the program be today; an exploring expedition into the forest--a trip to
the city to shop, or perhaps a ride on the ponies and a visit to the old
castle gardens?"

"Oh," chorused the Merediths--"everything sounds so delightful, it's hard
to choose!"

Aunt Janice's eyes twinkled.

"Perhaps I'd best help you out to begin with then--suppose you explore
the gardens and the old place this morning; then by the afternoon, you'll
be ready to choose what you'd prefer next. I shall not go along, but you
are to feel perfectly at home; go anywhere you fancy--_only_--," Aunt
Janice lowered her voice--"only pass quickly by the tower room at the
extreme west wing--perhaps sometime--," the old lady paused, a sigh
escaping her lips, that she forgot to stifle, but quickly remembering,
brought back a bright smile, as she first led them in family prayers and
then waved them off, bidding her young visitors to have a happy morning.

"What a wonderful old place!" Nora was the first to speak, as they
passed here and there examining one thing after another.

"It certainly is," Harry's eyes were thoughtful. "I wonder why Dad has
only dropped a word, here and there, of it, and about Aunt Janice. I
hardly realized that she was real until we came and saw!"

"It puzzles me, too," Nora agreed, "I keep thinking that maybe I'll wake
up directly and find I've been dreaming."

"And we thought Land's End was going to be the end of everything! The old