CHAPTER X.
THE MAN WITH THE BUNDLE.
In the harness-room above the stable sat Duncan Muir, the coachman and most important servant, with the exception of the head gardener, in Miss Merrick's establishment.

Duncan, bald-headed but with white and bushy side-whiskers, was engaged in the serious business of oiling and polishing the state harness, which had not been used for many months past.

But that did not matter.

Thursday was the day for oiling the harness, and so on Thursday he performed the task, never daring to entrust a work so important to a subordinate.
In one corner of the little room Kenneth Forbes squatted upon a bench, with an empty pine box held carelessly in his lap.

While Duncan worked the boy was busy with his pencil, but neither had spoken for at least a half hour.
Finally the aged coachman, without looking up, enquired: "What do ye think o' 'em, Kenneth lad ?" "Think o' whom, Don ?" "The young leddies." "What young ladies ?" "Miss Jane's nieces, as Oscar brought from the station yesterday." The boy looked astonished, and leaned over the box in his lap eagerly.
"Tell me, Don," he said.