shakespeare” with the keyhole in the -end, and explained how the picture had guided them to it. They lighted -the lamp hastily, and Dr. Corliss had to see just how the “slow -unmoving finger” of Aunt Nan’s portrait pointed to the shelf in the -corner where the “Gems” lived. - -“Why, yes!” exclaimed the Doctor, examining the picture still more -closely than the children had done. “And now that I have a clue, I see -something more, that you haven’t discovered. Look, children! Do you -see what this book is on which Aunt Nan’s left hand is resting? It is a -picture of this very same ‘Gems from Shakespeare,’ I can even make out -a ‘G--S’ on the binding. But I never should have discovered it without -your clue. I believe there is something in it, Mary!” And he looked as -excited as any of them. - -“Well, do let’s find out what is in it!” urged Mrs. Corliss. “I can’t -wait another minute!” - -“Neither can I!” cried John. “Hurry, Mary!” - -Mary took the little key and tried it in the keyhole. Yes, it just -fitted. She turned it, and a lock clicked. - -“Lift the cover!” cried her father. And Mary opened what would have -been the front cover of the book, if it had been a book which she was -holding. - -Inside the hollow leathern shell which pretended to be a book was a -box; a green wooden box, with brass trimmings. Mary lifted the cover of -this with a rapidly beating heart. And what do you think she found? - -First of all she found a sheet of paper, at the top of which was -written “GEMS FROM SHAKESPEARE.” Below it followed a list of quotations -from Shakespeare, of a character that made them all very much excited; -you will readily guess why. These are the quotations:-- - - “The little casket bring me hither.--More jewels yet!” - _T. of A._ I, ii. - - “The jewel that we find we stoop and take it.” _M. for M._, II, i. - - “Bid my woman search for a jewel.” _Cym._ II, iii. - - “And what says she to my little jewel?” _T. G. of V._, IV, vii. - -Under this sheet of quotations was spread a tiny silken blanket of -pink. With trembling fingers Mary lifted this covering. - -“Gems from Shakespeare,” indeed! The sight made them all gasp. There, -lying on velvet cushions, in little pens, were drops and clusters and -strings of pearls; big and little, round and oval, creamy and lustrous -and beautiful. Piece by piece Mary lifted them out of their beds. There -was a long necklace which would go twice around her throat; earrings; -brooches; bar-pins and bracelets and rings. Some of the pearls were set -with diamonds, and some with emeralds and sapphires and rubies; some -were made up into rosebuds with pink coral like that of the necklace -which Mary had found in the bust of Shakespeare. It was a wonderful -collection. - -“Well!” cried Dr. Corliss, the first one of the family to get his -breath,--“well, Mary! So you have Aunt Nan’s jewels, after all. She -did not sell them for the benefit of her hospital, as I believed. She -wanted them to go with her beloved library. There can be no doubt that -these belong to you, and that she wished you to have them, if you were -clever enough to find them. And a pretty little fortune they will -prove, if I am not mistaken.” - -[Illustration: “OH, THEY ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL,” SAID MARY] - -“Here is a note in the bottom of the box,” said Mary, drawing out a -sheet of folded paper. Nowadays she did not dread Aunt Nan’s notes as -she had done at first, for she began to think of the queer great-aunt -whom she had never seen as one of her best and kindest friends. - -“_To Mary Corliss_” the note was addressed, and it read:-- - - These are my jewels, Mary, since you have found them--my mere jewel - stones. But by this time, as I hope, you will have learned the - greater beauty of my other jewels--the real “Gems from Shakespeare.” - You will know, if you have done as I wished, that books are the best - treasure of all. And that in poetry--especially in Shakespeare’s - poetry--are the most precious gems to be found in this world. These - so-called _precious_ bits of stone and pearl have never been of any - use to me. I have never worn them. Why I have not sold them long ago, - I do not know. Perhaps because I wanted to play this one last joke - with them, for somebody’s benefit. They have been waiting here in - this secret place for years. Now I have played my last joke, and you - shall do with the “Gems” whatever you please. I hope you will be a - wise girl. - N. C. - -“What do you suppose Aunt Nan meant by that last remark?” asked Mrs. -Corliss wonderingly. “The pearls are far too splendid for our Mary ever -to wear. I should hate to see her flaunting them, Owen.” - -“So should I!” said Dr. Corliss fervently. “They are grand enough for a -princess to wear at a court ball. What do you say, Mary?” - -“Oh, they are very beautiful,” said Mary, “but I don’t want to wear -them, any more than Aunt Nan did. Father, do you think it would be -right to sell them? I’d like so much to have the money to help us -all--and perhaps there would be enough so that I could go to college, -too.” - -“That’s my daughter!” cried her father, hugging her proudly in his -arms. “That is what I hoped you would say. I can see no possible reason -why you should keep the jewels. Evidently Aunt Nan did not care for -them herself, and you have no association with them except through -her. They can do you no good, except in one way. So my girl will be -able to go to college, after all, as well as my boy. I am so glad!” - -“Thanks to Aunt Nan--and to Shakespeare,” said Mary, patting the volume -of “Hamlet” lovingly. “If Shakespeare hadn’t given the clue I might not -have found the gems for ever and ever so long.” - -“You might never have found them, Mary!” cried John. “Ginger! how -awful! They might have stayed here all your life; or some old -bookseller might have got them when you began to fill up with new books -in place of these old ones.” - -“Like Aladdin swapping off his old lamp for a new one,” smiled Dr. -Corliss. - -“No,” said Mary, “that wouldn’t have happened. And I should have found -them, anyway, sooner or later. For I shall never part with one of Aunt -Nan’s books. And sooner or later I mean to dip into every one, and -read it through, if I can. I guess Aunt Nan knew that.” She glanced -gratefully at the portrait over the mantelpiece, which seemed to look -very happy in the lamplight, while the box of gems stood open on the -table. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE PARTY - - -From Aunt Nan’s pearls Mary kept out a brooch for her mother and two -bar-pins for herself and Katy Summers, just alike. The rest of the -“Gems from Shakespeare” she entrusted to Mr. Wilde, the family lawyer, -who undertook to sell them for her in the city. - -It was an exciting day for Mary when he told her the result of his -mission. - -“My dear,” said he, with a twinkle in his wise old eyes, “those -Shakespeare ‘Gems’ of yours made the eyes of the jewelers pop out of -their heads. You won’t have any trouble in going to college when the -time comes; if you still wish to do so, and if you haven’t already -learned all there is to be known from that famous library of yours. I -hold forty thousand dollars in trust for you. Are you disappointed?” - -“Forty thousand dollars!” Mary could only gasp. And the rest of the -family had to pinch themselves to be sure they were not dreaming. But -it was, indeed, a fact. There need be no more anxiety or overwork -for any of them. With care and economy they were provided for until -Mary and John should have finished college and be ready to earn their -living. Dr. Corliss could go on writing his book in peace, without -worrying about bills. Mrs. Corliss could have a little maid to help her -in the housework. - -And Mary could have a party! - -“Mother,” said Mary, when they had recovered from the first excitement -of the news which Mr. Wilde had brought them, and when they had seen -that proud and delighted old gentleman off once more for the city where -he lived,--“Mother, I want to have a party, and give the other children -a good time. I want to celebrate not only our good luck, but the way we -got it. I want to have a Shakespeare party.” - -“Oh, yes! Let’s have a party!” crowed John. “A dress-up party, Mary?” - -“Yes, a dress-up party. Everybody must be a Shakespeare character.” - -“I think that is a very nice idea,” said Mrs. Corliss. “Next month -comes Shakespeare’s birthday, the twenty-third of April, which is also -Saint George’s day. I think it would be lovely to have a party and show -our Crowfield friends that Aunt Nan’s house is going to be hospitable -and jolly from this time on.” - -They invited all the children in Mary’s class of the High School and -in John’s class of the Grammar School. Everybody was told that he -or she must come in a Shakespeare costume; and this set them all to -looking up quotations and reading plays more than had ever before been -done in Crowfield. - -For days before the party Mary’s library was crowded every afternoon -with eager children who came to ask questions and get suggestions about -their costumes. Mary and Katy Summers helped them as best they could, -and Mrs. Corliss pinned and draped and made sketches to show how things -ought to look. - -During these busy days Caliban retreated to the attic and sulked most -of the time, because Mary paid him so little attention. But then, Mary -said his costume was already nearly perfect. So why bother about him? - -They held the party in the library, the biggest room in the Corliss -house. And Aunt Nan’s portrait looked down on a strange gathering -of folk out of her favorite books. It seemed as if the old lady -must be pleased if she knew how many persons had become interested -in Shakespeare through the things which had happened and were still -happening in her library. - -The door was opened by John dressed as Puck, in brown jacket and -tights, with little wings sprouting out of his shoulder-blades. - -In the library the guests were received by Mary in long, glittering, -green draperies to represent Ariel, with a wand and a crown of stars. -She kept Caliban close at her side, beautiful in a green ribbon collar -which bored him greatly. - -Katy Summers stood beside Mary, and looked sweet as Titania, in a fairy -dress of white tarlatan, with a crown of flowers. Dr. Corliss had been -made to represent Prospero, with a long white beard and gray robes. And -Mrs. Corliss was one of the witches from “Macbeth.” She wore a dress of -smoky gray veiling, with a veil over her long hair, which concealed her -face. Some of the children were afraid of her at first, for they did -not know who she really was; she looked very bent and witch-like, and -acted her part weirdly. - -Ralph and James Perry, two members of John’s “Big Four,” came as -the two Dromios, the clowns in “A Comedy of Errors.” Their faces -were whitened, and they acted like real clowns in a circus, turning -somersaults and making grimaces. Whatever one did the other imitated -him immediately, and it kept the other children in gales of laughter. - -Billy Barton, the fourth member of the “Big Four,” made a hit as Nick -Bottom, wearing the Ass’s head, and braying with comical effect; though -as Billy had never heard the strange noise which a donkey really makes -when it brays, he actually sounded more like a sick rooster. His -long-eared head-piece soon grew so hot to wear that Billy took it off -and hung it over his arm, which rather spoiled the illusion, but was -much more comfortable. - -Then there was Charlie Connors, a very fat boy, who dressed as -Falstaff, with a fierce mustache and impressive rubber boots, a plumed -hat, belt full of pistols, and a sword. There was Lady Macbeth, in a -white nightgown with her hair hanging loose, a dangerous dagger in one -hand and a lighted candle in the other. But when she nearly set fire to -the draperies of the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, Mrs. Corliss made the -Lady extinguish her sleep-walking candle. - -Hamlet himself was there, too, in melancholy long black stockings, with -a waterproof cape flung tragically over one shoulder. He carried one of -Aunt Nan’s ostrich eggs in his hand to represent a skull. Indeed, the -attic and the “Collections” had helped supply many necessary parts of -this Shakespeare masquerade. - -There was Cleopatra, in a wonderful red sateen robe hauled out of one -of the old chests; and Shylock, with a long beard hanging over a purple -dressing-gown of the Early-Victorian period. There was Julius Cæsar in -a Roman toga made from some of Aunt Nan’s discarded window-curtains, -and Rosalind looking lovely in a blue bathing-suit and tam o’ shanter. - -There were also a number of little Grammar-School fairies in -mosquito-netting robes, and many other citizens of places earthly and -unearthly, who seemed to have wandered out of the books in Mary’s -library. Ariel recognized them all, and named them to the company as -they came in. They squatted about on the chairs and on the floor till -everybody had arrived. - -And then they gave the play. - -Ever since reading “Midsummer Night’s Dream” Mary had wanted to try the -delicious foolery of “Pyramus and Thisbe.” It required no scenery, no -other costumes than a shawl or two, to cover up what the actors were -already wearing to represent other characters. It was all a huge joke, -as the audience soon saw; and throughout the scene the children laughed -and squealed with delight, as Mary had thought they would. For the -actors must have given the play as ridiculously as Shakespeare himself -intended; which was saying a great deal. - -Billy Barton, covering himself with a mackintosh, acted Prologue, and -introduced Mary, draped as Pyramus, and Katy as Thisbe; John, parted -for a time from his wings, and tied up in a gray shawl, with a fringed -rope fastened on for a tail, was the horribly roaring Lion. Ralph and -Jimmie represented Wall and Moonshine. - -It was a very funny thing to see Wall hold up his fingers to make a -chink through which Pyramus and Thisbe might kiss each other. And when -Lion begged the audience not to be frightened by his roar, the children -shrieked with laughter. - -But funniest of all was when Jimmy Perry as Moonshine came in with the -old tin lantern to represent the Moon, and tried to make Caliban in his -green ribbon act the part of the Moon Man’s dog. Caliban didn’t like -theatricals. He would not act the part, but lay down in the middle of -the floor, with his feet in the air, and his ears laid flat, ready to -scratch the Moon Man if he persisted. The Prologue had to rush in again -and drag him off. - -When the Lion had roared and made Pyramus think he had eaten poor -Thisbe, so that the hasty fellow stabbed himself in grief; and when -Thisbe had died, too, after sobbing about her lover’s “lily lips” and -“cherry nose,” the little play was over, and everybody in a good humor. -And the children said, “I didn’t know Shakespeare was so funny, did -you?” - -Then Ariel and Titania, Prospero, and the Witch made a magic--they -were a mighty quartet, you see. John suggested that they were really -the “Biggest Four.” They waved their wands and lifted their hands, and -Caliban helped with a mighty “Wow!” Then in came Puck and the other -fairies bearing a huge iron kettle, with a ladle sticking out of the -top. From the kettle rose a cloud of smoke and a sweet smell that made -Caliban sneeze. The fairies put the kettle in the middle of the room, -and the four magicians waved their wands over it, and moved slowly -about it singing,-- - - “Double, double, toil and trouble, - Fire, burn, and cauldron, bubble!” - -When the spell was finished, the smoke died away, and the Witch stooped -over and ladled something out, which she threw into the fireplace. -“Now, come, everybody!” she cried in a cracked voice, “and dip pot-luck -out of the magic kettle.” - -One by one the guests came and helped themselves to a ladleful of -pot-luck. The “luck” turned out to be a tissue-paper package tied -with red ribbon. In each package was a little present. Sometimes the -children did not get an appropriate gift; but then they could “swap.” -Shylock, who was one of the biggest boys, drew a Japanese doll, which -he exchanged for a jack-knife that had fallen to the lot of a little -girl-fairy. Cleopatra drew a conductor’s whistle, and Hamlet had a -beautiful bow of pink hair-ribbon; so they made a trade. The Ghost -was made happy with a jews-harp, and the Ass secured a fan; while fat -Falstaff made every one roar with laughter by unrolling from the great -bundle of tissue paper, which he had carefully picked out, a tiny -thimble. - -After this they danced and played games, and made the roof of Aunt -Nan’s old house echo with such sounds as it had not heard for many -years. Shakespeare characters flitted from room to room, up the stairs -to the attic and down to the cellar, in a joyous game of hide-and-seek. -And nobody said “Don’t!” or “Careful!” or “Sh!” This was a night when -Dream-People had their way undisturbed. - -Then they all went out into the dining-room and had supper--sandwiches -and chocolate and cake and ice-cream. And they all voted that they -liked Shakespeare very much, and that they ought to celebrate his -birthday every year. - -Nobody wanted to go home, of course. But in time, mere ordinary fathers -and mothers and big sisters and big brothers, in ugly, common clothes, -came and dragged away the Shakespeare people, one by one. When they -had all, as Prospero said, “melted into air, into thin air,” when even -Titania had waved her wand and disappeared with a kiss on Ariel’s -cheek, this happy Spirit and Prospero and the Witch, Puck and Caliban, -were left alone in front of the library fireplace. - -“Wasn’t it a lovely party!” cried Puck. - -“I am sure Aunt Nan would have been pleased,” said the Witch, looking -up at the portrait over the mantel. - -“Just think what a happy time she has given us; dear Aunt Nan!” said -Ariel. - -“Yes; it was a very nice party, indeed,” acknowledged Prospero, -stroking his long beard gravely. “I confess I never expected to get -so much pleasure out of poetry. But now, to quote myself, ‘I’ll to my -book.’ Good-night.” And he retired to his study. - -“I’m so sleepy!” said John. “Isn’t it too bad that poor Shakespeare -died before they invented ice-cream?” - -“Yes,” said Mary, “I wish he were still alive. I should like to see -him. But when I look about the library now I feel as if all the books -were alive--just full of live people!” - -“They are alive so long as we read them,” said Mrs. Corliss. - -“I’m going to keep them alive!” cried Mary. - -“Miaou!” protested Caliban, scratching wearily at his ribbon. He at -least was tired of wearing his costume. - -“Poor Caliban!” said Mary, untying the ribbon. “Now you can go to sleep -comfortably. To-morrow I shan’t be Ariel any more. But you will still -be Caliban, for you are the realest of us all!” - -Caliban switched his tail, yawned, and jumped up into the armchair, -where he curled himself to sleep. - -Mary had a strange dream that night. Perhaps she had eaten too much -ice-cream. She thought that as soon as the house was quiet, Caliban -rose on tiptoe and put on little wings like those of Puck, and flew -right out of the open window, away to the land of fairies and shadows -and book-folk. She dreamed that though she hunted and hunted, she -never could find him again. The dream made her cry, and she woke up -very early in the morning, still sobbing. - -The dream was still too real! She jumped out of bed, flung on her -little blue wrapper, thrust her feet into her blue slippers, and -hurried downstairs into the library. There in the middle of the -mantelpiece, under Aunt Nan’s portrait and close beside the bust -of Shakespeare, sat Caliban. He blinked in grave surprise at her -unexpected entrance. - -“Oh, Caliban, dear Caliban!” cried Mary, running up to him and hugging -him tight. “I was afraid you had ‘vanished into thin air,’ too. I -couldn’t have borne that, Caliban. I don’t know what I should ever do -without you, pussy dear!” - -“Miaou!” said Caliban, fondly kissing her cheek. - -And Aunt Nan’s portrait smiled down upon the pair. - - -THE END - - - - - The Riverside Press - CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS - U . S . A - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - - Archaic or variant spelling has been retained. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SURPRISE HOUSE *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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