Bridleburg, or the vicinity, while
the old doctor was alive.

Then his visits had been few and far between until, at last, coming
back a few months before, a self-confessed rich man, he had declared
his intention of settling down in the community.

But 'Phemie Bray believed that the false professor had come here to
Hillcrest for a special object. He was money-mad--his avariciousness had
been already well displayed.

She believed that there was something on Hillcrest that Jud Spink
wanted--something he could make money out of.

She was not surprised, then, to see a short iron bar in the professor's
hand. It was flattened and sharpened at one end.

By the light of the hand-lamp the man went to work on the locked desk.
It was of heavy wood--no flimsy thing like that one which he had burst
open so easily the day of the Widow Harrison's vendue.

The man inserted the sharp end of the jimmy between the lid and the upper
shelf of the desk. 'Phemie heard the woodwork crack, and this time she
did _not_ suppress a gasp.

Why! this fellow was actually breaking open the old doctor's desk. Aunt
Jane had not even sent _them_ the keys of the desk and bookcases in this
suite of rooms.

Then 'Phemie had a sudden thought. She was really afraid of the big man.
She did not know what he might do to her if he found her here spying on
his actions. And--she didn't want the lock of the old desk smashed.

She reached up softly and turned with shaking fingers the old-fashioned
wooden button that held shut the door of the case beside which she
crouched.

She remembered very clearly that it had snapped open before when she was
investigating--and with a little click. The door of this case acted almost
as though the hinges had springs coiled in them.

At once, when she released the door, it swung open--and in yawning it
_did_ make a suspicious sound.

Professor Spink started--he had been about to bear down on the bar again.
He flashed a look back over his shoulder. But the corner was shrouded in
darkness.

'Phemie sighed--this time with intent. She remembered how she had been
frightened so herself at her former visit to this office--and she believed
the marauder now before her had been partially the cause of her fright.

The jimmy dropped from Spink's hand and clattered on the floor. He wheeled
and shot the white spot of his lamp into the corner.

By great good fortune the ray of the lantern missed the girl; but it
struck into the