ut he got it from the bank, on a forged
note.'

'Paul!' exclaimed Josephine. The lad looked again at his sister; but he
now saw through her horrified surprise; there was really no danger in
continuing this revelation; elated, he went on:

'Forged and paid! so the young fellow told me. That's not Scheffer,
understand. _He_ don't know that I have got wind of it; he thinks it is
safe with him; and you never would have known anything but for me!
August thinks too much of you, I've found that out, to tell you, or me
either, that Cromwell is a scamp.'

'What have I to do with all this, Paul?' asked his sister, with a
well-assumed indifference. She had time now to consider whether she had
not betrayed too much interest in the affairs of these young men, the
scientific forger and the man of trade.

'Why,' answered Paul, with no less composure, inwardly rejoicing in what
he considered his triumph, 'you have to make the best of it, I
suppose--satisfy mother--marry Cromwell when he comes back, rich as
Croesus, with ship-loads of treasure. That's what the handsome girls are
for, to marry off to rich men, isn't it?'

Paul had had his say, but that was his only consolation. Whatever answer
Josephine might have made was prevented by the voice of her mother
calling from the foot of the stairs. Yet he chose to consider that
sufficient confession, in regard to some of his suspicions, was given in
her words as she went down; though what she said was merely,

'Paul, if you don't join the detectives, you'll fail of your mission.'

VII.

Scheffer's uniform good luck took a sudden turn one day. The fine row of
buildings that faced the college grounds took fire one morning, and his
shop was burned with the rest. He saved but little of his stock, and it
was but recently that he had greatly added to it. His loss was a severe
one.

Toward nightfall of that day, Paul looked for Scheffer, and found him in
a room to which he had removed the remnants of his goods. He was alone
there, and trying to come to an understanding with himself, singing
meanwhile, but, it must be said, in not the most straightforward and
perfectly musical manner.

Paul came expressly deputed by his mother to bring Scheffer home to tea
with him. The news of his disaster had set August before her in a
different light from that in which he had stood in the days of his
vulgar prosperity. Calamity restored him to his place again--the son of
an old neighbor, the son o