Of course, the girl would tell her father about the Wegg mystery, for
Patsy had a habit of telling him everything; therefore the cousins
decided to take the Major freely into their confidence, so as to obtain
the benefit of his opinion. That could not be done the first day, of
course, for on that day Uncle John insisted on displaying the farm and
afterward carrying the Major a willing prisoner to watch him fish in the
brook. But on the following morning the girls surrounded Patsy's father
and with solemn faces recounted their suspicions, the important clues
they had unearthed, and their earnest desire to right the great wrong
that had been done by apprehending the criminal.

The Major smoked his after breakfast cigar and listened attentively. The
story, told consecutively, was quite impressive. In spite of his long
experience in buffeting the world, the old soldier's heart was still as
simple as that of a child, and the recital awakened his sympathies
at once.

"'Tis evident, me children," said he, in his quaint way, "that you've
shtumbled on the inside of a crime that doesn't show on the outside.
Many of the things you mention are so plain that he who runs may read;
but I've remarked that it's just the things ye don't suspect in real
life that prove to be the most important."

"That is true, Major," commented Louise. "At first it was just to amuse
ourselves that we became amateur detectives, but the developments are so
startling and serious that we now consider it our duty to uncover the
whole dreadful crime, in the interests of justice."

"Just so," he said, nodding.