The Doctor hummed and hawed. “Why, I think it means that Aunt Nan was playing a joke on you this time, Mary!” he said, laughing. “It would be just like her, you know. You can’t hope to be the only one to escape her humors. Besides, this key doesn’t look to me like a real key to anything. You mustn’t expect too much, my girl, nor get excited over this legacy of yours, or I shall be sorry you have it. I suspect there are no more gold watches and hundred-dollar bills floating around in your library. It wouldn’t be like Aunt Nan to do the same thing twice. It was the unexpected that always pleased her. You had better make the most of your books for their own sakes, Mary.”

“Yes, I am going to do that,” said Mary, taking the key from her father and putting the green string around her neck. “I am going to wear it as a sort of ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ charm. And I believe that some day I shall find out the key to the key, if I look long enough.”

“If you read long enough, perhaps you may,” said her father, laughing. “I have heard that[48] they find queer things in Shakespeare sometimes—ciphers and things like that. But I never had time to study them up. A cipher is nothing to me.” And he chuckled at his little joke.

[48]

“If I read long enough, perhaps I may find out something. That’s so!” said Mary. “I’ll keep on reading.”

“Pooh! That’s a slow way!” said John. “If there was anything in my library, I’d want to find it out right away!”

“If she has put anything in my library, that isn’t the way Aunt Nan meant me to find it,” retorted Mary. “I am going to do what Aunt Nan wanted, if I can discover what that is.”

“That’s right, Mary!” said her father. “I believe you are on the right track.”

Just at this moment there was a queer sound, apparently in one corner of the room.

“Hark!” said Dr. Corliss. “What was that, Mary?”

“It sounded like something rapping on the floor!” said John, with wide eyes.

“Oh, I hear sounds like that quite often,” said Mary carelessly. “At first it frightened me, but I have got used to it. I suppose it must be a rat in the cellar.”

[49]“Yes, I dare say it is a rat,” said her father. “Old houses like this have strange noises, often. But I have never seen any rats.”

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