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 chapter2.txt
Introduction to Java Programming Comprehensive
Version 10th Edition Liang Test Bank
full chapter at: https://testbankbell.com/product/introduction-to-java-
programming-comprehensive-version-10th-edition-liang-test-bank/
Chapter 2 Elementary Programming

Section 2.3 Reading Input from the Console

1. Suppose a Scanner object is created as follows:

Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);

What method do you use to read an int value?

a. input.nextInt();
b. input.nextInteger();
c. input.int();
d. input.integer();
Key:a

#
2. The following code fragment reads in two numbers:

Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);

int i = input.nextInt();
double d = input.nextDouble();

What are the correct ways to enter these two numbers?

a. Enter an integer, a space, a double value, and then the Enter key.
b. Enter an integer, two spaces, a double value, and then the Enter key.
c. Enter an integer, an Enter key, a double value, and then the Enter key.
d. Enter a numeric value with a decimal point, a space, an integer, and then the
Enter key.
Key:abc
#
6. is the code with natural language mixed with Java code.

a. Java program
b. A Java statement
c. Pseudocode
d. A flowchart diagram
key:c

#
3. If you enter 1 2 3, when you run this program, what will be the output?

Page 1
import java.util.Scanner; chapter2.txt

public class Test1 {

public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.print("Enter three numbers: ");

Page 2
 chapter2.txt
double number1 = input.nextDouble();
double number2 = input.nextDouble();
double number3 = input.nextDouble();

// Compute average
double average = (number1 + number2 + number3) / 3;

// Display result
System.out.println(average);
}
}

a. 1.0
b. 2.0
c. 3.0
d. 4.0
Key:b

#
4. What is the exact output of the following code?

double area = 3.5;

System.out.print("area");
System.out.print(area);

a. 3.53.5
b. 3.5 3.5
c. area3.5
d. area 3.5
Key:c

#
Section 2.4 Identifiers
4. Every letter in a Java keyword is in lowercase?
a. true
b. false
Key:a

#
5. Which of the following is a valid identifier?
a. $343
b. class
c. 9X
d. 8+9
e. radius
Key:ae

Page 3
 chapter2.txt
Section 2.5 Variables
6. Which of the following are correct names for variables according to Java
naming conventions?
a. radius
b. Radius
c. RADIUS
d. findArea
e. FindArea
Key:ad

#
7. Which of the following are correct ways to declare variables?
a. int length; int width;
b. int length, width;
c. int length; width;
d. int length, int width;
Key:ab

#
Section 2.6 Assignment Statements and Assignment Expressions
8. is the Java assignment operator.
a. ==
b. :=
c. =
d. =:
Key:c

#
9. To assign a value 1 to variable x, you write
a. 1 = x;
b. x = 1;
c. x := 1;
d. 1 := x;
e. x == 1;
Key:b

#
10. Which of the following assignment statements is incorrect?
a. i = j = k = 1;
b. i = 1; j = 1; k = 1;
c. i = 1 = j = 1 = k = 1;
d. i == j == k == 1;
Key:cd

#
Section 2.7 Named Constants
11. To declare a constant MAX_LENGTH inside a method with value 99.98, you write
a. final MAX_LENGTH = 99.98;
Page 4
 chapter2.txt
b. final float MAX_LENGTH = 99.98;
c. double MAX_LENGTH = 99.98;
d. final double MAX_LENGTH = 99.98;
Key:d

#
12. Which of the following is a constant, according to Java naming conventions?
a. MAX_VALUE
b. Test
c. read
d. ReadInt
e. COUNT
Key:ae

#
13. To improve readability and maintainability, you should declare
instead of using literal values such as 3.14159.
a. variables
b. methods
c. constants
d. classes
Key:c

#
Section 2.8 Naming Conventions
60. According to Java naming convention, which of the following names can be
variables?
a. FindArea
b. findArea
c. totalLength
d. TOTAL_LENGTH
e. class
Key:bc

#
Section 2.9 Numeric Data Types and Operations
14. Which of these data types requires the most amount of memory?
a. long
b. int
c. short
d. byte
Key:a

#
34. If a number is too large to be stored in a variable of the float type, it
.
a. causes overflow
b. causes underflow

Page 5
 chapter2.txt
c. causes no error
d. cannot happen in Java
Key:a

#
15. Analyze the following code:

public class Test {

public static void main(String[] args) {
int n = 10000 * 10000 * 10000;
System.out.println("n is " + n);
}
}
a. The program displays n is 1000000000000
b. The result of 10000 * 10000 * 10000 is too large to be stored in an int
variable n. This causes an overflow and the program is aborted.
c. The result of 10000 * 10000 * 10000 is too large to be stored in an int
variable n. This causes an overflow and the program continues to execute because
Java does not report errors on overflow.
d. The result of 10000 * 10000 * 10000 is too large to be stored in an int
variable n. This causes an underflow and the program is aborted.
e. The result of 10000 * 10000 * 10000 is too large to be stored in an int variable
n. This causes an underflow and the program continues to execute because Java does
not report errors on underflow.
Key:c

#
16. What is the result of 45 / 4?
a. 10
b. 11
c. 11.25
d. 12
Key:b 45 / 4 is an integer division, which results in 11

#
18. Which of the following expression results in a value 1?
a. 2 % 1
b. 15 % 4
c. 25 % 5
d. 37 % 6
Key:d 2 % 1 is 0, 15 % 4 is 3, 25 % 5 is 0, and 37 % 6 is 1

#
19. 25 % 1 is
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4

Page 6
 chapter2.txt
e. 0
Key:e

#
20. -25 % 5 is
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
e. 0
Key:e

#
21. 24 % 5 is
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
e. 0
Key:d

#
22. -24 % 5 is
a. -1
b. -2
c. -3
d. -4
e. 0
Key:d

#
23. -24 % -5 is
a. 3
b. -3
c. 4
d. -4
e. 0
Key:d

#
30. Math.pow(2, 3) returns .
a. 9
b. 8
c. 9.0
d. 8.0
Key:d It returns a double value 8.0.

Page 7
 chapter2.txt
30. Math.pow(4, 1 / 2) returns .
a. 2
b. 2.0
c. 0
d. 1.0
e. 1
Key:d Note that 1 / 2 is 0.

#
30. Math.pow(4, 1.0 / 2) returns .
a. 2
b. 2.0
c. 0
d. 1.0
e. 1
Key:b Note that the pow method returns a double value, not an integer.
#
31. The method returns a raised to the power of b.

a. Math.power(a, b)
b. Math.exponent(a, b)
c. Math.pow(a, b)
d. Math.pow(b, a)
Key:c

#
Section 2.10 Numeric Literals
15. To declare an int variable number with initial value 2, you write
a. int number = 2L;
b. int number = 2l;
c. int number = 2;
d. int number = 2.0;
Key:c

#
32. Analyze the following code.

public class Test {

public static void main(String[] args) {
int month = 09;
System.out.println("month is " + month);
}
}
a. The program displays month is 09
b. The program displays month is 9
c. The program displays month is 9.0
d. The program has a syntax error, because 09 is an incorrect literal value.
Key:d Any numeric literal with the prefix 0 is an octal value. But 9 is not an octal

Page 8
 chapter2.txt
digit. An octal digit is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7.

#
15. Which of the following are the same as 1545.534?
a. 1.545534e+3
b. 0.1545534e+4
c. 1545534.0e-3
d. 154553.4e-2
Key:abcd

#
Section 2.11 Evaluating Expressions and Operator Precedence
24. The expression 4 + 20 / (3 - 1) * 2 is evaluated to
a. 4
b. 20
c. 24
d. 9
e. 25
Key:c

#
Section 2.12 Case Study: Displaying the Current Time
58. The System.currentTimeMillis() returns .
a. the current time.
b. the current time in milliseconds.
c. the current time in milliseconds since midnight.
d. the current time in milliseconds since midnight, January 1, 1970.
e. the current time in milliseconds since midnight, January 1, 1970 GMT (the
Unix time).
Key:e

#
24. To obtain the current second, use .
a. System.currentTimeMillis() % 3600
b. System.currentTimeMillis() % 60
c. System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000 % 60
d. System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000 / 60 % 60
e. System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000 / 60 / 60 % 24
Key:c

#
24. To obtain the current minute, use .
a. System.currentTimeMillis() % 3600
b. System.currentTimeMillis() % 60
c. System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000 % 60
d. System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000 / 60 % 60
e. System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000 / 60 / 60 % 24
Key:d

Page 9
 chapter2.txt

#
24. To obtain the current hour in UTC, use _.
a. System.currentTimeMillis() % 3600
b. System.currentTimeMillis() % 60
c. System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000 % 60
d. System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000 / 60 % 60
e. System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000 / 60 / 60 % 24
Key:e

#
Section 2.13 Augmented Assignment Operators
24. To add a value 1 to variable x, you write
a. 1 + x = x;
b. x += 1;
c. x := 1;
d. x = x + 1;
e. x = 1 + x;
Key:bde

#
25. To add number to sum, you write (Note: Java is case-sensitive)
a. number += sum;
b. number = sum + number;
c. sum = Number + sum;
d. sum += number;
e. sum = sum + number;
Key:de

#
26. Suppose x is 1. What is x after x += 2?
a. 0
b. 1
c. 2
d. 3
e. 4
Key:d

#
27. Suppose x is 1. What is x after x -= 1?
a. 0
b. 1
c. 2
d. -1
e. -2
Key:a

Page 10
 chapter2.txt
28. What is x after the following statements?

int x = 2;
int y = 1;
x *= y + 1;

a. x is 1.
b. x is 2.
c. x is 3.
d. x is 4.
Key:d

#
29. What is x after the following statements?

int x = 1;
x *= x + 1;

a. x is 1.
b. x is 2.
c. x is 3.
d. x is 4.
Key:b

#
29. Which of the following statements are the same?

(A) x -= x + 4
(B) x = x + 4 - x
(C) x = x - (x + 4)

a. (A) and (B) are the same

b. (A) and (C) are the same
c. (B) and (C) are the same
d. (A), (B), and (C) are the same
Key:a

#
Section 2.14 Increment and Decrement Operators
21. Are the following four statements equivalent?
number += 1;
number = number + 1;
number++;
++number;
a. Yes
b. No
Key:a

Page 11
 chapter2.txt
#
34. What is i printed?
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int j = 0;
int i = ++j + j * 5;

System.out.println("What is i? " + i);

}
}
a. 0
b. 1
c. 5
d. 6
Key:d Operands are evaluated from left to right in Java. The left-hand operand of a
binary operator is evaluated before any part of the right-hand operand is evaluated.
This rule takes precedence over any other rules that govern expressions. Therefore,
++j is evaluated first, and returns 1. Then j*5 is evaluated, returns 5.

#
35. What is i printed in the following code?

public class Test {

public static void main(String[] args) {
int j = 0;
int i = j++ + j * 5;

System.out.println("What is i? " + i);

}
}
a. 0
b. 1
c. 5
d. 6
Key:c Same as before, except that j++ evaluates to 0.

#
36. What is y displayed in the following code?

public class Test {

public static void main(String[] args) {
int x = 1;
int y = x++ + x;
System.out.println("y is " + y);
}
}
a. y is 1.
b. y is 2.

Page 12
 chapter2.txt
c. y is 3.
d. y is 4.
Key:c When evaluating x++ + x, x++ is evaluated first, which does two things: 1.
returns 1 since it is post-increment. x becomes 2. Therefore y is 1 + 2.

#
37. What is y displayed?

public class Test {

public static void main(String[] args) {
int x = 1;
int y = x + x++;
System.out.println("y is " + y);
}
}
a. y is 1.
b. y is 2.
c. y is 3.
d. y is 4.
Key:b When evaluating x + x++, x is evaluated first, which is 1. X++ returns 1 since
it is post-increment and 2. Therefore y is 1 + 1.

#
Section 2.15 Numeric Type Conversions
38. To assign a double variable d to a float variable x, you write
a. x = (long)d
b. x = (int)d;
c. x = d;
d. x = (float)d;
Key:d

#
17. Which of the following expressions will yield 0.5?
a. 1 / 2
b. 1.0 / 2
c. (double) (1 / 2)
d. (double) 1 / 2
e. 1 / 2.0
Key:bde 1 / 2 is an integer division, which results in 0.

#
39. What is the printout of the following code:

double x = 5.5;
int y = (int)x;
System.out.println("x is " + x + " and y is " + y);
a. x is 5 and y is 6
b. x is 6.0 and y is 6.0

Page 13
 chapter2.txt
c. x is 6 and y is 6
d. x is 5.5 and y is 5
e. x is 5.5 and y is 5.0
Key:d The value is x is not changed after the casting.

#
40. Which of the following assignment statements is illegal?
a. float f = -34;
b. int t = 23;
c. short s = 10;
d. int t = (int)false;
e. int t = 4.5;
Key:de

#
41. What is the value of (double)5/2?
a. 2
b. 2.5
c. 3
d. 2.0
e. 3.0
Key:b

#
42. What is the value of (double)(5/2)?
a. 2
b. 2.5
c. 3
d. 2.0
e. 3.0
Key:d

#
43. Which of the following expression results in 45.37?
a. (int)(45.378 * 100) / 100
b. (int)(45.378 * 100) / 100.0
c. (int)(45.378 * 100 / 100)
d. (int)(45.378) * 100 / 100.0
Key:b

#
43. The expression (int)(76.0252175 * 100) / 100 evaluates to .
a. 76.02
b. 76
c. 76.0252175
d. 76.03
Key:b In order to obtain 76.02, you have divide 100.0.

Page 14
 chapter2.txt
#
44. If you attempt to add an int, a byte, a long, and a double, the result will
be a value.
a. byte
b. int
c. long
d. double
Key:d

#
Section 2.16 Software Life Cycle
1. is a formal process that seeks to understand the problem and

document in detail what the software system needs to do.

a. Requirements specification
b. Analysis
c. Design
d. Implementation
e. Testing
Key:a
#
1. System analysis seeks to analyze the data flow and to identify the

system’s input and output. When you do analysis, it helps to identify what the
output is first, and then figure out what input data you need in order to produce
the output.
a. Requirements specification
b. Analysis
c. Design
d. Implementation
e. Testing
Key:b

#
0. Any assignment statement can be used as an assignment expression.
a. true
b. false
Key:a

#
1. You can define a constant twice in a block.
a. true
b. false
Key:b
#
44. are valid Java identifiers.
a. $Java
b. _RE4
Page 15
Other documents randomly have
different content
 “Oh, yes,” agreed Sally. “That’s easy. When shall we do it? This
afternoon? I think he’ll be down at the Landing, and we won’t have any
trouble getting him to talk to us. There aren’t many around the Landing yet,
’cause the season is so early, and I’ll steer him over into a corner where we
can be by ourselves.”
“That’s fine!” cried Doris. “I knew you could manage it.”
“But tell me—just one thing,” begged Sally, “What made you first think
that Miss Camilla had anything to do with this? You can tell me just that,
can’t you?”
“It was the little Sèvres vase on the mantel,” explained Doris, “and the
way she spoke of it, I know a little,—just a tiny bit about old china and
porcelains, because my grandfather is awfully interested in them and has
collected quite a lot. But it was the way she spoke of it that made me think.”
Not another word would she say on the subject. And though Sally racked
her brains over the matter for the rest of the day, she could find no point
where Miss Camilla and her remarks had the slightest bearing on that secret
of theirs.

It was about two o’clock that afternoon, and the pavilion at the Landing
was almost deserted. Later it would be peopled by a throng, young and old,
hiring boats, crabbing from the long dock, drinking soda-water or merely
watching the river life, idly. But, during the two or three hot hours directly
after noon, it was deserted. On this occasion, however, not for long. Old
Captain Carter, corn-cob pipe in mouth, and stumping loudly on his wooden
leg, was approaching down the road from the village. At this hour he
seldom failed to take his seat in a corner of the pavilion and wait patiently
for the afternoon crowd to appear. His main diversion for the day consisted
in his chats with the throngs who haunted the Landing.
He had not been settled in his corner three minutes, his wooden leg
propped on another chair, when up the wide stairs from the beach appeared
his two granddaughters, accompanied by another girl. Truth to tell, they had
been waiting below exactly half an hour for this very event. Doris, who had
met him before, went over and exchanged the greetings of the day, then
casually settled herself in an adjacent chair, fanning herself frantically and
exclaiming over the heat. Sally and Genevieve next strolled up and perched
on a bench close by. For several minutes the two girls exchanged some
rather desultory conversation. Then, what appeared to be a chance remark
of Doris’s but was in reality carefully planned, drew the old sea-captain into
their talk.
“I wonder why some people around here keep a part of their houses
nicely fixed and live in that part and let the rest get all run down and go to
waste?” she inquired with elaborate indifference. Captain Carter pricked up
his ears.
“Who do that, I’d like to know?” he snorted. “I hain’t seen many of
’em!”
“Well, I passed a place this morning and it looked that way,” Doris went
on. “I thought maybe it was customary in these parts.”
“Where was it?” demanded the Captain, on the defensive for his native
region.
“Way up the river,” she answered, indicating the direction of Slipper
Point.
“Oh, that!” he exclaimed in patent relief. “That’s only Miss Roundtree’s,
and I guess you won’t see another like it in a month of Sundays.”
“Who is she and why does she do it?” asked Doris with a great (and this
time real) show of interest. And thus, finding what his soul delighted in, a
willing and interested listener, Captain Carter launched into a history and
description of Miss Camilla Roundtree. He had told all that Sally had
already imparted, when Doris broke in with some skilfully directed
questions.
“How do you suppose she lost all her money?”
“Blest if I know, or any one else!” he grunted. “And what’s more, I don’t
believe she lost it all, either. I think it was her father and her brother before
her that did the trick. They were great folks around here,—high and mighty,
we called ’em. Nobody among us down at the village was good enough for
’em. This here Miss Camilla,—her mother died when she was a baby—she
used to spend most of her time in New York with a wealthy aunt. Some
swell, she was!—used to go with her aunt pretty nigh every year to Europe
and we didn’t set eyes on her once in a blue moon. Her father and brother
had a fine farm and were making money, but she didn’t care for this here
life.
 “Well, one time she come back from Europe and things didn’t seem to be
going right down here at her place. I don’t know what it was, but there were
queer things whispered about the two men folks and all the money seemed
to be gone suddenly, too. I was away at the time on a three-years’ cruise, so
I didn’t hear nothin’ about it till long after. But they say the brother he
disappeared and never came back, and the father died suddenly of apoplexy
or something, and Miss Camilla was left to shift for herself, on a farm
mortgaged pretty nigh up to the hilt.
“She was a bright woman as ever was made, though, I’ll say that for her,
and she kept her head in the air and took to teaching school. She taught
right good, too, for a number of years and got the mortgages off the farm.
And then, all of a sudden, she began to get deaf-like, and couldn’t go on
teaching. Then she took to selling off a lot of their land lying round, and got
through somehow on that, for a while. But times got harder and living
higher priced, and finally she had to give up trying to keep the whole thing
decent and just scrooged herself into those little quarters in the ‘L.’ She’s
made a good fight, but she never would come down off her high horse or
ask for any help or let any one into what happened to her folks.”
“How long ago was all that?” asked Doris.
“Oh, about forty or fifty years, I should think,” he replied, after a
moment’s thought. “Yes, fifty or more, at the least.”
“You say they owned a lot of land around their farm?” interrogated
Doris, casually.
“Surest thing! One time old Caleb Roundtree owned pretty nigh the
whole side of the river up that way, but he’d sold off a lot of it himself
before he died. She owned a good patch for a while, though, several
hundred acres, I guess. But she hain’t got nothin’ but what lies right around
the house, now.”
“Didn’t you ever hear what happened to the brother?” demanded Doris.
“Never a thing. He dropped out of life here as neatly and completely as
if he’d suddenly been dropped into the sea. And by the time I’d got back
from my voyage the nine-days’ wonder about it all was over, and I never
could find out any more on the subject. Never was particularly interested to,
either. Miss Camilla hain’t nothin’ to me. She’s always kept to herself and
so most folks have almost forgotten who she is.”
 As the Captain had evidently reached the end of his information on the
subject, Doris rose to take her leave and Sally followed her eagerly.
“Well, did you find out what you wanted?” she cried, as soon as they
were once more out on the river in old “45.”
“I found out enough,” answered Doris very seriously, “to make me feel
pretty sure I’m right. Of course, I can only guess at lots of it, but one thing
I’m certain of: that cave had nothing to do with smugglers or pirates—or
anything of that sort!”
Sally dropped her oars with a smothered cry of utmost disappointment.
“I can’t believe it!” she cried. “I just can’t. I’ve counted on it so long—
finding treasure or something like that, I mean. I just can’t believe it isn’t
so.”
“It may be something far more interesting,” Doris replied soothingly.
“But there’s just one trouble about it. If it’s what I think it is, and concerns
Miss Camilla, I’ve begun to feel that we haven’t any business meddling
with it now. We oughtn’t even to go into it.”
Sally uttered a moan of absolute despair. “I thought it would be that
way,” she muttered, half to herself, “if I shared the secret. I knew they’d
take it away from me!” She shipped her oars and buried her face in her
hands. After a moment she raised her head defiantly. “Why, I don’t even
know why you say so. You haven’t told me yet a single thing of what it’s all
about. Why should I stay away from that place?”
“Listen, Sally,” said Doris, also shipping her oars and laying an
appealing hand on her arm, “I ought to tell you now, and I will. Perhaps you
won’t feel the same about it as I do. We can talk that over afterward. But
don’t feel so badly about it. Just hear what I have to say first.
“I think there has been some trouble in Miss Camilla’s life,—something
she couldn’t tell any one about, and probably connected with that cave.
What your grandfather said about her father and brother makes me all the
more sure of it. I believe one or the other of them did something wrong,—
something connected with money, perhaps, embezzled it or forged checks
or something of that kind. And perhaps whoever it was had to hide away
and be kept so for a long time, and so that cave was made and he hid there.
Don’t you remember, your grandfather said the brother disappeared
suddenly and never came back? It must have been he, then. And perhaps
Miss Camilla had to sell most of her valuable things and make up what he
had done. That would explain her having parted with all her lovely
porcelains and china. And if so much of the land around the house once
belonged to her, probably that part where the cave is did too.”
“But what about that bit of paper, then?” demanded Sally, who had been
drinking in this explanation eagerly. “I don’t see what that would have to do
with it.”
“Well, I don’t either,” confessed Doris. “Perhaps it is the plan of the
place where something is hidden, but I’m somehow beginning to think it
isn’t. I’ll have to think that over later.
“But now, can’t you see that if what I’ve said is right, it wouldn’t be the
thing for us to do any more prying into poor Miss Camilla’s secret? It
would really be a dreadful thing, especially if she ever suspected that we
knew. She probably doesn’t dream that another soul in the world knows of
it at all.”
Sally was decidedly impressed with this explanation and argument, but
she had one more plea to put forward.
“What you say sounds very true, Doris, and I’ve almost got to believe it,
whether I want to or not. But I’m going to ask just one thing. Let’s give our
other idea just a trial, anyway. Let’s go there once more and see if that
scheme about the floor and the place in the corner is any good. It might be,
you know. It sounded awfully good to me. And it won’t hurt a thing for us
to try it out. If we don’t find anything, we’ll know there’s nothing in it. And
if we do find anything that concerns Miss Camilla, we’ll let it alone and
never go near the place again. What do you say?”
Doris thought it over gravely. The argument seemed quite sound, and yet
some delicate instinct in her still urged that they should meddle no further.
But, after all, she considered, they were sure of nothing. It might have no
concern with Miss Camilla at all. And, to crown it, the secret was Sally’s
originally, when all was said and done. Who was she, Doris, to dictate what
should or should not be done about it? She capitulated.
“All right, Sally,” she agreed. “I believe it can do no harm to try out our
original scheme. We’ll get at it first thing tomorrow morning.”
 CHAPTER X

BEHIND THE CEDAR PLANK

T HEY set out on the following morning. Elaborate preparations had been
made for the undertaking and, so that they might have ample time
undisturbed, Doris had begged her mother to allow her to picnic for the
day with Sally, and not come back to the hotel for luncheon. As Mrs. Craig
had come to have quite a high opinion of Sally, her judgment and
knowledge of the river and vicinity, she felt no hesitation in trusting Doris
to be safe with her.
Sally had provided the sandwiches and Doris was armed with fruit and
candy and books to amuse Genevieve. In the bow of the boat Sally had
stowed away a number of tools borrowed from her father’s boathouse.
Altogether, the two girls felt as excited and mysterious and adventurous as
could well be imagined.
“I wish we could have left Genevieve at home,” whispered Sally as they
were embarking. “But there’s no one to take care of her for all day, so of
course it was impossible. But I’m afraid she’s going to get awfully tired and
restless while we’re working.”
“Oh, never you fear!” Doris encouraged her. “I’ve brought a few new
picture-books and we’ll manage to keep her amused somehow.”
Once established in the cave, having settled Genevieve with a book, the
girls set to work in earnest.
“I’m glad I thought to bring a dozen more candles,” said Sally. “We were
down to the end of the last one. Now shall we begin on that corner at the
extreme right-hand away from the door? That’s the likeliest place. I’ll
measure a space around it twenty-one inches square.”
She measured off the space on the floor carefully with a folding ruler,
while Doris stood over her watching with critical eyes. Then, having drawn
the lines with a piece of chalk, Sally proceeded to begin on the sawing
operation with one of her father’s old and somewhat rusty saws.
 It was a heartbreakingly slow operation. Turn and turn about they
worked away, encouraging each other with cheering remarks. The planks of
the old Anne Arundel were very thick and astonishingly tough. At the end of
an hour they had but one side of the square sawed through, and Genevieve
was beginning to grow fractious. Then they planned it that while one
worked, the other should amuse the youngest member of the party by
talking, singing, and showing pictures to her.
This worked well for a time, and a second side at last was completed. By
the time they reached the third, however, Genevieve flatly refused to remain
in the cave another moment, so it was agreed that one of them should take
her outside while the other remained within and sawed. This proved by far
the best solution yet, as Genevieve very shortly fell asleep on the warm pine
needles. They covered her with a shawl they had brought, and then both
went back to the undertaking, of which they were now, unconfessedly, very
weary.
It was shortly after the noon hour when the saw made its way through
the fourth side of the square. In a hush of breathless expectation, they lifted
the piece of timber, prepared for—who could tell what wondrous secret
beneath it?
The space it left was absolutely empty of the slightest suggestion of
anything remarkable. It revealed the sandy soil of the embankment into
which the cave was dug, and nothing else whatever. The disgusted silence
that followed Doris was the first to break.
“Of course, something may be buried down here, but I doubt it awfully.
I’m sure we would have seen some sign of it, if this had been the right
corner. However, give me that trowel, Sally, and we’ll dig down a way.”
She dug for almost a foot into the damp sand, and finally gave it up.
“How could any one go on digging down in the space of only twenty-
one inches?” she exclaimed in despair. “If one were to dig at all, the space
ought to be much larger. No, this very plainly isn’t the right corner. Let’s go
outside and eat our lunch, and then, if we have any courage left, we can
come back and begin on another corner. Personally, I feel as if I should
scream, if I had to put my hand to that old saw again!”
But a hearty luncheon and a half hour of idling in the sunlight above
ground after it, served to restore their courage and determination. Sally was
positive that the corner diagonally opposite was the one most likely to yield
results, and Doris was inclined to agree with her. Genevieve, however, flatly
refused to re-enter the cave so they were forced to adopt the scheme of the
morning, one remaining always outdoors with her, as they did not dare let
her roam around by herself. Sally volunteered to take the first shift at the
sawing, and after they had measured off the twenty-one inch square in the
opposite corner she set to work, while Doris stayed outside with Genevieve.
Seated with a picture-book open on her lap, and with Genevieve cuddled
close by her side, she was suddenly startled by a muffled, excited cry from
within the cave. Obviously, something had happened. Springing up, she
hurried inside, Genevieve trailing after her. She beheld Sally standing in the
middle of the cave, candle in hand, dishevelled and excited, pointing to the
side of the cave near which she had been working.
“Look, look!” she cried. “What did I tell you?” Doris looked, expecting
to see something about the floor in the corner to verify their surmises. The
sight that met her eyes was as different as possible from that.
A part of the wall of the cave, three feet in width and reaching from top
to bottom had opened and swung inward like a door on its hinges.
“What is it?” she breathed in a tone of real awe.
“It’s a door, just as it looks,” explained Sally, “and we never even
guessed it was there. I happened to be leaning against that part of the wall
as I sawed, balancing myself against it, and sometimes pushing pretty hard.
All of a sudden it gave way, and swung out like that, and I almost tumbled
in. I was so astonished I hardly knew what had happened!”
“But what’s behind it?” cried Doris, snatching the candle and hurrying
forward to investigate. They peered together into the blackness back of the
newly revealed door, the candle held high above their heads.
“Why, it’s a tunnel!” exclaimed Sally. “A great, long tunnel, winding
away. I can’t even see how far it goes. Did you ever?”
The two girls stood looking at each other and at the opening in a maze of
incredulous speculation. Suddenly Sally uttered a satisfied cry.
“I know! I know, now! We never could think where all the rest of the
wood from the Anne Arundel went. It’s right here!” It was evidently true.
The tunnel had been lined, top and bottom and often at the sides with the
same planking that had lined the cave and at intervals there were stout posts
supporting the roof of it. Well and solidly had it been constructed in that
long ago period, else it would never have remained intact so many years.
 “Doris,” said Sally presently, “where do you suppose this leads to?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea,” replied her friend, “except that it probably
leads to the treasure or the secret, or whatever it is. That much I’m certain
of now.”
“So am I,” agreed Sally, “but, here’s the important thing. Are we to go in
there and find it?”
Doris shrank back an instant. “Oh, I don’t know!” she faltered. “I’m not
sure whether I dare to—or whether Mother would allow me to—if she
knew. It—it might be dangerous. Something might give way and bury us
alive.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” announced Sally courageously. “I’ll
take a candle and go in a way by myself and see what it’s like. You stay
here with Genevieve, and I’ll keep calling back to you, so you needn’t
worry about me.” Before Doris could argue the question with her, she had
lighted another candle and stepped bravely into the gloom.
Doris, at the opening, watched her progress nervously, till a turn in the
tunnel hid her from sight.
“Oh, Sally, do come back!” she called. “I can’t stand this suspense!”
“I’m all right!” Sally shouted back. “After that turn it goes on straight
for the longest way. I can’t see the end. But it’s perfectly safe. The planks
are as strong as iron yet. There isn’t a sign of a cave-in. I’m coming back a
moment.” She presently reappeared.
“Look here!” she demanded, facing her companion. “Are you game to
come with me? We can bring Genevieve along. It’s perfectly safe. If you’re
not, you can stay here with her and I’ll go by myself. I’m determined to see
the end of this.” Her resolution fired Doris. After all, it could not be so very
dangerous, since the tunnel seemed in such good repair. Forgetting all else
in her enthusiasm, she hastily consented.
“We must take plenty of candles and matches,” declared Sally. “We
wouldn’t want to be left in the dark in there. It’s lucky I brought a lot today.
Now, Genevieve, you behave yourself and come along like a good girl, and
we’ll buy you some lolly-pops when we get back home!” Genevieve was
plainly reluctant to add her presence to the undertaking, but, neither, on the
other hand, did she wish to be left behind, so she followed disapprovingly.
 Each with a candle lit, they stepped down from the floor of the cave and
gingerly progressed along the narrow way. Doris determinedly turned her
eyes from the slugs and snails and strange insects that could be seen on the
ancient planking, and kept them fastened on Sally’s back as she led the way.
On and on they went, silent, awe-stricken, and wondering. Genevieve
whimpered and clung to Doris’s skirts, but no one paid any attention to her,
so she was forced to follow on, willy-nilly.
So far did this strange, underground passage proceed that Doris half-
whispered: “Is it never going to end, Sally? Ought we to venture any
further?”
“I’m going to the end!” announced Sally stubbornly. “You can go back if
you like.” And they all went on again in silence.
At length it was evident that the end was in sight, for the way was
suddenly blocked by a stone wall, apparently, directly across the passage.
They all drew a long breath and approached to examine it more closely. It
was unmistakably a wall of stones, cemented like the foundation of a house,
and beyond it they could not proceed.
“What are we going to do now?” demanded Doris.
“The treasure must be here,” said Sally, “and I’ve found one thing that
opened when you pushed against it. Maybe this is another. Let’s try.
Perhaps it’s behind one of these stones. Look! The plaster seems to be loose
around these in the middle.” She thrust the weight of her strong young arm
against it, directing it at the middle stone of three large ones, but without
avail. They never moved the fraction of an inch. Then she began to push all
along the sides where the plaster seemed loose. At last she threw her whole
weight against it—and was rewarded!
The three stones swung round, as on a pivot, revealing a space only large
enough to crawl through with considerable squeezing.
“Hurrah! hurrah!” she shouted. “What did I tell you, Doris? There’s
something else behind here,—another cave, I guess. I’m going through. Are
you going to follow?” Handing her candle to Doris, she scrambled through
the narrow opening. And Doris, now determined to stick at nothing, set both
candles on the ground, and pushed the struggling and resisting Genevieve in
next. After that, she passed in the candles to Sally, who held them while she
clambered in herself.
And, once safely within, they stood and stared about them.
 “Why, Sally,” suddenly breathed Doris, “this isn’t a cave. It’s a cellar!
Don’t you see all the household things lying around? Garden tools, and
vegetables and—and all that? Where in the world can we be?” A great light
suddenly dawned on her.
“Sally Carter, what did I tell you? This cellar is Miss Camilla’s. I know
it. I’m certain of it. There’s no other house anywhere near Slipper Point. I
told you she knew about that cave!”
Sally listened, open-mouthed. “It can’t be,” she faltered. “I’m sure we
didn’t come in that direction at all.”
“You can’t tell how you’re going—underground,” retorted Doris.
“Remember, the tunnel made a turn, too. Oh, Sally! Let’s go back at once,
before anything is discovered, and never, never let Miss Camilla or any one
know what we’ve discovered. It’s none of our business.”
Sally, now convinced, was about to assent, when Genevieve suddenly
broke into a loud howl.
“I won’t go back! I won’t go back—in that nas’y place!” she announced,
at the top of her lungs.
“Oh, stop her!” whispered Doris. “Do stop
 She led the others up the cellar steps

her, or Miss Camilla may hear!” Sally stifled her resisting sister by the
simple process of placing her hand forcibly over her mouth,—but it was too
late. A door opened at the top of a flight of steps, and Miss Camilla’s
astounded face appeared in the opening.
“What is it? Who is it?” she called, obviously frightened to death herself
at this unprecedented intrusion. Huddled in a corner, they all shrank back
for a moment, then Doris stepped boldly forward.
“It’s only ourselves, Miss Camilla,” she announced. “We have done a
very dreadful thing, and we hadn’t any right to do it. But, if you’ll let us
come upstairs, we’ll explain it all, and beg your pardon, and promise never
to speak of it or even think of it again.” She led the others up the cellar
steps, and into Miss Camilla’s tiny, tidy kitchen. Here, still standing, she
explained the whole situation to that lady, who was still too overcome with
astonishment to utter a word. And she ended her explanation thus:
 “So you see, we didn’t have the slightest idea we were going to end at
this house. But, all the same, we sort of felt that this cave was a secret of
yours and that we really hadn’t any right to be interfering with it. But won’t
you please forgive us, this time, Miss Camilla? And we’ll really try to
forget that it ever existed.”
And then Miss Camilla suddenly found words. “My dear children,” she
stuttered, “I—I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t the
faintest idea what this all means. I never knew till this minute that there was
anything like a cave or a tunnel connected with this house!”
And in the astounded silence that followed, the three stood gaping, open-
mouthed, at each other.
 CHAPTER XI

SOME BITS OF ROUNDTREE HISTORY

“B UT come into the sitting-room,” at length commanded Miss Camilla,

“and let us talk this strange thing over. You must be tired and hungry,
too, after this awful adventure of coming through that dreadful
tunnel. You must have some of this hot gingerbread and a glass of
lemonade.” And while she bustled about, on hospitable thoughts intent, they
heard her muttering to herself:
“A cave—and a tunnel—and connected with this house!—What can it
all mean?”
They sat in restful silence for a time, munching the delicious hot
gingerbread and sipping cool lemonade. Never did a repast taste more
welcome, coming as it did after the adventures and uncertainties of that
eventful day. And while they ate, Miss Camilla sat wiping her glasses and
putting them on and taking them off again and shaking her head over the
perplexing news that had been so unexpectedly thrust upon her.
“I simply cannot understand it all,” she began at last. “As I told you, I’ve
never had the slightest idea of such a strange affair, nor can I imagine how
it came there. When did you say that Anne Arundel vessel was wrecked?”
“Grandfather said in 1850,” answered Sally.
“Eighteen hundred and fifty,” mused Miss Camilla. “Well, I couldn’t
have been more than four or five years old, so of course I would scarcely
remember it. Besides, I was not at home here a great deal. I used to spend
most of my time with my aunt who lived in New York. She used to take me
there for long visits, months on a stretch. If this cave and tunnel were made
at that time, it was probably done while I was away, or else I would have
known of it. My father and brother and one or two colored servants were
the only ones in the house, most of the time. I had a nurse, an old Southern
colored ‘mammy’ who always went about with me. She died about the time
the Civil War broke out.”
 There was no light on the matter here. Miss Camilla relapsed again into
puzzled silence, which the girls hesitated to intrude upon by so much as a
single word, lest Miss Camilla should consider that they were prying into
her past history.
“Wait a moment!” she suddenly exclaimed, sitting up very straight and
wiping her glasses again in great excitement. “I believe I have the
explanation.” She looked about at her audience a minute, hesitantly. “I shall
have to ask you girls please to keep what I am going to tell you entirely to
yourselves. Few if any have ever known of it, and, though it would do no
harm now, I have other reasons for not wishing it discussed publicly. Since
you have discovered what you have, however, I feel it only right that you
should know.”
“You may rely on us, Miss Camilla,” said Doris, speaking for them both,
“to keep anything you may tell us a strict secret.”
“Thank you,” replied their hostess. “I feel sure of it. Well, I learned the
fact, very early in my girlhood, that my father and also my brother, who was
several years older than I, were both very strict and enthusiastic
abolitionists. While slavery was still a national institution in this country,
they were firm advocates of the freedom of the colored people. And, so
earnest were they in the cause, that they became members of the great
‘Underground Railway’ system.”
“What was that?” interrupted both girls at a breath.
“Did you never hear of it?” exclaimed Miss Camilla in surprise. “Why, it
was a great secret system of assisting runaway slaves from the Southern
States to escape from their bondage and get to Canada where they could no
longer be considered any one’s property. There were many people in all the
Northern States, who, believing in freedom for the slaves, joined this secret
league, and in their houses runaways would be sheltered, hidden and quietly
passed on to the next house of refuge, or ‘station,’ as they were called, till at
length the fugitives had passed the boundary of the country. It was,
however, a severe legal offense to be caught assisting these fugitives, and
the penalty was heavy fines and often imprisonment. But that did not daunt
those whose hearts were in the cause. And so very secret was the whole
organization that few were ever detected in it.
“It was in a rather singular way that I discovered my father to be
concerned in this matter. I happened to be at home here, and came
downstairs one morning, rather earlier than usual, to find our kitchen filled
with a number of strange colored folk, in various stages of rags and hunger
and evident excitement. I was a girl of ten or eleven at the time. Rushing to
my father’s study, I demanded an explanation of the strange spectacle. He
took me aside and explained the situation to me, acknowledging that he was
concerned in the ‘Underground Railway’ and warning me to maintain the
utmost secrecy in the matter or it would imperil his safety.
“When I returned to the kitchen, to my astonishment, the whole crowd
had mysteriously disappeared, though I had not been gone fifteen minutes.
And I could not learn from any one a satisfactory explanation of their
lightning disappearance. I should certainly have seen them, had they gone
away above ground. I believe now that the cave and tunnel must have been
the means of secreting them, and I haven’t a doubt that my father and
brother had had it constructed for that very purpose. A runaway, or even a
number of them, could evidently be kept in the cave several days and then
spirited away at night, probably by way of the river and some vessel out at
sea that could take them straight to New York or even to Canada itself. Yes,
it is all as clear as daylight to me now.”
“But how do you suppose they were able to build the cave and tunnel
and bring all the wood from the wreck on the beach without being
discovered?” questioned Sally.
“That probably was not so difficult then as it would seem now,”
answered Miss Camilla. “To begin with, there were not so many people
living about here then, and so there was less danger of being discovered. If
my father and brother could manage to get men enough to help and a
number of teams of oxen or horses such as he had, they could have brought
the wreckage from the beach here, over what must then have been a very
lonely and deserted road, without much danger of discovery. If it happened
that at the time they were sheltering a number of escaped slaves, it would
have been no difficult matter to press them into assisting on dark nights
when they could be so well concealed. Yes, I think that was undoubtedly the
situation.”
They all sat quietly for a moment, thinking it over. Miss Camilla’s
solution of the cave and tunnel mystery was clear beyond all doubting, and
it seemed as if there was nothing further for them to wonder about.
Suddenly, however, Sally leaned forward eagerly.
 “But did we tell you about the strange piece of paper we found under the
old mattress, Miss Camilla? I’ve really forgotten what we did say.”
Miss Camilla looked perplexed. “Why, no. I don’t remember your
mentioning it. Everything was so confused, at first, that I’ve forgotten it if
you did. What about a piece of paper?”
“Here is a copy of what was on it,” said Sally. “We never take the real
piece away from where we first found it, but we made this copy. Perhaps
you can tell what it all means.” She handed the paper to Miss Camilla, who
stared at it for several moments in blank bewilderment. Then she shook her
head.
“I can’t make anything of it at all,” she acknowledged. “It must have
been something left there by one of the fugitives. I don’t believe it concerns
me at all.” She handed the paper back, but as she did so, a sudden idea
occurred to Doris.
“Mightn’t it have been some secret directions to the slaves left there for
them by your father or brother?” she suggested. “Maybe it was to tell them
where to go next, or something like that.”
“I think it very unlikely,” said Miss Camilla. “Most of them could
neither read nor write, and they would hardly have understood an
explanation so complex. No, it must be something else. I wonder—” She
stopped short and stood thinking intently a moment while her visitors
watched her anxiously. A pained and troubled expression had crept into her
usually peaceful face, and she seemed to be reviewing memories that
caused her sorrow.
“Can you get the original paper for me?” she suddenly exclaimed in
great excitement. “Now—at once? I have just thought of something.”
“I’ll get it!” cried Sally, and she was out of the house in an instant, flying
swift-footed over the ground that separated them from the entrance of the
cave by the river. While she was gone Miss Camilla sat silent, inwardly
reviewing her painful memories.
In ten minutes Sally was back, breathless, with the precious, rusty tin
box clasped in her hand. Opening it, she gave the contents to Miss Camilla,
who stared at it for three long minutes in silence.
When she looked up her eyes were tragic. But she only said very quietly:
“It is my brother’s writing!”
 CHAPTER XII

LIGHT DAWNS ON MISS CAMILLA

“W HAT do you make of it all, Sally?”

The two girls were sitting in the pine grove on the heights of
Slipper Point. They sat each with her back against a tree and with
the enchanting view of the upper river spread out panoramically before
them. Each of them was knitting,—an accomplishment they had both
recently acquired.
“I can’t make anything of it at all, and I’ve thought of it day and night
ever since,” was Sally’s reply. “It’s three weeks now since the day we came
through that tunnel and discovered where it ended. And except what Miss
Camilla told us that day, she’s never mentioned a thing about it since.”
“It’s strange, how she stopped short, just after she’d said the writing was
her brother’s,” mused Doris. “And then asked us in the next breath not to
question her about it any more, and to forgive her silence in the matter
because it probably concerned something that was painful to her.”
“Yes, and kept the paper we found in the cave,” went on Sally. “I believe
she wanted to study it out and see what she could make of it. If she’s sure it
was written by her brother, she will probably be able to puzzle it out better
than we would. One thing, I guess, is certain, though. It isn’t any secret
directions where to find treasure. All our little hopes about that turned out
very differently, didn’t they?”
“Sally, are you glad or sorry we’ve discovered what we did about that
cave?” demanded Doris suddenly.
“Oh, glad, of course,” was Sally’s reply. “At first, I was awfully
disgusted to think all my plans and hopes about it and finding buried
treasure and all that had come to nothing. But, do you know what has made
me feel differently about it?” She looked up quickly at Doris.
“No, what?” asked her companion curiously.
“It’s Miss Camilla herself,” answered Sally. “I used to think you were
rather silly to be so crazy about her and admire her so much. I’d never
thought anything about her and I’d known her ‘most all my life. But since
she asked us that day to come and see her as often as we liked and stop at
her house whenever we were up this way, and consider her as our friend,
I’ve somehow come to feel differently. I’m glad we took her at her word
and did it. I don’t think I would have, if it hadn’t been for you. But you’ve
insisted on our stopping at her house so frequently, and we’ve become so
well acquainted with her that I really think I—I almost—love her.”
It pleased Doris beyond words to hear Sally make this admission. She
wanted Sally to appreciate all that was fine and admirable and lovely in
Miss Camilla, even if she were poor and lonely and deaf. She felt that the
friendship would be good for Sally, and she knew that she herself was
profiting by the increased acquaintance with this friend they had so
strangely made.
“Wasn’t it nice of her to teach us to knit?” went on Sally. “She said we
all ought to be doing it now to help out our soldiers, since the country is at
war.”
“She’s taught me lots beside that,” said Doris. “I just love to hear her
talk about old potteries and porcelains and that sort of thing. I do believe
she knows more about them than even grandfather does. She’s making me
crazy to begin a collection myself some day when I’m old enough. She
must have had a fine collection once. I do wonder what became of it.”
“Well, I don’t understand much about all that talk,” admitted Sally. “I
never saw any porcelains worth while in all my life, except that little thing
she has on her mantel. And I don’t see anything to get so crazy about in
that. It’s kind of pretty, of course, but why get excited about it? What
puzzles me more is why she never has said what became of all her other
things.”
“That’s a part of the mystery,” said Doris. “And her brother’s mixed up
in it somehow, and perhaps her father. That much I’m sure of. She talks
freely enough about everything else except those things, so that must be it.
Do you know what I’m almost tempted to think? That her brother did
commit some crime, and her father hid him away in the cave to escape from
justice, but she couldn’t have known about it, that’s plain. Because she did
not know about the cave and tunnel at all till just lately. Perhaps she
wondered what became of him. And maybe they sold all her lovely
porcelains to make up for what he’d done somehow.”
 “Yes,” cried Sally in sudden excitement. “And another idea has just
come to me. Maybe that queer paper was a note her brother left for her and
she can’t make out how to read it. Did you ever think of that?”
“Why, no!” exclaimed Doris, struck with the new idea. “I never thought
of it as anything he might have left for her. Do you remember, she said
once they were awfully fond of each other, more even than most brothers
and sisters? It would be perfectly natural if he did want to leave her a note,
if he had to go away and perhaps never come back. And of course he
wouldn’t want any one else to understand what it said. Oh, wait!—I have an
idea we’ve never thought of before. Why on earth have we been so stupid!
—”
She sprang up and began to walk about excitedly, while Sally watched
her, consumed with curiosity. At length she could bear the suspense no
longer.
“Well, for pity’s sake tell me what you’ve thought of!” she demanded.
“I’ll go wild if you keep it to yourself much longer.”
“Where’s that copy?” was all Doris would reply. “I want to study it a
moment.” Sally drew it from her pocket and handed it to her, and Doris
spent another five minutes regarding it absorbedly.
“It is. It surely is!” she muttered, half to herself. “But how are we ever
going to think out how to work it?” At last she turned to the impatient Sally.
“I’m a fool not to have thought of this before, Sally. I read a book once,
—I can’t think what it was now, but it was some detective story,—where
there was something just a little like this. Not that it looked like this, but the
idea was the same. If it is what I think, it isn’t the note itself at all. The note,
if there is one, must be somewhere else. This is only a secret code, or
arrangement of the letters, so that one can read the note by it. Probably the
real note is written in such a way that it could never be understood at all
without this. Do you understand?”
Sally had indeed grasped the idea and was wildly excited by it.
“Oh, Doris,” she cried admiringly. “You certainly are a wonder to have
thought all this out! It’s ten times as interesting as what we first thought it
was. But how do you work this code? I can’t make anything out of it at all.”
“Well, neither can I, I’ll have to admit. But here’s what I think. If we
could see what that note itself looks like, we could perhaps manage to
puzzle out just how this code works.”
 “But how are we going to do that?” demanded Doris. “Only Miss
Camilla has the note, if there is a note; and certainly we couldn’t very well
ask her to let us see it, especially after what she said to us that day.”
“No, we couldn’t, I suppose,” said Doris, thoughtfully. “And yet—” she
hesitated. “I somehow feel perfectly certain that Miss Camilla doesn’t know
the meaning of all this yet, hasn’t even guessed what we have, about this
paper. She doesn’t act so. Maybe she doesn’t even know there is a note,—
you can’t tell. If she hasn’t guessed, it would be a mercy to tell her,
wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, I suppose so,” admitted Sally dubiously. “But I wouldn’t know
how to go about it. Would you?”
“I could only try and do my best, and beg her to forgive me if I were
intruding,” said Doris. “Yes, I believe she ought to be told. You can’t tell
how she may be worrying about all this. She acts awfully worried, seems to
me. Not at all like she did when we first knew her. I believe we ought to tell
her right now. Call Genevieve and we’ll go over.”
Sally called to Genevieve, who was playing in the boat on the beach
below, and that young lady soon came scrambling up the bank. Hand in
hand, all three started to the home of Miss Camilla and when they had
reached it, found her sitting on her tiny porch knitting in apparently placid
content. But, true to Doris’s observation, there were anxious lines in her
face that had not been seen a month ago. She greeted them, however, with
real pleasure, and with her usual hospitality proffered refreshments, this
time in the shape of some early peaches she had gathered only that
morning.
But Doris who, with Sally’s consent, had constituted herself spokesman,
before accepting the refreshment, began:
“Miss Camilla, I wonder if you’ll forgive us for speaking of something
to you? It may seem as if we were intruding, but we really don’t intend to.”
“Why, speak right on,” exclaimed that lady in surprise. “You are too
well-bred to be intrusive, that I know. If you feel you must speak of
something to me, I know it is because you think it wise or necessary.”
Much relieved by this assurance, Doris went on, explaining how she had
suddenly had a new idea concerning the mysterious paper and detailing
what she thought it might be. As she proceeded, a new light of
comprehension seemed to creep into the face of Miss Camilla, who had
been listening intently.
“So we think it must be a code,—a secret code,—Miss Camilla. And if
you happen to have any queer sort of note or communication that you’ve
never been able to make out, why this may explain it,” she added.
When she had finished, Miss Camilla sat perfectly still—thinking. She
thought so long and so intently that it seemed as if she must have forgotten
completely the presence of the three on the porch with her. And after what
seemed an interminable period, she did a strange thing. Instead of replying
with so much as a word, she got up and went into the house, leaving them
open-mouthed and wondering.
“Do you suppose she’s angry with us?” whispered Sally. “Do you think
we ought to stay?”
“No, I don’t think she’s angry,” replied Doris in a low voice. “I think
she’s so—so absorbed that she hardly realizes what she’s doing or that we
are here. We’d better stay.”
They stayed. But so long was Miss Camilla gone that even Doris began
to doubt the wisdom of remaining any longer.
But presently she came back. Her recently neat dress was grimy and
dishevelled. There was a streak of dust across her face and a cobweb lay on
her hair. Doris guessed at once that she had been in the old, unused portion
of her house. But in her hand she carried something, and resuming her seat,
she laid it carefully on her knee. It was a little book about four inches wide
and six or seven long, with an old-fashioned brown cover, and it was coated
with what seemed to be the dust of years. The two girls gazed at it
curiously, and when Miss Camilla had got her breath, she explained:
“I can never thank you enough for what you have told me today. It
throws light on something that has never been clear to me,—something that
I have even forgotten for long years. If what you surmise is true, then a
mystery that has surrounded my life for more than fifty years will be at last
explained. It is strange that the idea did not occur to me when first you girls
discovered the cave and the tunnel, but even then it remained unconnected
in my mind with—this.” She pointed to the little book in her lap. Then she
went on:
“But, now, under the circumstances, I feel that I must explain it all to
you, relying still on your discretion and secrecy. For I have come to know
that you are both unusually trustworthy young folks. There has been a dark
shadow over my life,—a darker shadow than you can perhaps imagine. I
told you before of my father’s opinions and leanings during the years
preceding the Civil War. When that terrible conflict broke out, he insisted
that I go away to Europe with my aunt and stay there as long as it lasted,
providing me with ample funds to do so. I think that he did not believe at
first that the struggle would be so long.
“I went with considerable reluctance, but I was accustomed to obeying
his wishes implicitly. I was gone two years, and in all that time I received
the most loving and affectionate letters constantly, both from him and also
my brother. They assured me that everything was well with them. My
brother had enlisted at once in the Union Army and had fought through a
number of campaigns. My father remained here, but was doing his utmost,
so he said, in a private capacity, to further the interests of the country.
Altogether, their reports were glowing. And though I was often worried as
to the outcome, and apprehensive for my brother’s safety, I spent the two
years abroad very happily.
“Then, in May of 1863, my first calamity happened. My aunt died very
suddenly and unexpectedly, while we were in Switzerland, and, as we had
been alone, it was my sad duty to bring her back to New York. After her
funeral, I hurried home here, wondering very much that my father had not
come on to be with me, for I had sent him word immediately upon my
arrival. My brother, I suspected, was away with the army.
“I was completely astounded and dismayed, on arriving home, at the
condition of affairs I found here. To begin with, there were no servants
about. Where they had gone, or why they had been dismissed, I could not
discover. My father was alone in his study when I arrived, which was rather
late in the evening. He was reserved and rather taciturn in his greeting to
me, and did not act very much pleased to welcome me back. This grieved
me greatly, after my long absence. But I could see that he was worried and
preoccupied and in trouble of some kind. I thought that perhaps he had had
bad news about my brother Roland, but he assured me that Roland was all
right.
“Then I asked him why the house was in such disorder and where the
servants were, but he only begged me not to make inquiries about that
matter at present, but to go to my room and make myself as comfortable as
I could, and he would explain it all later. I did as he asked me and went to
my room. I had been there about an hour, busying myself with unpacking
my bag, when there was a hurried knock at my door. I went to open it, and
gave a cry of joy, for there stood my brother Roland.
“Instead of greeting me, however, he seized my hand and cried: ‘Father
is very ill. He has had some sort of a stroke. Hurry downstairs to him at
once. I must leave immediately. I can’t even wait to see how he is. It is
imperative!’
“ ‘But, Roland,’ I cried, ‘surely you won’t go leaving Father like this!’
But he only answered, ‘I must. I must! It’s my duty!’ He seized me in his
arms and kissed me, and was gone without another word. But before he
went, I had seen—a dreadful thing! He was enveloped from head to foot in
a long, dark military cape of some kind, reaching almost to his feet. But as
he embraced me under the light of the hall lamp, the cloak was thrown aside
for an instant and I had that terrible glimpse. Under the concealing cloak
my brother was wearing a uniform of Confederate gray.
“I almost fainted at the sight, but he was gone before I could utter a
word, without probably even knowing that I had seen. This, then, was the
explanation of the mysterious way they had treated me. They had gone over
to the enemy. They were traitors to their country and their faith, and they
did not want me to know. For this they had even sent me away out of the
country!...
“But I had no time to think about that then. I hurried to my father and
found him on the couch in his study, inert in the grip of a paralytic stroke
that had deprived him of the use of his limbs and also of coherent speech. I
spent the rest of the night trying to make him easier, but the task was
difficult. I had no one to send for a doctor and could not leave him to go
myself, and of course the nearest doctor was several miles away. There was
not even a neighbor who could be called upon for assistance.
“All that night, however, my father tried to tell me something. His
speech was almost absolutely incoherent, but several times I caught the
sound of words like ‘notebook’ and ‘explain.’ But I could make nothing of
it. In the early morning another stroke took him, and he passed away very
quietly in my arms.
“I can scarcely bear, even now, to recall the days that followed. After the
funeral, I retired very much into myself and saw almost no one. I felt cut off