perfectly she finds her way without the aid of sight. Captain Wegg used
to say she was the best housekeeper he ever knew."

"Did not his wife keep house for him, when she was alive?"

"I do not remember her."

"They say she was most unhappy."

Ethel dropped her eyes and did not reply.

"How about Cap'n Wegg?" asked Uncle John. "Did you like him? You see,
we're mighty curious about the family, because we've acquired their old
home, and are bound to be interested in the people that used to
live there."

"That is natural," remarked the little school teacher, with a sigh.
"Captain Wegg was always kind to me; but the neighbors as a rule thought
him moody and bad-tempered." After a pause she added: "He was not as
kind to his son as to me. But I think his life was an unhappy one, and
we have no right to reprove his memory too severely for his faults."

"What made him unhappy?" asked Louise, quickly.

Ethel smiled into her eager face.

"No one has solved that problem, they say. The Captain was as silent as
he was morose."

The detective instinct was alive in Louise. She hazarded a startling