he would unless I made a payment."

The thought made him wretched. He was unfit for study, and wanted to get
out to learn if any such report had actually been circulated.

On the reassembling of school he obtained a dismissal for the day on the
plea of feeling ill. He was ill--very ill at ease in his mind, beset as
it was with fears, and troubled over the sudden change in Nellie's
manner toward him.

On his way from school he met Tim Short. He was glad to see him, and yet
shuddered for fear he would say it was all up with them.

"What brings you here at this time?" finally asked Matthew.

"I was going up to school to see you."

"What has happened that you want to see me?" queried Matthew, dreading
the answer.

"I have been discharged."

"Is that all?" drawing a long breath of relief.

"Isn't that enough?" asked Tim indignantly.

"It might be worse; but what were you discharged for?"

"Discharged to give Fred Worthington my place, I suppose," answered Tim,
with evident ill feeling toward Fred.

"Is it possible? And has he your place?"

"Yes, he went to work this morning."

"I think you have as much cause now as I have to be down on him."

"Yes, and more too," returned Tim savagely.

"On his account we got into this trouble with Simmons, and are liable to
be exposed any day," said Matthew.

Tim turned pale. "I thought you promised to fix that," he replied.

"So I did, but I have not been able to raise the money. Now, something
has got to be done at once. Let us go up to the pines and decide what it
shall be."

Tim assented, and the two boys soon found themselves quite alone in the
thick pine grove just outside of the village.

Now the change Nellie Dutton showed toward Matthew was not caused, as he
supposed, by any disclosure from Jacob Simmons, but by the letter she
had received from Fred in the morning before going to school.

It made a deep impression upon her. She was impulsive, like nearly all
girls of her age, and did not stop to reason much about Fred's case,
especially since Matthew urged his opinions upon her with such
assurance. Her intimacy with Matthew was not from any great regard that
she had for him, but because her nature seemed to demand some favorite,
and when her friendship with Fred ceased, for reasons with which the
reader is already familiar, she accepted Matthew's attentions with a
little more than ordinary courtesy.

Now she saw she had judged Fred hastily, and the state