It was with impatience indescribable that the members of the Antiquarian Club awaited the demolition of McCorkle's stable. Now that Alexander had enlightened them as to the approaching changes in Varick Street, the girls watched with absorbing interest the slow, gradual approach of the house-wrecking throng which had sometime before invaded the upper portion of the street. For weeks they had been passing unheeded the frenzied scene of tearing down, digging up, and general destruction that had suddenly changed peaceful Varick Street into an unsightly heap of ruin and scaffolding. It had meant nothing to them, so absorbed were they in their own affairs. And now they found, quite to their amazement, that it was going to have a very direct bearing on these same affairs!

136

House by house, block by block, it drew nearer. Every day that was pleasant enough for Margaret to be out she commanded Sarah to wheel her past the work of demolition, much to Sarah's disgust, who infinitely preferred the quiet, sunny, unobstructed walks of peaceful Charlton Street. Then, before turning the corner homeward, Margaret would beg to be wheeled past McCorkle's stable, at which she would gaze hard and rapturously as long as it was in sight. This also deeply annoyed and bewildered Sarah.

"Bedad!" she would exclaim impatiently, "it does beat me what ye see in that dur-rty owld rookery! 'Tis fit only fur th' scrap-heap, and ye look at it as if it was hung wid diamonds! What's got into ye these days, Margie macushla! 'Tis that quare Corinne gur-rl that has bewitched ye!"

Margaret could easily see that Sarah was very, very jealous of her new friend, so she would say nothing, but only smile her slow, mysterious little smile. "That queer Corinne girl" had indeed bewitched her, and had137 brought into her pain-ridden, colorless existence something worth living for! But this, of course, she could not admit to Sarah.

At last, one cold, blustery afternoon, the twins burst in with the exciting information that the house-wrecking had actually commenced on their own block, up at the King Street corner. After that the interest became concentrated and intense. And by the time the little old dormer-windowed shanty on their own corner was leveled to the ground, they had reached the tiptoe of excitement.

Fully two weeks before this McCorkle's stable had been vacated and left ready for its destruction. And since then Alexander had spent much time crawling around its foundations and examining it in every nook and cranny.

When the little building next to it came down, and the day before the stable was to have its turn, the Antiquarian Club held an important meeting, called at the request of Alexander.

"This is going to be ticklish business!" he138 announced; "getting at that beam, I mean. And I ain't so sure it's going to pan out all right, either. Good thing to-morrow's Saturday, so I can be on the job all day. But I've been laying my pipes pretty slick! I've got on the soft side of a lot of those workmen, and the night-watchman loves me as if I was his little nephew Willie! It's the night-watchman I'm depending on most. He's agreed to let me in there to grub around any night I want—so long as I don't do any damage. But, see here, you kids! Don't be setting your hopes on me getting at anything to-morrow, 'cause more'n likely they won't touch the foundation before next week!"

The next day saw the demolition of McCorkle's stable. It being Saturday, the Antiquarian Club was able to be present in full force (on the opposite side of the street) to see it go. Margaret's chair was wheeled by the twins and Corinne in turn. But Alexander, across the street in the danger-zone, gyrated, imp-like, up and down the sidewalk and was twenty times ousted from imminent139 peril by the half-indignant, half-laughing workmen.

Piece by piece the boards and bricks fell, story by story the old building came down, till at last it was level with the very sidewalk, and carts began to remove the debris. Then was visible the strange thing that Alexander had long before told them about.

"See! see!" he cried, running across to them and pointing back excitedly. "There it is! Didn't I tell you so?" And looking toward the back, they could plainly discern the queer, curved outline of the old stage, with a few cracked and tarnished bits of gilt cornice still clinging to it.

"But when are they going to reach the beams underneath?" demanded Margaret, in an excited whisper.

"Not before Monday! At least, they can't get to uncovering the ones we want before then. The rest are almost bare now."

"Oh! how can we wait till Monday!" wailed Margaret.

"I gave you the tip we might have to!" admonished140 Alexander. "You're entirely too light and speedy! You ought to go into the house-wrecking business yourself—then you'd see!"

The interval between Saturday and Monday seemed simply interminable to every one of the five. On Sunday, Alexander spent much time haunting the ruins, Corinne was obliged to be in her own home, Mrs. Bronson was visiting a sick friend, and Margaret and the twins, left alone, whispered together most of the day about the impending event.

"What do you suppose we'll find in that beam?" Margaret would inquire for the hundredth time.

"Probably nothing!" Bess would reply, for she was always inclined to look on the dark side of things.

"Oh, that's not possible!" Margaret would retort. "I think it may be some important papers. I don't expect there'll be gold, or jewels, or anything of that kind. But just s............