"LARGE FORTUNES"
"Billie, it's worth a small fortune!"
"I'll bet the stuff is worth several thousand dollars."
"Yes, every bit of it."
"Oh, boys, as much as that?" questioned Billie, half hysterically.
"Of course," came from Teddy. He was on his knees in front of the
treasure box. "See these coins? Gold, every one of 'em--and as big as ten
dollar pieces, too."
"Count 'em," cried Chet.
Then began a hasty move on the part of both girls and boys to count the
gold and silver. Poor Billie's hands trembled so she could scarcely help.
"I make it the gold and silver alone are worth at least three thousand
dollars," declared Teddy.
"And don't forget the copper coins," added Ferd.
"And remember too they are old coins and worth something extra from a
collector's point of view," said Chet.
From the coins the young folks turned to the postage stamps. Chet and
Teddy had done a little stamp collecting once and knew that some of the
stamps were rare.
"I think they are worth at least fifteen hundred dollars more," said
Teddy, "and maybe they are worth twice that. Some stamps are worth a
hundred dollars apiece."
It was not until they were called below by Mrs. Gilligan that they gave
up speculating about the value of the trunk. The boys went off, leaving
the girls to themselves.
"It's too good to be true," murmured Billie, over and over again.
Both of the other girls put their arms about her.
"You deserve it," said Laura.
"I'm awfully glad, Billie, really I am," beamed Violet.
"Why, I'll be able to go to Three Towers Hall!" cried Billie, a little
later, when thinking it all over. "And I can send Chet to Boxton Military
Academy. Won't that be fine?"
"And you can have enough left to pay for that old statue," added Laura,
with a smile. "I knew something good would come out of this queer old
house at Cherry Corners."
"Well, you needn't take all the credit to yourself," said Billie, the
lilt of happiness and excitement in her voice. "Just remember, young
lady, that it was little Billie Bradley who discovered the trunk."
"You stuck up thing," cried Violet, putting a fond arm again about her.
"Billie, dear," she went on in the serious voice that was Violet's very
own, "I'm just exactly as glad for myself that you found the money as I
am for you. Because if Laura and I had had to go to Three Towers without
you we wouldn't have enjoyed a single thing."
"Yes, we've been worrying terribly about that," sighed Laura, and
affectionately Billie patted a hand of each.
"There never was a girl had such wonderful friends," she said, and
something in her throat tightened a little. "And it makes the trunk three
times as valuable," she added, in a lighter tone, "because it makes three
people happy instead of one. Which reminds me--" she stopped short and
put her hand over her mouth in consternation.
"Now what's the matter?" Violet surveyed her anxiously. "Is there a pin
sticking you, or something?"
"Of course not," denied Billie absently, adding as she rose hastily to
her feet: "It just struck me that I've known this wonderful thing for
hours and I haven't written home about it yet."
"Well, you'd better read these first," sang out a cheery voice from the
door, and they turned to find Teddy coming toward them with some letters
in his hand.
"Letters!" was the joyful cry. "Give them to us, Teddy, before we take
them from you."
"Oh, do you really think you could?" he asked, holding them behind his
back by way of challenge. "Just come on and try. I'll guarantee to hold
off the three of you with one hand."
But it was Billie's pleading face that made him change his mind.
"Please, Teddy," she begged, "I've just been dying for some letters from
home. Don't keep me waiting."
"All right, your word is law," said Teddy gallantly, remembering that he
had read the phrase somewhere and it had sounded very good. "Here you
are, and here's one for Vi and two for Laura."
"Goodness, what have I done to get only one?" cried Violet, feeling very
much abused.
"Well, your one looks fat enough to make up for our two," Billie assured
her diplomatically, then settled back to enjoy her own letters, while
Teddy ran out to join the boys downstairs.
One of her letters was from her mother, and with a loving smile she laid
it aside to be read last--she always saved the best till the last. The
writing on the other envelope puzzled her.
"Now, who is writing to me from Mayport, Long Island?" she demanded, and
the girls looked up inquiringly from their letters.
"Another mystery?" asked Laura, for there were not enough mysteries in
the world to satisfy Laura.
"It doesn't look very mysterious," answered Billie, turning the envelope
around and around in her hand and finally holding it up to the light to
see if she could get any clew to its contents that way. "But I surely
never did see that handwriting before. I wonder--"
"Well, why don't you open it?" Violet inquired impatiently. "It seems to
me that's the best way to find out."
"Isn't she the bright child?" sniffed Laura, as Billie tore open the
envelope and pulled out the letter inside. Hastily she looked for the
signature at the end, then gave a little excited exclamation.
"Girls," she said, "it's from Miss Beggs!" And she looked at them with
wide eyes, forgetting for the moment that she had no more reason to fear
a letter from the teacher. Then she remembered, and a joyful smile dawned
on her face.
"Girls, I've been sort of dreading this letter all summer," she said,
her eyes sparkling, "and now when it's come I don't mind a bit. Isn't it
just wonderful? I have money enough of my own to replace that horrid
'Girl Reading a Book' and two or three more like it. Now," she said,
settling down with a satisfied little sigh, "if you'll allow me, I'll
read my letter."
The girls watched her as she read and were amazed to see her expression
change from satisfaction to surprise and from surprise to something
like chagrin.
"Well, if that isn't the limit!" she cried, laying down the letter and
regarding the girls disgustedly. "Here I've been worrying myself--and
Chet--sick all summer about that horrid old statue and now when I've got
the money to pay for it, I find out that I probably wouldn't have had to
replace the old thing anyway."
"What do you mean?" the others asked, more puzzled than ever by this
flow of words.
"Why," Billie went on to explain, glancing at the letter again, "Miss
Beggs says that the statue had been broken before and she had attempted
to mend it. She says that I'm not to worry over it, for it would have
been only a matter of time before it had fallen to pieces itself anyway.
Now what do you think of that?"
"I think," said Violet, with a sigh, "that we have wasted a good deal of
time and worry over nothing at all."
"Well, I don't see any use of looking doleful about it," said Laura
briskly. "I should think you'd be glad, Billie, that you won't have to
buy a statue. It will give you that much more money to have for
yourself."
"Oh, but I'll buy a little statue, anyway," said Billie decidedly. "It's
awfully nice of Miss Beggs to tell me not to bother about it, but the
fact is that I _re_broke the statue, whether it was broken before or
not. And, anyway, I'll be glad to do it now," she added, with a little
gleam in her eye, "just to show Amanda Peabody that I can!"
"I say, up there, aren't you ever coming down?" called Chet's voice from
the bottom of the stairs, and Laura went out into the hall to see what
he wanted.
"We're making plans for the fall," Chet added, and in his voice was a
little joyous thrill that made Billie's heart sing. Dear old Chet--if
ever a boy deserved to get what he wanted, he did. "And if you don't come
down and help us, we're going to leave you out," he added challengingly.
"Better come up here," suggested Laura, adding decidedly. "We can't come
down, you know."
"I'd like to know why not!"
"We can't leave the trunk," Laura explained patiently, as if she were
addressing a particularly stupid child. "It's too precious."
So in the end the girls had their way, and the boys joined them in the
upstairs room which came the nearest to being cheerful of any room in the
house, except the kitchen.
At first the boys talked and the girls listened. But gradually the bits
of fancy work were laid aside, the girls joined in the conversation,
while eyes shone bright and faces glowed with anticipation of what the
autumn held in store for them.
And while Laura and Violet and the two boys were talking happily and all
at once, Teddy took the opportunity to whisper in Billie's ear:
"I suppose, being a young lady with a large fortune," he said teasingly,
delighting in the color that rose to her face, "you won't find time to
recognize your old friends any more."
And with a dimpling smile and mischief in her eyes Billie answered him.
"Of course not," she said, adding a trifle more seriously: "Except only
the friends who stood by me so loyally and offered to help when I had no
'large fortune,'"
"And are you going to tell me," asked Teddy eagerly, "the names of
those favored friends? I know I didn't do anything, Billie, but am I
one of them?"
"Your name," said Billie, half laughing and half serious, "is at the very
head of the list."
"Do you really mean--" Teddy was beginning eagerly, when Laura called to
them laughingly.
"Whispering in corners not allowed," she cried. "Come over here and help
us decide what we'll eat for our first midnight feast at Three Towers
Hall. We must have midnight feasts, you know."
"Of course we must," cried Billie joyfully. "Doesn't it sound delicious?
Oh, we're going to have a wonderful time!"
And just how wonderful a time they had and just how merry and fun-loving
they found the girls at the boarding school will be told in the next
volume of the series entitled, "Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall; or,
Leading a Needed Rebellion." In that volume may be met the girls and the
boys again in adventures as queer and exciting as those already
experienced.
"Well, Billie, you can't complain of your inheritance after all," said
Chet some time later.
"Indeed not!" she answered. "Wasn't it the best ever?"
THE END