something that
he valued very highly, thinking it was not worth keeping. But here's the
little case containing those almost priceless specimens he collected
abroad."

She led them to a table on which a small case rested, leaning against
the wall. Frank took one look. Apparently the sight affected him
strangely, for immediately he bent over closer as though to feast his
eyes on those costly trophies which the college professor had collected
in foreign lands.

Andy saw that his cousin was evidently having some sort of a silent
laughing fit, for he shook all over though not uttering a single sound.

"What ails you, Frank?" he whispered, taking advantage of Sallie having
to hurry out of the room, as her mother's voice was heard calling her in
the kitchen.

"I'm tickled to death to meet an old friend again, that's all," replied
Frank.

"Do you mean to tell me you've seen this wonderful collection before?"
demanded the other, like a flash, as it were.

"I most certainly do; and if you stop to think, Andy, I guess you'll say
the same; or perhaps, now, you didn't happen to examine the case as
closely as I did, that day last spring when we crossed over to Cranford,
to pick up a few rare stamps for our collection at Snyder's old curio
store."

"Why, bless me, I really believe you're right; I seem to remember seeing
it in the show window, now, when we were looking at the little baskets
of coins," Andy hastened to remark.

"There isn't the least shadow of a doubt about it," added Frank. "Some
time or other, when the notion came to this man to play the part of a
butterfly collector, which perhaps the sight of the things brought to
his mind, he just stepped into Snyder's store, and bought the old
collection. Why, it hasn't got a single specimen that you can't find a
thousand of, any day you look, through August and September."

"Right around here, you mean, Frank?"

"Right on this farm, in fact," replied the other, with a wide grin.
"Think of the nerve of this learned scientist bringing this here, and
telling that it represented the results of years of difficult research?
You don't wonder, now, that I just had to snicker, do you, Andy?"

CHAPTER XIV

A CLUE

"That looks bad, don't it Frank?" Andy went on to remark, as he first
glanced at the bogus collection of rare specimens, and then eyed his
cousin humorously.

"One thing is sure, no man would go to the trouble and expense of buying
even a dollar case o