t
be clever enough to hide the guilt that lay in his heart, and put on a
bold face.

"Remember!" was all Paul said as he squeezed Jack's quivering hand,
before jumping down the steps, boy fashion.

It was enough to encourage the sorely distressed lad, for he had the
greatest faith in Paul Morrison, the doctor's son, that any boy could
ever place in a comrade; nor had the other ever failed to equal his
expectations.

"I really believe Paul will do it," he was muttering to himself as he
slowly went upstairs again to the den, with its decorations of college
flags, and pictures of camping, canoeing, outdoor sports such as baseball
and football struggles, and kindred things so dear to the heart of almost
every growing lad; "yes, I believe he will if anybody can. But I wish he
had let me hide the rest of them away. It seems like putting temptation
in the way of a weak brother. But he told me I wasn't even to believe
Karl took the coins, and _I won't_!"

Nevertheless, Jack Stormways must have passed a miserable night; for the
anxious eyes of his mother noticed his distressed looks when he came down
to breakfast on the following morning.

"You don't look well, son," she observed, as she passed her cool hand
across his fevered brow; "I think you ought to step in and see Doctor
Morrison some time this morning, and let him give you something."

"All right, mother; but it's only a little headache," he protested, for
like all boys he disliked the thought of being considered sick.

Her eyes turned solicitously toward him many times during the meal,
for she saw that Jack was unusually dull, and took little part in the
conversation.

But it seemed that Karl made up for his brother's lack of energy, for he
was more than ordinarily inclined to be merry, and told numerous jokes he
had heard from his fellows in the boys' club he had joined.

Jack mentioned that they were about to organize a Boy Scout patrol; and
very naturally his mother looked a bit serious at this news, until he
explained some of the really excellent points connected with such an
association; when her face cleared at once.

"If that is what the movement means then the sooner a patrol is organized
in Stanhope the better. There are a lot of boys who would be vastly
benefitted by such uplifting resolutions," she declared, with some show
of enthusiasm.

"Yes, mother, you are right," said Mr. Stormways, just then. "Things have
been going from bad to worse in our