"It would be very kind of you," replied Miss Benedict, in an entirely different tone. "Come to-morrow and see her again--if your aunt will permit it. Perhaps it would be well to explain to her--" and here her manner became confused--"that--I--er--do not make calls or--or receive them, but this is just--just for the sake of the child." It was plain to the girls that this admission was wrung from her only by a great effort. She opened the front door and followed them to the gate. When she had unlocked it, Marcia turned to her impulsively. "Thank you _so_ much for letting us come! We are very, very fond of Cecily. She is such a dear, and we've been terribly worried about her. As a relative, I'm afraid you have been still more anxious." The black figure started. "She is no relative of mine!" came abruptly from behind the veil. "Oh, I beg your pardon, I should say--_friend_," stuttered Marcia, embarrassed, "or--or the daughter of a friend, perhaps." "She is not," Miss Benedict contradicted, in a strange, flat tone, as if repeating a lesson. "I do not know who she is--nor why she is here!" CHAPTER X THE FILIGREE BRACELET Aunt Minerva took off her silver-rimmed spectacles, wiped them excitedly, and put them on again. "And she said she didn't know who the child was or why she was there? Well--I--never!" she exclaimed, adjusting them all awry. Marcia had decided to tell her aunt all about it. And Janet had agreed with her that since Miss Benedict had spoken as she did, there could be no further occasion for secrecy. So that night they gave her an entire history of the affair, and found her a willing listener, interested and sympathetic beyond their wildest expectations. "Why, Aunty, I didn't suppose you'd care much about it!" exclaimed Marcia, in surprise. "And here you are, nearly as excited over it as we've been." "Why, who would not be?" said Miss Minerva. "It's precisely like a mystery in a book. I wasn't interested in the old place at first, because I was too busy and it seemed as if the people living there were such slack housekeepers. I haven't any sympathy with _that_. But what could she mean by that last remark? Not know who the child is--or why she's there! It's absurd! I can't believe it!" "Well, that's what she _said_!" asserted Marcia, again. "And if any one ever heard of a bigger mystery, I'd like to know about it!" Miss Minerva took up her mending again. "Then I don't see why she keeps the girl," she commented. "She keeps her, _I_ think, because she's getting sort of fond of her," reasoned Janet. "You can easily see that. Cecily said she was very good to her the night she was so ill. And then, too, it must have been a hard pull for her to go so far as to send for _us_ to come in just because it might please Cecily."