"That's the queer part of it," answered the real-estate dealer's son. "It seems, after Mr. Enos and my father gave up business and separated, Enos went South--first to Texas and then into Mexico. There he joined some men who were opening up a gold mine. These men struck it rich, and almost before he knew it Mr. Enos was worth quite a lot of money. He had never been very much of a business man--being wrapped up almost entirely in art--and so he did not know how to handle his money. He had always had a liking for miniatures, so my father stated, and he went in to gather this collection. He didn't want any kings or queens or noted society women, or anything like that, but he did want every miniature ever painted of an army or a navy fighter. Of course, my father doesn't know all the particulars yet, but he has learned that Mr. Enos put himself out a great deal to get hold of certain miniatures, hunting for them all over Europe and also in this country. He even went down to South America to get miniatures of some of their heroes, and also picked up several in Mexico, and one or two in Texas." "His hobby must certainly have had a strong hold on him," was Dave's comment. "But still, that sort of thing isn't unusual. I heard once of a postage-stamp collector who went all over the world collecting stamps, and finally gave up his last dollar for a rare stamp when he actually hadn't enough to eat. Of course, he was a monomaniac on the subject of stamp collecting." "Well, my father has an idea that Mr. Enos must have been a little queer over his miniature collecting," returned Ben. "But even so, the fact remains that he left his collection of miniatures behind him, and that they are now the property of my father." "And what is your father going to do with them?" questioned Roger. "He doesn't know yet. You see, the settling of the estate is in a very mixed-up condition. He is going to stay in Chicago for a week or so, and then he'll probably bring the miniatures East with him and have some art expert place a valuation on them. After that I suppose he'll offer the miniatures for sale to art galleries and rich collectors." This was about all Ben could tell concerning the fortune left to his parent. The young folks talked the matter over for quite a while, and were presently joined by the older people, including Caspar Potts. "Miniatures, eh?" said the genial old professor, beaming mildly on Ben. "Very curious! Very curious indeed! But some of them are wonderful works of art, and bring very good prices. I remember, when a young man, attending a sale of art works, and a miniature of one of the English nobility was knocked down for a very large sum, several thousand dollars if I remember rightly." "Well, it's very fine to get hold of a fortune, no matter in what shape it is," observed Mr. Wadsworth. "Just the same, Ben, I think your father would prefer to have it in good stocks and bonds," and he smiled faintly.