pton's head again swung from side to side and again she glared at
her companion.

"It would surprise you very much if we were to meet her in town next
Saturday, wouldn't it?" he added.

"I'd be so glad I'd hug her beautiful little head off," returned Miss
Mehitable fervently.

"Do that, dear, if you must. It would be better than bringing her out
here to be a companion to mother." Miss Upton's eyes were so fiery that
Ben smothered his laugh. "I'm nearly sure that Miss Melody wouldn't suit
mother as a companion."

"I wouldn't allow her to come anywhere near you," returned Miss Upton
hotly. "I s'pose you think she didn't go to the farm. Well, I saw her go
myself with that very gawk I tripped up with my umbrella."

"Of course you did," laughed Ben; "and pretty mad he was doubtless when
she told him she hadn't got a rise out of you. Those people usually work
in pairs. We'll probably see him, too."

Miss Upton clutched the iron table in front of her and swung herself to
her feet with superhuman celerity.

"Ben Barry, you're entirely too smart for the law!" she said. "You'll
never stoop to try a case. You'll know everything beforehand. You're a
kind of a mixture of a clairvoyant and a Sherlock Holmes, you are. If
you'd seen as I did that beautiful, touchin' young face turn to stone
when that raw-boned, cross-eyed thing looked at her so--so hungry-like,
and took possession of her as though he was only goin' to wait till they
got home to eat her up--and I let 'em go!" Miss Upton reverted to her
chief woe. "I let 'em go without findin' out _where_, when in all the
world that poor child had nobody but me, a country jake she met in a
restaurant, to care whether that Carder picked her bones after he got
her to his cave."

"That what?"

"Carder, Rufus Carder. The one thing I have got is his hateful name. He
lives 'way off on a farm somewheres, but knowin' his name, a detective
ought to--"

Ben Barry leaned forward in his chair and his eyes ceased to twinkle.

"Rufus Carder? If it is the one I'm thinking of, he's one of the biggest
reprobates in the country."

"That's him," returned Miss Upton with conviction. "At first I sized him
up as just awkward and countrified; but the way he looked at the child
and the way he spoke to her showed he wa'n't any weaklin'."

"I should say not. He's as clever as they make 'em and he has piles of
money--other people's money. He can get out of the smallest loophole
known to the law. H