Chapter XXV: Agnes Is Perfectly Happy

"Oh, Neale! Oh, Ruth! I'm going to faint!" murmured Agnes Kenway, and she sank into a chair and began to "stiffen out" in approved fainting fashion.

But when she saw the boy pick up a vase, grab the flowers out of it with ruthless hand, and start to douse her with the water it was supposed to contain, the Corner House girl "came to" very promptly.

"Don't do that!" she cried. "You'll spoil those roses. And if there was water in that vase it would ruin my dress. Goosey! Those are artificial flowers, anyway. That's all a boy knows!"

"Neale seems to know a great deal that we do not," Ruth said faintly, really more overcome than Agnes was by the bomb Neale had flung.

"Say! haven't you heard from Mr. Howbridge?" demanded the youth.

"Mr. Howbridge?" murmured Ruth. "No."

"Then he'll be home himself to-morrow, and thought it wasn't worth while to write."

"What _do_ you mean, Neale O'Neil?" demanded Agnes.

"Did _you_ see Mr. Howbridge?" asked Ruth.

"Sure!"

"But I thought you went to see your uncle, Mr. Sorber," said the oldest Corner House girl.

"So I did. Poor Uncle Bill! He was pretty well done up. But he's better now, as I told you. But that's why I took the old book with me."

"_What_ is _why_?" demanded Agnes.

"Such 'langwitch'!" exclaimed Neale, with laughter. "I tell you I carried that album away with me because I wanted to show the stuff in it to Mr. Howbridge. I remembered he was up there in Tiverton, too."

"Oh, dear me! I had forgotten it!" cried Ruth.

"I remembered, but I forgot to tell you," said Agnes.

"I didn't think the stuff was any good. But I thought Mr. Howbridge ought to see it and judge for himself. So I took it to him. He was busy when I first called and I left the book with him. That was at his brother's house."

"Oh, Neale!" groaned Ruth. "Why didn't you write us about it?"

"Didn't think of it. I give you my word I did not believe that the bonds were worth anything; and I was confident the money was phony."

"Oh, dear!" said Agnes. "And it's all safe? Mr. Howbridge has all that great lot of money?"

"Yes. I saw him Saturday before I came down to Milton. He pretty nearly took me off my feet when he said that it was all good stuff, with lots of dividend money coming to the owner of the bonds, too. And he wanted to know all the particulars of your finding the album. Bless you! he doesn't know what to think about it. He is only sure that your Uncle Peter never owned the bonds or the cash."

"He didn't," sighed Agnes, "more's the pity. Oh, no, Ruthie. I am not sorry Mrs. Eland and Miss Pepperill are going to be rich. But we could have made good use of some of that money."

"Buying an automobile, for instance?" suggested Neale, chuckling.

"Be careful, young man," Agnes warned him. "If you carry a joke too far, you shall never be allowed to run the Corner House automobile when we _do_ get it."

"I'll be good," said Neale, promptly. "For I have a sneaking sort of idea that maybe you _will_ have one, Aggie, before long."

"Oh, Neale!"

"Fact. Somebody's going to get a bunch of money for finding that album. And _you_ are the one who really made the find, Aggie Kenway."

"Now I know I shall faint!" gasped the next to the oldest Corner House girl.

"We wouldn't want money for giving Mrs. Eland what belongs to her," Ruth said quietly.

"Maybe not," said Neale, grimly. "But I guess Mr. Howbridge knows his business. He is your guardian. He will apply to the court for the proper reward for you, if it isn't forthcoming from the beneficiaries themselves."

"Goodness, Neale O'Neil! How you talk," said Agnes, in wonder. "You talk just like a lawyer yourself."

"Maybe I will be one some day," said the boy, diffidently. "But Mr. Howbridge talked a lot to me about the matter on Saturday. He said of course the real owners of the money and bonds must be hunted up. Perhaps he has some shrewd suspicion as to who they may be.

"But you girls have got rights in any treasure trove found in the old Corner House--"

"Gracious mercy me! I hope I shall find a lot more money and bonds," declared Agnes. "I'm going right up to the attic to-morrow and hunt some more."

But of course she did not. There were too many things happening on the morrow. Mr. Howbridge came from Tiverton and the girls found him at the Corner House when they came home from school.

He brought with him a statement showing how much money there was in that treasure trove found in the garret, and the value of the railroad bonds and the dividends due on them.

He was quite ready to believe Ruth's discovery regarding the true ownership of the treasure, too.

"I have heard Peter Stower often say that he wondered what Lemuel Aden did with his money. He stuck to it that Lem was a wealthy man, but the very worst kind of a miser.

"And that he should bring his wealth here and hide it in the old Corner House is not at all surprising. As a boy he played about here with your Uncle Peter. He knew the old garret as well as you children do, I warrant."

Later Mr. Howbridge went with Ruth to call on the matron of the Women's and Children's Hospital. Mrs. Eland produced the diaries and Mr. Howbridge read the notes referring to the old miser's "Beautiful Book."

It was decided by the Courts, at a later time, that the money and bonds all belonged to the two sisters, sole remaining heirs of Lemuel Aden. Mr. Howbridge acted for both parties in the transaction and nothing was said about any reward due the Corner House girls for making the odd find in the garret.

That is, there was little said about any reward just then. But Agnes went about with such a smiling face that everybody who knew her stopped to ask what it meant.

"Why, don't you know?" she said. "Just as soon as we can have it built, there will be a garage in our back yard. And Neale O'Neil is studying at the Main Street Garage every day after school, so he can run a car and take out a license like Joe Eldred. And--"

"But you haven't a car, Aggie Kenway!" cried Eva Larry, who was one of the most curious.

"Oh, no; not yet," drawled Agnes, with fine nonchalance. "But we're having one built for us. Mr. Howbridge himself ordered it for us. And it's going to be big enough to take out the whole Corner House family."

It was not that the other Corner House girls had no interest in this forthcoming pleasure car; but there were so many other things, to take up their attention.

Ruth was interested in getting Barnabetta and her father settled in two very nice rooms on Meadow Street for the winter. There they would remain until the circus season opened in the spring.

Barnabetta had secured a position for a few months that would support her and the clown; and Neale had written to his Uncle Bill Sorber and obtained a contract for the Scruggs' for the next season.

Miss Pepperill was back from the State Hospital and her sister and she were all ready to go across the Continent to remain a year at least. Milton people who knew her work, were sorry to see Mrs. Eland go. Her friends, however, were glad that never again would the little gray lady and her red-haired sister have to worry about ways and means.

As for the little girls, their interests were as varied as usual. But principally they were rejoicing that Sammy Pinkney was well on the road to health, Dr. Forsyth having brought him safely through the scarlet fever.

"And for a boy that's had quarantine and epidermis, too, all at the same time, it's quite wonderful," Dot said. "And--and there's a chance for him yet to grow up and be a pirate!"

THE END

CHARMING STORIES FOR GIRLS

The Corner House Girls Series

By GRACE BROOKS HILL

Four girls from eight to fourteen years of age receive word that a rich bachelor uncle has died, leaving them the old Corner House he occupied. They move into it and then the fun begins. What they find and do will provoke many a hearty laugh. Later, they enter school and make many friends. One of these invites the girls to spend a few weeks at a bungalow owned by her parents, and the adventures they meet with make very interesting reading. Clean, wholesome stories of humor and adventure, sure to appeal to all young girls.

1 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS.
2 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AT SCHOOL.
3 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS UNDER CANVAS.
4 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS IN A PLAY.
5 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS' ODD FIND.
6 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A TOUR.
7 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS GROWING UP.
8 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SNOWBOUND.
9 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A HOUSEBOAT.
10 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AMONG THE GYPSIES.
11 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON PALM ISLAND.
12 THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY.

Publishers
BARSE & CO.
New York, N. Y.--Newark, N. J.

Elizabeth Ann Series

By JOSEPHINE LAWRENCE

For Girls from 7 to 12

Elizabeth Ann is a little girl whom we first meet on a big train, traveling all alone. Her father and mother have sailed for Japan, and she is sent back East to visit at first one relative's home, and then another. Of course, she meets many new friends, some of whom she is quite happy with, while others--but you must read the stories for yourself. Every other girl who reads the first of these charming books will want all the rest; for Elizabeth Ann is certainly worth the cultivating.

THE ADVENTURES OF ELIZABETH ANN
ELIZABETH ANN AT MAPLE SPRING
ELIZABETH ANN'S SIX COUSINS
ELIZABETH ANN and DORIS.

Publishers
BARSE & CO.
New York, N. Y.--Newark, N. J.

LINDA LANE SERIES

By Josephine Lawrence

For Girls from 12 to 15
Cloth Large 12 Mo. Illustrated

"The trouble with Linda Lane," said Mrs. Quincy, "was that she 'couldn't get along with folks.'" As everyone knows, a girl needs friends to love her and believe in her. It isn't to be wondered at that Linda wasn't happy. Then little Miss Gilly came to the rooms of the Society, the only home Linda knew, and took the girl home with her. A new life begins for Linda, and she finds, to her surprise and delight, how to get along with people, how to make friends, and slowly and surely how to be happy.

Linda admires independence above all other traits of character. She has plenty of that quality herself and she is the kind of girl who not only cheerfully fights her own battles, but those of the weaker who cannot defend themselves. She is "bossy," lovable, impatient and loyal, a born manager, whose plans invariably work out to satisfactory conclusions, and Linda has a definite plan which gradually unfolds in these books written about her--the sort of plan only a girl without a home and parents of her own could think of and carry to completion. Linda Lane knows what she wants and she is willing to work and trust to her own efforts to make her wishes come true.

Publishers
BARSE & CO.
New York, N. Y.--Newark, N. J.

"THE POLLY" SERIES

By DOROTHY WHITEHILL

Polly Pendleton is a resourceful, wide-awake American girl who goes to a boarding school on the Hudson River some miles above New York. By her pluck and resourcefulness, she soon makes a place for herself and this she holds right through the course. The account of boarding school life is faithful and pleasing and will attract every girl in her teens.

Cloth, large 12 mo. Illustrated

1 POLLY'S FIRST YEAR AT BOARDING SCHOOL
2 POLLY'S SUMMER VACATION
3 POLLY'S SENIOR YEAR AT BOARDING SCHOOL
4 POLLY SEES THE WORLD AT WAR
5 POLLY AND LOIS
6 POLLY AND BOB
7 POLLY'S RE-UNION
8 POLLY'S POLLY

Publishers
BARSE & CO.
New York, N. Y.--Newark, N. J.

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