, as well as shame, that struggled for the mastery in the
mind of the astonished colored woman. To learn that her little boy had
abused her confidence whenever she took him visiting her good mistress
was a shocking revelation. She also looked furiously angry, and it was
evident that the said Brutus would receive due punishment on account of
his propensity for purloining things that belonged to others, just to
add to his "collection." The thing that struck Hugh as bordering on
the comical was that even a small colored boy might have the same mania
for gathering "trophies" of his visits that possessed Madame Pangborn.
He felt that the good lady would herself be amused at the coincidence,
and be ready to forgive little Brutus.

He proceeded to show Sarah that it would be entirely unnecessary to let
any one know what had happened. There would be no exposure, and she
need not be "disgraced" in the eyes of her neighbors. Hugh would
simply return the spoons to their owner, who certainly would never hold
it against Sarah. But after that, should Brutus be invited to the old
lady's house, his actions would be carefully watched lest his
acquisitive propensities again get the better of his honesty.

Thad was highly delighted with the result of their "raid" on Brutus'
playhouse. On the way to Madame Pangborn's, he boldly accused his chum
of having set up a little game.

"Now I wouldn't be at all surprised, Hugh," he went on to say, "if you
dropped your knife in that cabin on purpose when we were looking around
this afternoon; own up and tell me if that isn't true."

"Yes, I did," admitted the other, laughingly. "Now that the thing has
turned out even better than I dared hope, I'm willing to confess that a
sudden suspicion gripped me about that time. When I saw what an
astonishing assortment of old junk that boy had collected, I knew he
had a mania for picking up things. And the idea struck me that since
he sometimes was allowed to stay for an afternoon with his mother at
Madame Pangborn's house, what if the temptation came to him to take one
of those pretty spoons to add to his assortment? Why, the more I
thought of the idea the stronger it hit me. On the impulse of the
moment I dropped my knife, so as to have a good excuse for getting out
there again, and prowling around a bit. I didn't want to mention a
thing even to you until I had proved whether there was any truth in my
new suspicion. And it turned out splendid