hen I come to them. Then I follow each
spoke toward the center. They'll all converge to the hub, you know, and
when I've reached the hub, with all my spokes of knowledge radiating
from it, I'm in perfect control of the whole situation."

"Oh. How far are you from the hub, Josie?"

"I'm still marking the spokes, Mary Louise."

"Are there many of them?"

"More than I suspected."

"Well, I realize, dear, that you'll tell me nothing until you are ready
to confide in me; but please remember, Josie, how impatient I am and
how I long to bring the traitors to justice."

"I won't forget, Mary Louise. We're partners in this case and perhaps I
shall ask your help, before long. Some of my spokes may be blinds and
until I know something positive there's no use in worrying you with
confidences which are merely surmises."

Soon after this conversation Mary Louise found herself, as head of the
Liberty Girls, in an embarrassing position. Professor Dyer returned
from Chicago on an evening train and early next morning was at the Shop
even before its doors were opened, impatiently awaiting the arrival of
Mary Louise.

"There has been a mistake," he said to her, hastily, as she smilingly
greeted him; "in my absence Mrs. Dyer has thoughtlessly given you some
old furniture, which I value highly. It was wife's blunder, of course,
but I want back two of the articles and I'm willing to pay your Shop as
much for them as you could get elsewhere."

"Oh, I'm awfully sorry, Professor," said the girl, really distressed,
as she unlocked the Shop door. "Come in, please. Mrs. Dyer told our
girls to go into the attic and help themselves to anything they wanted.
We've done splendidly with the old furniture, and fenders, and
brassware, but I hope the two articles you prize are still unsold. If
so, you shall not pay us for them, but we will deliver them to your
house immediately."

He did not reply, for already he was searching through the accumulation
of odds and ends with which the store-room was stocked.

"Perhaps I can help you," suggested Mary Louise.

He turned to her, seeming to hesitate.

"One was a chair; a chair with spindle legs and a high back, richly
carved. It is made of black oak, I believe."

"Oh, I remember that well," said the girl. "Mrs. Charleworth bought it
from us."

"Mrs. Charleworth? Well, perhaps she will return it to me. I know the
lady slightly and will explain that I did not wish to part with it."
Still his eye