answer my question," said Hal, decidedly.

"Dick came home about two o'clock."

"Has he been home ever since?"

"I believe so."

"Now, Mrs. Ricket, where were you all the afternoon?"

"Me?"

"Yes."

"I hope you don't suspect me!" cried the landlady, in alarm.

"No, I do not. But please answer me."

"After dinner I cleaned all the halls from top to bottom, and then saw
to it that Katie cleaned the front stoop and the windows."

"Then you were in the halls and around the front door most of the time?"

"I was."

"Did I come in at any time during the afternoon?"

"I didn't see you?"

"Wouldn't you have seen me if I had?"

"I suppose I would," admitted the woman.

"What does all this talk amount to?" put in Ferris.

"Shut up!" cried Hal, sharply. "I am not addressing you."

He turned to Saunders.

"You hear what Mrs. Ricket says. I was not here to steal your things."

"Humph! They might have been stolen this morning!" exclaimed Ferris.

"Or last night," added Saunders. "The last I saw of the cuff-buttons was
last night, and the pocket-book yesterday noon."

"I don't see how that can be possible," replied Hal, quietly.

"It's easy enough," exclaimed Ferris. "Just because I was home during
the afternoon, and you were not, doesn't prove that you didn't take the
things."

"No, that doesn't, but something else does," replied Hal.

"What?"

"This newspaper, which was wrapped around the box."

At these words Ferris grew white, and trembled from head to foot.

"What about the paper?" asked Saunders, curiously.

"It is an afternoon paper, dated to-day. It could not possibly have been
put around the box before one o'clock this afternoon."

CHAPTER XII.

HAL IN A FEARFUL SITUATION.

Every one in the room was surprised at Hal Carson's unexpected
statement.

"Let me see the paper!" cried Saunders.

Hal handed it over, and the dry-goods clerk scanned it eagerly.

"You are right," he muttered, and shook his head.

"That can't be the same paper that was around the box," put in Dick
Ferris, very red in the face.

"It certainly is," replied Hal.

"Yes, I saw Carson pick it up from the spot where I threw it," returned
Saunders. "This puts a new face on the matter," he added, with a sharp
look at Ferris.

Mrs. Ricket also looked at her nephew.

"Dick, come here," she commanded.

"What do you want?" he demanded, doggedly.

"I want you to return Mr. Saunders' fourteen dollars."

"