Three Vassar girls in Switzerland . that it interested her in the least. So she sewedthe ruche into Margarets best gown, and thought with glee of theskeleton key in her pocket, and that she would have two good hoursto rummage for that letter, while the young ladies were at the lawnparty, for Mrs. D-uffey was away from home. She needed all the time ;for it was not in the little secretary through which she looked first,nor in the safe under the stairs with the silver, nor in the japannedtin box in which Mr. Duffey kept his stocks and bonds, or in any ofthe bureau drawers, or behind the sliding p
Three Vassar girls in Switzerland . that it interested her in the least. So she sewedthe ruche into Margarets best gown, and thought with glee of theskeleton key in her pocket, and that she would have two good hoursto rummage for that letter, while the young ladies were at the lawnparty, for Mrs. D-uffey was away from home. She needed all the time ;for it was not in the little secretary through which she looked first,nor in the safe under the stairs with the silver, nor in the japannedtin box in which Mr. Duffey kept his stocks and bonds, or in any ofthe bureau drawers, or behind the sliding panel over the mantel, asecret hiding-place where Mrs. Duffey kept her jewels, which Annettehad discovered the second day after her arrival; but it dropped at lastout of the atlas where Margaret had carelessly left it in searching forThe Riffel. Annette sat down and read eagerly. The letter waswritten in a delicate foreign script, in Austrian-German, very easyfor Annette, but puzzling for Margaret to decipher. It ran asfollows: —. THE CASTLE OF WEIERBURG. A SKELETON KEY AND MARGARETS MISTAKE. I 7 RlFFELHAUS, SWITZERLAND, July, My Dear Brother, — I cannot tell you how overjoyed I am toreceive your letter. I had not heard from you for so long, that myheart imagined many tragedies. And so I am a great-aunt ? Thatsounds almost like a grandmother. The honor comes to me early,owing to the great difference in our ages. Only a child when youwent away to America, but I remember the sorrowful day very clearlystill. There are some things which are so branded into our memo-ries that we can never forget them. But the little girl! I am glad that she has come, and that youhave named her for me. My god-daughter as well as day, now that our calamities seem to be overpast, she mustcome to her Aunt Greta. I shall not be such a very old woman whenshe is grown. I hope she will want to come to me. Tell her the wayto the old home beside the mountain, with the window overhangingthe
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1890
