“Where’s mother?” he asked as he came up and sat down at their feet. “Gone to market,” replied Eva. “Where have you and Rex been?” inquired Jess. “I saw you crossing the bridge together. I thought the Crawfords were away. There’s nobody else you’d be likely to go and see over in Burdock.” “There’s Mr. Tyler,” replied Roy. “He asked me to go up and see him to-day, but I was too late. He’s dead.” “Dead! Oh, Roy!” Both girls uttered the exclamation. Death almost always horrifies. They had Roy tell them in detail all about the talk he had had with the miser the previous afternoon. But he said nothing about the will. He thought his mother ought to know first. “There come mother and Rex now!” exclaimed Jess presently. “I suppose he’s told her,” thought Roy. This was the case. There was a flush in Mrs. Pell’s cheeks as she came up, and Rex exclaimed as soon as he was within speaking distance: “Mother knows. Have you told the girls yet, Roy?” A look of annoyance crossed Mrs. Pell’s face, but before either she or Roy could say anything, Jess sprang to her feet, nearly upsetting the bowl of strawberries in the act. “Told you what? There’s been an air of mystery about you ever since you left the creek yesterday afternoon.” “Of course there has,” exclaimed Rex exuberantly. “And it’s something worth being mysterious about, eh, brub? What should you say, sisters mine, if I should tell you that the magic wand of fortune has been waved over the Pellery, which will transform yonder sober fowls into gallant steeds, these homely pups into expensive hounds of the hunt, and—” “Reginald.” Rex always knew he had gone too far when his mother spoke like that. He ceased abruptly and dashed into the house, as if to cut himself off from temptation to transgress further. The next moment they heard him whistling a comic opera air up in his room. “Mother, you tell me what all this means, won’t you?” This from Jess in almost a desperate tone. “Yes, you may as well all know now,” said Mrs. Pell, sinking into a chair. “I find that half of the town seems to be aware of it already.” “It! It! Quick, mother. It isn’t something awful, is it?” “No, not awful for us my dears. It is just this. Your brother Roy touched old Mr. Tyler’s heart by what he did for him yesterday, and in the will he made last night he left all his fortune, about half a million, to me.” Both girls sat there as if stricken dumb, staring at their mother as she told them the wonderful news. CHAPTER VI REX GOES TO TOWN “I’m very sorry, indeed, this came out now. It seems unfeeling to talk about it while that poor old man’s body is above ground, and then the amount of the fortune he possessed may be grossly exaggerated.” This was Mrs. Pell’s summary of the matter, delivered several times during that afternoon. The girls took the thing very quietly. “I am so glad on Syd’s account,” Eva said though more than once. “He has always worked so hard for us.”