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188 to upset. Come with us. We have finished our ghost hunt."

"Then let us get away from here before my guardian happens to come back," suggested the girl. "I will explain all I can to you, though it is rather complicated."

"Would you mind explaining first," asked Betty with a smile, "why you were up that tree? We have all puzzled over that so much."

"I went up there to hide from my guardian, or the man who calls himself such," said the girl. "I suppose it seems strange, but really that was the only thing I could think of. And it was not hard to get up, for the branches were low. You see I had just run away from him, from this very house, when he brought me here, and said that it was to be our home."

"This place your home!" exclaimed Mollie. "Why I thought Mr. Lagg had bought it."

"I don't know Mr. Lagg," said the strange girl, with a shake of her head. "But I'll explain in sections, as it were. My name is Carrie Norton, and my guardian is Samuel Clark. At least, that is his right name. He goes by several, according to the nature of the business he is in."

"He must be a queer sort of man to change his name," suggested Mr. Blackford, who had rejoined the girls.