“Oh, good!” Virginia exclaimed, joyfully. “Even if we don’t find the key to the code in here, how glad I am that I happened to remember this old trunk. What pleasure it will give to the Mahoy children. I will have someone carry it down and let them play with these things to their hearts’ content.” As she spoke she took from the trunk first one toy and then another. She did this eagerly, for time was flying and she well knew that she must find the code, but she seemed doomed to disappointment, for everything had been taken from the trunk and not a scrap of paper had been revealed. “How provoking!” she declared as she arose. Margaret had picked up a queer old doll dressed in the costume of an early pioneer, when, from the folds of its print gingham dress, a yellow paper fluttered to the floor. With a cry of joy, Virginia pounced upon it. “Oh! Oh!” she exclaimed, “that dear old doll, Patience Putney has been keeping it for me all this time. Now we will begin to decipher my brother’s message. Goodness, I do hope it isn’t too late. Give me the doll, Megsy, I’ll take her downstairs and enthrone her in a place of honor to reward her for her faithful vigilance through all these years.” Down the ladder the girls scrambled and into the living-room they hurried. Then on the desk the message from Malcolm was spread and also the key to the code. Both heads bent over the latter as Virginia said eagerly: “First of all look for a Q with two tails and see what it means. Malcolm has written that all alone at the top so I think we would better decipher it first.” “Here it is,” Margaret said, pouncing her finger on the character in question. “It means ‘Very important. Great haste required.’” “Oh, Megsy,” moaned Virginia, and just then the clock chimed twelve. “It is three hours since we first received the message. “Now look for a T with a cross on the bottom as well as on the top.” Virginia began as they both searched the key, then she added, “Here it is! I’m beginning to recall now how I used the key in earlier days. I believe I will take it by myself, Megsy. I think that I will soon be able to decipher the message.” “All right and while you are doing it I will make your bed. Perhaps if I leave you all alone, you will make better headway,” the other girl said, suiting her actions to the words. Fifteen minutes passed before Virginia sprang up and hurried to her friend’s open door. Margaret sat by the sun-flooded window sewing. She glanced up eagerly. “What is it, Virg? You look troubled.”