the schoolhouse and come out ag'in----"

"He told the committee he had been there," Janice interrupted.

"That's right, too. Mebbe not so many folks would ha' knowed they'd
seen him there if he hadn't up and said so. Proberbly there was ha'f a
dozen other folks hangin' abeout the schoolhouse, too, at jest the time
the coin collection was stole; but they ain't remembered 'cause they
didn't up and tell on themselves."

"Oh, Walky!" gasped the girl, startled by the suggestion.

"Wal," drawled the expressman, in continuation, "that ain't no good to
us, for nobody had a key to the door but him and Benny Thread."

"I wonder----" murmured Janice; but said no more.

"It's a scanderlous thing," Walky pursued, receiving his book back and
preparing to join Josephus at the gate. "Goin' ter split things wide
open in Polktown, I reckon. 'Twill be wuss'n a church row 'fore it
finishes. Already there's them that says we'd oughter have another
teacher in Mr. Haley's place."

"Oh, my!" cried Aunt 'Mira.

"Ain't willin' ter give the young feller a chance't at all, heh?" said
Mr. Day, puffing hard at his pipe. "Wall! we'll see abeout _that_."

"We'd never have a better teacher, I tell 'em," Walky flung back over
his shoulder. "But Mr. Haley's drawin' a good salary and there's them
that think it oughter go ter somebody that belongs here in Polktown,
not to an outsider like him."

"Hi tunket!" cried Marty, after Walky had gone. "There ye have it.
Miss Pearly Breeze, that used ter substi-_toot_ for 'Rill Scattergood,
has wanted the school ever since Mr. Haley come. She'd do fine tryin'
to be principal of a graded school--I don't think!"

"Oh, don't talk so, I beg of you," Janice said. "Of course Nelson
won't lose his school. If he did, under these circumstances, he could
never go to Millhampton College to teach. Why! perhaps his career as a
teacher would be irrevocably ruined."

"Now, don't ye take on so, Janice," cried Aunt 'Mira, with her arm
about the girl. "It won't be like that. It _can't_ be so bad--can it,
Jason?"

"We mustn't let it go that fur," declared her spouse, fully aroused
now. "Consarn Walky Dexter, anyway! I guess, as Marty says, what he
puts in his mouth talks as well as sings for him.

"I snum!" added the farmer, shaking his head. "I dunno which is the
biggest nuisance, an ill-natered gossip or a good-natered one. Walky
claims ter feel friendly to Mr. Haley, and then comes here with all t