onversation abruptly, Lawyer Griffin
rang off and hung the receiver on its hook.

"Now, we'll wait and here the other side," remarked the lawyer
grimly.

"If the other side dares make its voice heard!" laughed Cadet
Dick Prescott.

There being now no need of silence, Greg Holmes relieved himself
of some noisy enthusiasm.

CHAPTER VIII

A FATHER'S JUST WRATH STRIKES

A very few minutes later a knock sounded at the door.

Then Bert Dodge entered very abruptly, his tongue starting with
the turning off the knob.

"Well, have you seen the mucker Prescott?" called Bert airily.
"Was he scared to-----"

Here Bert caught sight of the two West Pointers and stopped short,
while his father entered behind him.

"No," broke in Holmes, dryly, "Prescott wasn't even scared silly."

"Oh, you shut up, you two!" growled Bert. "Mr. Griffin, what
are these pieces of airy nothing doing here?"

"That advice about preserving silence will very well apply to
you, also, Mr. Bert Dodge," rejoined the lawyer. "Take a seat
in the background, please. I want to talk with your father."

"What's the matters" demanded Bert, not taking a seat, but advancing
and leaning against the top of the lawyer's desk. "Has this fellow
won you over with a lot of his smooth talk?"

"Mr. Griffin I warned you that Prescott is a most accomplished liar."

Instead of flaring up at this insult, Dick merely turned to exchange
amused smiles with Holmes.

At this moment the attorney was paying no heed to Bert, but was
placing a chair courteously for the elder Dodge.

"Now, Mr. Dodge," began the lawyer, speaking rapidly and paying
heed only to the father, "I am very glad that I insisted on seeing
Mr. Prescott before going further in the case that you placed
with me. I expected only a denial. I have, instead, been astounded.
Now, listen, sir, while I tell you the all but incredible story."

Thereupon Lawyer Griffin launched into a swift narration of the
story told by Dick Prescott and Dr. Carter.

As soon as Bert Dodge began to get wind of what it was all about,
his face became ghastly.

"Stop right here, Griffin!" commanded Bert. "This is all a tissue
of lies that have been sprung upon you."

"Silence, young man!" commanded the lawyer sternly. "This talk
is between your father and myself. As for you, young man, remember
to what you have sworn, and bear in mind that the upshot of it
all for you may yet be a term of years in the peniten