ain, anyway: what the former craved satisfied the latter.

Women are accused of having a monopoly on intuition, but men have a
corner on "hunches." From the moment his eyes rested on three parcels
of silver where there had been four, Evan had a hunch that Penton was
the thief. The trickery of it was so in accord with the expression of
Penton's eye!

"But who has taken it?" said the manager, when the head office letter
was finished.

"Either you or I," said Evan; "no one else has been here."

Penton grinned. It mattered not what he did, appearances would remain
as they were--and that was not against the manager any more than
against the teller.

"Go home and get a sleep, old man," said Penton; "we may be able to
think the thing out to-morrow."

The tone of the manager's "old man" rang in Nelson's ears all evening.
He rebelled against Penton's insinuating manner; like the touch of his
hand it was coldly, clammily smooth.

In his room the teller sat worrying. Mrs. Terry called up to him that
he had a visitor. Evan asked her to send him up. It was Henty.

"Here's a letter for you," said the junior; "I didn't see you at the
post office and thought you would be glad to get this. The mail was
just closing when I left."

"Thanks," said Evan. "Wait till I read it; I want to tell you
something."

Henty chewed the end of a fat five-cent cigar while Evan read the
letter, which was from his mother. It read:

"Dear Evan,--We always enjoy getting your letters. They don't tell us
much about yourself, to be sure, except that you are well. That is the
main thing. Be sure and keep on your heavy underwear until the end of
April, and don't wash your hair too often. I do hope that
boarding-house of yours is good to you. I'm making a fruit cake which
we will express to you in a day or two. If you could take care of a
barrel of apples we'd be glad to send one.

"Just think, you have been away from home over two years now. Dear me,
it seems like ten. Lou is still the tantalizer she always was. Father
keeps busy and well as usual. We all look forward to having you back
at summer holidays. When do you expect to arrive? Be sure and let us
know ahead. Frankie Arling was in the other day, and asked about you.
Hoping to hear from you soon.

"MOTHER."

Nelson sighed and handed the letter over to Henty. A. P. blushed as he
read it. His red corpuscles had a habit of rushing to the surface,
like a shoal of s