Page:The wrong box (IA wrongbox00stevrich).pdf/88

 Gideon took the letter, and spreading it out on his knee, read as follows:—

',—I write you from Browndean, where we are stopping over for a few days. Uncle was much shaken in that dreadful accident, of which, I dare say, you have seen the account. To-morrow I leave him here with John, and come up alone; but before that, you will have received a barrel containing specimens for a friend. Do not open it on any account but leave it in the lobby till I come. 'Yours in haste, '. 'P.S.—Be sure and leave the barrel in the lobby.'

'No,' said Gideon, 'there seems to be nothing about the monument,' and he nodded as he spoke at the marble legs. 'Miss Hazeltine,' he continued, 'would you mind me asking a few questions?'

'Certainly not,' replied Julia; 'and if you can make me understand why Morris has sent a statue of Hercules instead of a barrel containing specimens for a friend, I shall be grateful till my dying day. And what are specimens for a friend?'

'I haven't a guess,' said Gideon. 'Specimens are usually bits of stone, but rather smaller than our