From a railroad time table Roy ascertained where he must go, and by the first train he could get in the morning he set out. “Be very gentle with him, Roy,” his mother said at parting. “By his sending to you he evidently thinks I am greatly displeased with him.” “Trust me, mother,” Roy assured her with a smile. He felt very happy this morning, happier than he had, it seemed to him, since they had come into their fortune. Of such worth is sorrow sometimes, to make a contrast by which to intensify joy. On arriving at his destination he went to the man in the ticket office and put the following inquiry: “Do you know anybody in the place named Reginald Pell?” “No,” was the reply. “Has he lived here long?” “No, he doesn’t really live here. He’s my twin brother, you see, and I have a telegram from him, but he didn’t say where he was staying. Is this a very big place?” The ticket agent smiled. “Well, it isn’t exactly a metropolis,” he said. “Thank you,” responded Roy, and he walked out of the rear door toward the dusty road, thinking he was not going to have such an easy job to find Rex after all, if he was in the town where he was supposed to be. The station was built at a little distance from the town proper. Roy walked on along a board walk until he came to the first house, one of those white, green shuttered affairs whose number is legion in the rural districts. A woman without a hat on was sweeping the leaves from the path that led down to the gate. The lines about her mouth were rather stern, but Roy made up his mind to begin with her. CHAPTER XXIV FOUND AT LAST “Excuse me,” began Roy, leaning over the gate and taking off his broad brimmed straw hat, “do you know a boy named Rex Pell?” He had decided that this would be the shortest way of getting at things. The woman looked up quickly, resting her chin on the top of her broom handle. “Do you think I look as if I knew much about boys?” she replied. “Well, I don’t and I don’t want to.” “Excuse me,” said Roy, and he hurried on, glad to get away. The next house was a larger one. There was a good deal of piazza around it and some pretensions were made at keeping the lawn in good condition. Roy’s knock at the door was answered so promptly that he was fain to believe that some one must have been peeping through the shutters watching his approach. A tall woman with light hair received him very effusively. “I’ve been expecting you,” she said, with an expansive smile. “I thought you’d come on that train.” “This must be the place,” thought Roy. “She knows Rex sent the dispatch and thought some of us would come on.” “I suppose you’d like to go straight up stairs?” she continued, when she had taken his hat and hung it on the stand in the hall. “Yes, I would,” and Roy’s heart sank. Rex must be sick, he decided, and not able to leave his bed. He followed the light haired woman to the floor above, where she threw open the door of a room with a sort of flourish.