e on the floor."

"If you don't mind. I am fagged out."

Bert made a pillow of his coat and trousers, and stretched himself on
the floor. He found that there was an inside bolt, with which he
fastened the door, to guard against any unexpected visit from Mr. or
Mrs. Wilson.

He fell asleep again, and was only roused by a loud voice at the foot of
the back stairs.

"Time to get up!" called the farmer.

"All right!" responded Bert in a loud tone.

Fortunately Silas Wilson did not think it necessary to come up. Had he
done so it would have been embarrassing, for Phineas was sound asleep on
the bed. Bert thought it best to rouse him before he went down stairs.

"Are you not afraid some one will come upstairs and find you here?" he
asked.

"No; mother never comes up till after she has got breakfast out of the
way and the dishes washed."

"I suppose you know best," said Bert doubtfully.

"If necessary I shall tell her who I am."

Bert went below, and sat down at the breakfast table. It was clear from
the expression on Mrs. Wilson's face that she had something on her mind.

"Silas," she said solemnly, "something mysterious has happened during
the night."

"What is it?" asked the farmer in a tone of surprise.

"We have been robbed!"

"What of?" he asked, turning pale. "Do you miss any of the spoons?"

"No."

"Or--or money?" and he pulled out his wallet hurriedly.

"No, no, it isn't that."

"What is it, then?"

"I left that pitcher half full of milk when I went to bed last night.
This morning there wasn't a drop in it, and the pantry door was open."

"Cats are fond of milk," suggested Silas, with a glance at Tabby, who
was lying near the fire-place.

"It wasn't the cat. She couldn't get her head inside the pitcher.
Besides, there are three slices of bread missing."

"Won't cats eat bread?"

"It was a two-legged cat!" replied Mrs. Wilson significantly.

Bert reddened in spite of himself, and tried to look unconscious. He saw
that Mrs. Wilson was on the point of making a discovery, and that
suspicion was likely to fall upon him. This he could clear up, but it
would be at the expense of the poor fellow who was asleep upstairs.

"But how could anybody get into the house?" asked Silas. "The doors were
locked, weren't they?"

"Yes, Silas. In forty years I have never failed to lock the door before
I went to bed."

"Then I don't see----"

"Nor I--yet!" said Mrs. Wilson significantly, and Bert though