"We must see that the child has the quinine, and it wouldn't hurt her to have a glass or two of currant jelly. Don't forget them when you go in to-morrow," Miss Minerva reminded them. "I'd like to have her here and nurse her myself and feed her up a bit. And that's another strange thing--why should that woman" (Miss Minerva invariably alluded to Miss Benedict as "that woman") "allow you to go in and visit the child, yet forbid her to visit you?" "Don't ask us why," laughed Marcia. "We're as much in the dark as any one else. What _I_ want to know is why did Miss Benedict allow Cecily to open her shutters to-day when she refused her a while ago. And why doesn't she open them over all the rest of the house?" "Well, what _I_ want to know," added Janet, "is why Cecily's mother should have sent her over here to the Benedicts' at all, when nobody knew her or claimed her. Whatever made her think of such a thing?" "There are several explanations that might suit such a case," mused Miss Minerva. "Mrs. Marlowe might have been a married sister, or some more distant relative, who--" "Then wouldn't Miss Benedict know about it--or at least _suspect_ some such connection?" interrupted Marcia. "That's true," acknowledged her aunt. "There _must_ be some other explanation. _What_ a puzzle!" "What's more," added Janet, "I remember that Cecily told us this: when she first came, Miss Benedict questioned her all about herself--where she came from, and all that. And after Cecily had told her she never said a word, but just walked away, shaking her head." Miss Minerva's mind suddenly took a new turn. "Didn't you say the child sent you a couple of gifts--little trinkets--not long ago? I'd like to see them." "We've never worn them," said Marcia. "It just seemed as if we couldn't--she ought not to have given them away. And yet--I know just how she felt--she wanted to do _something_! I'll get them." She brought the box and laid it in her aunt's lap. Miss Minerva examined the coral pendant first. "The dear little thing!" she murmured. "She must think a lot of you to have parted with this!" Then she laid it down and took up the bracelet. "Gracious!" she exclaimed immediately, letting it fall and then picking it up again. "Am I going crazy, or are my eyes deceiving me?" She turned it over and over. "What's the matter?" cried both girls at once. "_Matter?_" cried Miss Minerva. "Why, just this: that bracelet is exactly like one I've had put away for years!" The girls stared at her incredulously. "I'll get it this minute and prove it!" And she hurried out of the room.