[93]

“I thought I heard you shouting at one another in here,” said Dr. Corliss. “What’s up? More surprises, eh? Something better than tea?”

“Caliban looks as if he thought so,” said Mrs. Corliss. “See how his green eyes glitter!”

“Oh, yes, Father!” said Mary; “it’s the most exciting surprise of all, we think; because Aunt Nan has taken pains to make it a part of her portrait.”

“Part of the portrait! What do you mean, Mary?” exclaimed her father, advancing into the room, and like the rest of them forgetting all about tea in the excitement of the occasion.

Mary showed them the “Gems from Shakespeare” with the keyhole in the end, and explained how the picture had guided them to it. They lighted the lamp hastily, and Dr. Corliss had to see just how the “slow unmoving finger” of Aunt Nan’s portrait pointed to the shelf in the corner where the “Gems” lived.

“Why, yes!” exclaimed the Doctor, examining the picture still more closely than the children had done. “And now that I have a clue, I see something more, that you haven’t discovered.[94] Look, children! Do you see what this book is on which Aunt Nan’s left hand is resting? It is a picture of this very same ‘Gems from Shakespeare,’ I can even make out a ‘G—S’ on the binding. But I never should have discovered it without your clue. I believe there is something in it, Mary!” And he looked as excited as any of them.

[94]

“Well, do let’s find out what is in it!” urged Mrs. Corliss. “I can’t wait another minute!”

“Neither can I!” cried John. “Hurry, Mary!”

Mary took the little key and tried it in the keyhole. Yes, it just fitted. She turned it, and a lock clicked.

“Lift the cover!” cried her father. And Mary opened what would have been the front cover of the book, if it had been a book which she was holding.

Inside the hollow leathern shell which pretended to be a book was a box; a green wooden box, with brass trimmings. Mary lifted the cover of this with a rapidly beating heart. And what do you think she found?

First of all she found a sheet of paper, at the top of which was written “Gems from Shakespeare.” Below it followed a list of quotations from Shakespeare, of a character that 

 Prev. P 48/57 next