Show n y THE WICKED UNCLE UNCLE Part Part II The next day Veda told her sisters what she ahe had seen and that she Intended in intended intended In- In tended to find out what was behind the panels The old miser slept every afternoon and when Veda heard beard him snore snort she he went to the door that he had unlocked the night before but it was fastened She lo looked ked through a crack and ands s saw w a window in the room which was broken en Then she went ent to the other I sid aria ana b d' d tl wall where the stones were were broken away In a few minutes she reached the window and Jumped to the floor Now to f find nd the secret spring she felt along the panel she had bad seen her uncle uncle uncle un un- un- un cle enter but it would not open Then she tapped but that did not open it She saw a a. knot in the wood which looked smooth and she touched it IL The rhe panels flew Hew open Veda entered a dark passage She could not not see anything but DUt she had gone only a a. afew afew few steps when the draught closed th the panels She Sheran ran back but it was of no use no-use use she could not not find the opening She knew that her uncle would come at night but how could she get out without being seen After she became used to the darkness darkness darkness dark dark- ness she walked along the passage and came to an opening Here she I could see shelves helves with objects upon them She felt of them and found they were bags of or money Here was the secret of her uncles uncle's strange conduct He lIe was a miser and had taken their money and was trying tring to stars's e them Veda went back to the end of the passage and andI I found a corner where the bricks had fallen awa away She pulled more or of of them from the wall and made a place large enough to crawl Into and here here I she waited for her uncle At last he came and Veda saw him t go into the room where the money was and then she crept very carefully carefully care care- fully tully along and looked it He lie sat on oni the floor with the gold old heaped about him counting it There was gold in a cheat chest that looked like the sunshine in the faint taint candle light Then there were man many bags unopened which lay Jay lay around him Veda went back to her her hiding place for tor she wanted to see how he opened the panels By and b by I he came out he pushed a place on Ithe i ithe the walls and the panels opened he I went out and Veda heard him lock I Ithe the outside door She knew her ber sisters sis sis- tens must be worried and that her ber uncle w would uld miss her and how to I find the tile spring that would open the panels was not an easy matter malter She Sheran Sheran Sheran I ran her fingers over the wall many times Umes and was beginning to be a lit littie little lit lit- tie tle frightened when suddenly they lit lit-I opened Veda quickly closed them and climbed out of the window I Her lIer sisters had not left their room for tor fear of being questioned and her uncle had not missed her When the miser was asleep that afternoon Veda took her sisters under the window of the room where the secret panels were Nina is to stay here she said but Norma must-come must with me When they were in the room and Veda had opened the panels she told Norma to hold them open for tor she might not be belSo BO so fortunate the next time In getting out Then she quickly quick quick- ly ran down the passage passa and brought out one bag of gold Then she went back for tor another I do not think this all that belongs belongs belongs be be- longs to us she told Norma but It Itis Itis itis is all aU we shall be able to carry Norma helped to lift the bags to the window and drop them to the ground and both sisters quickly fol fol- fol- fol lowed They started off through the woods and picked berries to keep them from starving and slept on OD the ground for tor forthe forthe the gold was heavy and as they did not know their theil wa way out of the woods I It was several days before they reached the road Then they saw a ahouse I house and a kind man and his wife lived there and gave the sisters food and showed them the way to their old home When the old miser found that they I were gone he began to think of ot his brother who was dead and how he I had taken the money from the poor sisters who had been left to their care and he felt sorry and ashamed j One day the sisters heard a knock at the door of their home aud and ther there I stood the old miser with a bas bag of gold i in his hand They thought he had i come to take them back and and they J I did lid not ask ak him in in but he put the bag on the step and nd he told them i there was much more than belonged to them and that he had been very ery wicked and he was sorry that he had hat treated them so badly The sisters helped him into the bouse house for he he was weak he had traveled so far tar and they asked him to live Uve with them t And the next day he went back and with the help of two trustworthy men brought all the gold from the theold theold theold old castle He lIe became a generous man and did a great deal of good goo 11 with his money by helping the poor And they all aU lived happily together Copyright 1915 tins by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate New ew York Tomorrows Tomorrow's The I I story The story Grump es |