e Tom could see that the
color had left his face all of a sudden.

"Yes," continued Mrs. Joslyn, "Dock seems to have fallen into the habit
of staying out until midnight, with some of those young fellows who
loaf on the corners and get into every kind of mischief they can think
up."

"That's what we've been told was going on, ma'am," said Tom.

"I could hear his father scolding him furiously, while his mother was
crying, and trying to make peace. Dock was ugly, too, and for a time I
thought his father was going to throw him out of the house. But in the
end it quieted down."

"That's a new streak in Dock's father, I should say," remarked Tom.
"Time was when he used to come home himself at all hours of the night,
and in a condition that must have made his wife's heart sick."

"Yes, but you know he's turned over a new leaf, and acts as if he meant
to stick to the water wagon," Mrs. Joslyn explained. "Somehow it's made
him just the other way, very severe with Dock. I guess he's afraid now
the boy will copy his bad example, and that's peeving Mr. Phillips."

"But he let Dock stay in the house, you say?" Carl continued. "Then I
wonder why he didn't show up for orders this morning. The other boy
told my mother Dock was sick and couldn't come."

Mrs. Joslyn smiled.

"Yes, he says that," she observed. "I went over to take back a dish I
had borrowed, and he was lying on the lounge, smoking a cigarette. He
said he was real sick, but between you and me, Carl, I'm of the opinion
he's just tired of his job, and means to throw it up. He'd rather loaf
than work any day."

Carl breathed more freely. It was of course none of his business what
Dock did with himself, though he might think the other was a mean shirk
to hang around idle when his people needed every dollar they could
scrape up.

"Thank you for telling me this, Mrs. Joslyn," he said as with his chum
he prepared to take his departure; "it relieves my mind in several
ways. And please don't whisper my secret to any one. I still hope to
be able to get that paper from Dock sooner or later, if he doesn't come
to terms with Amasa Culpepper."

"I promise you faithfully Carl," the little woman told him. "I guess
I'm able to hold my tongue, even if they do say my sex never can. And
Carl, you must let me know if anything happens to alter conditions,
because I'm dreadfully interested. This is the first time in all my
life I've been connected with a secret."

"I certainly wi