to the window, and hops
into bed as easy as any Christian schoolboy in town, and he thinks he's
all right--but he never thinks of Tony Smart, your humble servant."

This view of the case was perfectly convincing to Saul and also to his
wife when he repeated it at the supper-table; but it struck Maud with a
sudden chill. She remembered that when she had dismissed Offitt from
that midnight conference at her casement, he had carefully taken the
ladder away from her window, and had set it against the house some
distance off. She had admired at the time his considerate chivalry, and
thought how nice it was to have a lover so obedient and so careful of
her reputation. But now, the detective's ghastly discovery turned her
thought in a direction which appalled her. Could it be possible--and
all that money--where did it come from? As she sat with her parents in
the gathering darkness, she kept her dreadful anxiety to herself. She
had been hoping all day to see her lover--now she feared to have him
come, lest her new suspicions might be confirmed. She quickly resolved
upon one thing: she would not go away with him that night--not until
this horrible mystery was cleared up. If she was worth having she was
worth waiting for a little while.

They all three started as the door opened and Offitt came in. He wasted
no time in salutations, but said at once, "It's a funny thing, but I
have got a message for each of you. The district attorney saw me coming
up this way, Mr. Matchin, and asked me to tell you to come down as
quick as you can to his office--something very important, he said. And,
stranger than that, I met Mr. Wixham right out here by the corner, and
he asked me if I was comin' here, and if I would ask you, Mrs. Matchin,
to come right up to their house. Jurildy is sick and wants to see you,
and he has run off for the doctor."

Both the old people bustled up at this authoritative summons, and
Offitt as they went out said, "I'll stay a while and keep Miss Maud
from gettin' lonesome."

"I wish you would," said Mrs. Matchin. "The house seems creepy-like
with Sam where he is."

Maud felt her heart sink at the prospect of being left alone with the
man she had been longing all day to see. She said, "Mother, I think I
ought to go with you!"

"No, indeed," her mother replied. "You ain't wanted, and it wouldn't
be polite to Mr. Offitt."

The moment they were gone, Offitt sprang to the side of Maud, and
seized her hands.

"Now