Page:The mislaid uncle (IA mislaiduncle00raym).pdf/105

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

shut up in one woman. Yes, I see. The box is addressed exactly like the tag. Still, I do not feel I have a right to open it, for it is sealed, you see."

"That's only paper. It is to keep out the air. The air is what spoils things like violets. Please do open it, or let me. Mamma would be so dreadfully disappointed if you didn't. Why, think! We were in that terrible hurry, yet she took time to fix it. She hadn't seen you in so many years, she said, and so she must send it. Please."

"But I am not the 'you' she meant, you know, Josephine."

"Well, you're somebody, aren't you? You're my Uncle Joe, anyway, whether you're the regular one or not. Shall I?" and she held the box edgewise, ready to tear the strip of paper which fastened its edges.

"Y-es, I suppose so. It may lead to the explanation of this riddle," he assented.

As the little girl had said, there was nothing whatever in the tin box except a quantity of violets, with some of the wild blossoms that