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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23208-8.txt b/23208-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0745fe0 --- /dev/null +++ b/23208-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8961 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, How Janice Day Won, by Helen Beecher Long + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: How Janice Day Won + + +Author: Helen Beecher Long + + + +Release Date: October 27, 2007 [eBook #23208] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW JANICE DAY WON*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Transcriber's note: + + The book's Frontispiece was missing. There were no other + illustrations. + + + + + +HOW JANICE DAY WON + +by + +HELEN BEECHER LONG + +Author of "Janice Day the Young Homemaker," + "The Testing of Janice Day," + "The Mission of Janice Day," Etc. + +Illustrated by Corinne Turner + + + + + + + +The Goldsmith Publishing Co. +Cleveland + +Copyright, 1917, by +Sully & Kleinteich + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. TROUBLE FROM NEAR AND FAR + II. "TALKY" DEXTER, INDEED + III. "THE SEVENTH ABOMINATION" + IV. A RIFT IN THE HONEYMOON + V. "THE BLUEBIRD--FOR HAPPINESS" + VI. THE TENTACLES OF THE MONSTER + VII. SWEPT ON BY THE CURRENT + VIII. REAL TROUBLE + IX. HOW NELSON TOOK IT + X. HOW POLKTOWN TOOK IT + XI. "MEN MUST WORK WHILE WOMEN MUST WEEP" + XII. AN UNEXPECTED EMERGENCY + XIII. INTO THE LION'S DEN + XIV. A DECLARATION OF WAR + XV. AND NOW IT IS DISTANT TROUBLE + XVI. ONE MATTER COMES TO A HEAD + XVII. THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN + XVIII. HOPEWELL SELLS HIS VIOLIN + XIX. THE GOLD COIN + XX. SUSPICIONS + XXI. WHAT WAS IN THE PAPER + XXII. DEEP WATERS + XXIII. JOSEPH US COMES OUT FOR PROHIBITION + XXIV. ANOTHER GOLD PIECE + XXV. IN DOUBT + XXVI. THE TIDE TURNS + XXVII. THE TEMPEST + XXVIII. THE ENEMY RETREATS + XXIX. THE TRUTH AT LAST + XXX. MARM PARRADAY DOES HER DUTY + + + + +HOW JANICE DAY WON + + +CHAPTER I + +TROUBLE FROM NEAR AND FAR + +At the corner of High Street, where the lane led back to the stables of +the Lake View Inn, Janice Day stopped suddenly, startled by an eruption +of sound from around an elbow of the lane--a volley of voices, +cat-calls, and ear-splitting whistles which shattered Polktown's usual +afternoon somnolence. + +One youthful imitator expelled a laugh like the bleating of a goat: + +"Na-ha-ha-ha! Ho! Jim Nar-ha-nay! There's a brick in your hat!" + +Another shout of laugher and a second boy exclaimed: + +"Look out, old feller! You'll spill it!" + +All the voices seemed those of boys; but this was an hour when most of +the town lads were supposed to be under the more or less eagle eye of +Mr. Nelson Haley, the principal of the Polktown school. Janice +attended the Middletown Seminary, and this chanced to be a holiday at +that institution. She stood anxiously on the corner now to see if her +cousin, Marty, was one of this crowd of noisy fellows. + +With stumbling feet, and with the half dozen laughing, mocking boys +tailing him, a bewhiskered, rough-looking, shabby man came into sight. +His appearance on the pleasant main thoroughfare of the little lakeside +town quite spoiled the prospect. + +Before, it had been a lovely scene. Young Spring, garbed only in the +tender greens of the quickened earth and the swelling buds of maple and +lilac, had accompanied Janice Day down Hillside Avenue into High Street +from the old Day house where she lived with her Uncle Jason, her Aunt +'Mira, and Marty. All the neighbors had seen Janice and had smiled at +her; and those whose eyes were anointed by Romance saw Spring dancing +by the young girl's side. + +Her eyes sparkled; there was a rose in either cheek; her trim figure in +the brown frock, well-built walking shoes of tan, and pretty toque, was +an effective bit of life in the picture, the background of which was +the sloping street to the steamboat dock and the beautiful, blue, +dancing waters of the lake beyond. + +An intoxicated man on the streets of Polktown during the three years of +Janice Day's sojourn here was almost unknown. There had been no demand +for the sale of liquor in the town until Lem Parraday, proprietor of +the Lake View Inn, applied to the Town Council for a bar license. + +The request had been granted without much opposition. Mr. Cross Moore, +President of the Council, held a large mortgage on the Parraday +premises, and it was whispered that this fact aided in putting the +license through in so quiet a way. + +It was agreed that Polktown was growing. The "boom" had started some +months before. Already the sparkling waters of the lake were plied by +a new _Constance Colfax_, and the C. V. Railroad was rapidly completing +its branch which was to connect Polktown with the Eastern seaboard. + +Whereas in the past a half dozen traveling men might visit the town in +a week and put up at the Inn, there had been through this Winter a +considerable stream of visitors. And it was expected that the Inn, as +well as every house that took boarders in the town, would be well +patronized during the coming Summer. + +To Janice Day the Winter had been lovely. She had been very busy. +Well had she fulfilled her own tenet of "Do Something." In service she +found continued joy. Janice loved Polktown, and almost everybody in +Polktown loved her. + +At least, everybody knew her, and when these young rascals trailing the +drunken man spied the accusing countenance of Janice they fell back in +confusion. She was thankful her cousin Marty was not one of them; yet +several, she knew, belonged to the boys' club, the establishment of +which had led to the opening of Polktown's library and free +reading-room. However, the boys pursued Tim Narnay no farther. They +slunk back into the lane, and finally, with shrill whoops and laughter, +disappeared. The besotted man stood wavering on the curbstone, +undecided, it seemed, upon his future course. + +Janice would have passed on. The appearance of the fellow merely +shocked and disgusted her. Her experience of drunkenness and with +drinking people, had been very slight indeed. Gossip's tongue was busy +with the fact that several weak or reckless men now hung about the Lake +View Inn more than was good for them; and Janice saw herself that some +boys had taken to loafing here. But nobody in whom she was vitally +interested seemed in danger of acquiring the habit of using liquor just +because Lem Parraday sold it. + +The ladies of the sewing society of the Union Church missed "Marm" +Parraday's brown face and vigorous tongue. It was said that she +strongly disapproved of the change at the Inn, but Lem had overruled +her for once. + +"And, poor woman!" thought Janice now, "if she has to see such sights +as this about the Inn, I don't wonder that she is ashamed." + +The train of her thought was broken at the moment, and her footsteps +stayed. Running across the street came a tiny girl, on whose bare head +the Spring sunshine set a crown of gold. Such a wealth of tangled, +golden hair Janice had never before seen, and the flowerlike face +beneath it would have been very winsome indeed had it been clean. + +She was a neglected-looking little creature; her patched clothing +needed repatching, her face and hands were begrimed, and---- + +"Goodness only knows when there was ever a comb in that hair!" sighed +Janice. "I would dearly love to clean her up and put something decent +to wear upon her, and----" + +She did not finish her wish because of an unexpected happening. The +little girl came so blithely across the street only to run directly +into the wavering figure of the intoxicated Jim Narnay. She screamed +as Narnay seized her by one thin arm. + +"What ye got there?" he demanded, hoarsely, trying to catch the other +tiny, clenched fist. + +"Oh! don't do it! don't do it!" begged the child, trying her best to +slip away from his rough grasp. + +"Ye got money, ye little sneak!" snarled the man, and he forced the +girl's hand open with a quick wrench and seized the dime she held. + +He flung her aside as though she had been a wisp of straw, and she +would have fallen had not Janice caught her. Indignantly the older +girl faced the drunken ruffian. + +"You wicked man! How can you? Give her back that money at once! Why, +you--you ought to be arrested!" + +"Aw, g'wan!" growled the fellow. "It's my money." + +He stumbled back into the lane again--without doubt making for the rear +door of the Inn barroom from which he had just come. The child was +sobbing. + +"Wait!" exclaimed Janice, both eager and angry now. "Don't cry. I'll +get your ten cents back. I'll go right in and tell Mr. Parraday and +he'll make him give it up. At any rate he won't give him a drink for +it." + +The child caught Janice's skirt with one grimy hand. "Don't--don't do +that, Miss," she said, soberly. + +"Why not?" + +"'Twon't do no good. Pop's all right when he's sober, and he'll be +sorry for this. I oughter kep' my eyes open. Ma told me to. I could +easy ha' dodged him if I'd been thinkin'. But--but that's all ma had +in the house and she needed the meal." + +"He--he is your father?" gasped Janice. + +"Oh, yes. I'm Sophie Narnay. That's pop. And he's all right when +he's sober," repeated the child. + +Janice Day's indignation evaporated. Now she could feel only sympathy +for the little creature that was forced to acknowledge such a man for a +parent. + +"Ma's goin' to be near 'bout distracted," Sophie pursued, shaking her +tangled head. "That's the only dime she had." + +"Never mind," gasped Janice, feeling the tears very near to the +surface. "I'll let you have the dime you need. Is--is your papa +always like that?" + +"Oh, no! Oh, no! He works in the woods sometimes. But since the +tavern's been open he's been drinkin' more. Ma says she hopes it'll +burn down," added Sophie, with perfect seriousness. + +Suddenly Janice felt that she could echo that desire herself. +Ethically two wrongs do not make a right; but it is human nature to see +the direct way to the end and wish for it, not always regarding ethical +considerations. Janice became at that moment converted to the cause of +making Polktown a dry spot again on the State map. + +"My dear!" she said, with her arm about the tangle-haired little +Sophie, "I am sorry for--for your father. Maybe we can all help him to +stop drinking. I--I hope he doesn't abuse you." + +"He's awful good when he's sober," repeated the little thing, +wistfully. "But he ain't been sober much lately." + +"How many are there of you, Sophie?" + +"There's ma and me and Johnny and Eddie and the baby. We ain't named +the baby. Ma says she ain't sure we'll raise her and 'twould be no use +namin' her if she ain't going to be raised, would it?" + +"No-o--perhaps not," admitted Janice, rather startled by this +philosophy. "Don't you have the doctor for her?" + +"Once. But it costs money. And ma's so busy she can't drag clean up +the hill to Doc Poole's office very often. And then--well, there ain't +been much money since pop come out of the woods this Spring." + +Her old-fashioned talk gave Janice a pretty clear insight into the +condition of affairs at the Narnay house. She asked the child where +she lived and learned the locality (down near the shore of Pine Cove) +and how to get to it. She made a mental note of this for a future +visit to the place. + +"Here's another dime, Sophie," she said, finding the cleanest spot on +the little girl's cheek to kiss. "Your father's out of sight now, and +you can run along to the store and get the meal." + +"You're a good 'un, Miss," declared Sophie, nodding. "Come and see the +baby. She's awful pretty, but ma says she's rickety. Good-bye." + +The little girl was away like the wind, her broken shoes clattering +over the flagstones. Janice looked after her and sighed. There seemed +a sudden weight pressing upon her mind. The sunshine was dimmed; the +sweet odors of Spring lost their spice in her nostrils. Instead of +strolling down to the dock as she had intended, she turned about and, +with lagging step, took her homeward way. + +The sight of this child's trouble, the thought of Narnay's weakness and +what it meant to his unfortunate family, brought to mind with crushing +force Janice's own trouble. And this personal trouble was from afar. + +Amid the kaleidoscopic changes in Mexican affairs, Janice's father had +been laboring for three years and more to hold together the mining +properties conceded to him and his fellow-stockholders by the +administration of Porfirio Diaz. In the battle-ridden State of +Chihuahua Mr. Broxton Day was held a virtual prisoner, by first one +warring faction and then another. + +At one time, being friendly with a certain chief of the belligerents, +Mr. Day had taken out ore and had had the mine in good running +condition. Some money had flowed into the coffers of the mining +company. Janice benefited in a way during this season of plenty. + +Now, of late, the Yaquis had swept down from the mountains, Mr. Day's +laborers had run away, and his own life was placed in peril again. He +wrote little about his troubles to his daughter, living so far away in +the Vermont village, but his bare mention of conditions was sufficient +to spur Janice's imagination. She was anxious in the extreme. + +"If Daddy would only come home on a visit as he had expected to this +Spring!" was the longing thought now in her mind. "Oh, dear me! What +matter if the season does change? It won't bring him back to me. +I'd--I'd sell my darling car and take the money and run away to him if +I dared!" + +This was a desperate thought indeed, for the Kremlin automobile her +father had bought Janice the year before remained the apple of her eye. +That very morning Marty had rolled it out of the garage he and his +father had built for it, and started to overhaul it for his cousin. +Marty had become something of a mechanic since the arrival of the +Kremlin at the Day place. + +The roads were fast drying up, and Marty promised that the car would +soon be in order. But the thought now served to inspire no +anticipation of pleasure in Janice's troubled mind. + +She passed Major Price just at the foot of Hillside Avenue. The major +was Polktown's moneyed man--really the magnate of the village. His was +the largest house on the hill--a broad, high-pillared colonial mansion +with a great, shaded, sloping lawn in front. An important looking +house was the major's and the major was important looking, too. + +But Janice noted more particularly than ever before that there were +many purple veins distinctly lined upon the major's nose and cheeks and +that his eyes were moist and wavering in their glance. He used a cane +with a flourish; but his legs had an unsteadiness that a cane could not +correct. + +"Good day! Good day, Miss Janice! Happy to see you! Fine Spring +weather--yes, yes," he said, with great cordiality, removing his silk +hat. "Charming weather, indeed. It has tempted me out for a +walk--yes, yes!" and he rolled by, swinging his cane and bobbing his +head. + +Janice knew that nowadays the major's walks always led him to the Lake +View Inn. Mrs. Price and Maggie did their best to hide the major's +missteps, but the children on the streets, seeing the local magnate +making heavy work of his journey back up the hill, would giggle and +follow on behind, an amused audience. This was another victim of the +change in Polktown's temperance situation. + +Poor Major Price---- + +"Hi, Janice! Did you notice the 'still' the major's got on?" called +the cheerful voice of Marty, her cousin. "He's got more than he can +carry comfortably already; Walky Dexter will be taking him home again. +He did the other night." + +"No, Marty! did he?" cried the troubled girl. + +"Sure," chuckled Marty. "Walky says he thinks some of giving up the +express business and buyin' himself a hack. Some of these old soaks +around town will be glad to ride home under cover after a session at +Lem Parraday's place. Think of Walky as a 'nighthawk'!" and Marty, who +was a short, freckled-faced boy several years his cousin's junior, went +off into a spasm of laughter. + +"Don't, Marty!" cried Janice, in horror. "Don't talk so lightly about +it! Why, it is dreadful!" + +"What's dreadful? Walky getting a hack?" + +"Be serious," commanded his cousin, who really had gained a great deal +of influence over the thoughtless Marty during the time she had lived +in Polktown. "Oh, Marty! I've just seen such a dreadful thing!" + +"Hullo! What's that?" he asked, eyeing her curiously and ceasing his +laughter. He knew now that she was in earnest. + +"That horrid old Jim Narnay--you know him?" + +"Sure," agreed Marty, beginning to grin faintly again. + +"He was intoxicated--really staggering drunk. And he came out of the +back door of the Inn, and some boys chased him out on to the street, +hooting after him. Perry Grimes and Sim Howell and some others. Old +enough to know better----" + +"He, he!" chuckled Marty, exploding with laughter again. "Old Narnay's +great fun. One of the fellows the other day told him there was a brick +in his hat, and he took the old thing off to look into it to see if it +was true. Then he stood there and lectured us about being truthful. +He, he!" + +"Oh, Marty!" ejaculated Janice, in horror. "You never! You don't! +You _can't_ be so mean!" + +"Hi tunket!" exploded the boy. "What's the matter with you? What d'ye +mean? 'I never, I don't, I can't'! What sort of talk is that?" + +"There's nothing funny about it," his cousin said sternly. "I want to +know if _you_ would mock at that poor man on the street?" + +"At Narnay?" + +"Yes." + +"Why not?" demanded Marty. "He's only an old drunk. And he is great +fun." + +"He--he is disgusting! He is horrid!" cried the girl earnestly. "He +is an awful, ruffianly creature, but he's nothing to laugh at. Listen, +Marty!" and vividly, with all the considerable descriptive powers that +she possessed, the girl repeated what had occurred when little Sophie +Narnay had run into her drunken parent on the street. + +Marty was a boy, and not a thoughtful boy at all; but, as he listened, +the grin disappeared from his face and he did not look like laughing. + +"Whew! The mean scamp!" was his comment. "Poor kid! Do you s'pose he +hurts her?" + +"He hurts her--and her mother--and the two little boys--and that +unnamed baby--whenever he takes money to spend for drink. It doesn't +particularly matter whether he beats her. I don't think he does that, +or the child would not love him and make excuses for him. But tell me, +Marty Day! Is there anything funny in a man like that?" + +"Whew!" admitted the boy. "It does look different when you think of it +that way. But some of these fellers that crook their elbows certainly +do funny stunts when they've had a few!" + +"Marty Day!" cried Janice, clasping her hands, "I didn't notice it +before. But you even _talk_ differently from the way you used to. +Since the bar at the Inn has been open I believe you boys have got hold +of an entirely new brand of slang." + +"Huh?" said Marty. + +"Why, it is awful! I had been thinking that Mr. Parraday's license +only made a difference to himself and poor Marm Parraday and his +customers. But that is not so. Everybody in Polktown is affected by +the change. I am going to talk to Mr. Meddlar about it, or to Elder +Concannon. Something ought to be done." + +"Hi tunket! There ye go!" chuckled Marty. "More _do something_ +business. You'd better begin with Walky." + +"Begin what with Walky?" + +"Your temperance campaign, if that's what you mean," said the boy, more +soberly. + +"Not Walky Dexter!" exclaimed Janice, amazed. "You don't mean the +liquor selling has done him harm?" + +"Well," Marty said slowly, "Walky takes a drink now and then. +Sometimes the drummers he hauls trunks and sample-cases for give him a +drink. As long as he couldn't get it in town, Walky never bothered +with the stuff much. But he was a little elevated Saturday +night--that's right." + +"Oh!" gasped Janice, for the town expressman was one of her oldest +friends in Polktown, and a man in whom she took a deep interest. + +A slow grin dawned again on Marty's freckled countenance. "Ye ought to +hear him when he's had a drink or two. You called him 'Talkworthy' +Dexter; and he sure is some talky when he's been imbibing." + +"Oh, Marty, that's dreadful!" and Janice sighed. "It's just wicked! +Polktown's been a sleepy place, but it's never been wicked before." + +Her cousin looked at her admiringly. "Hi jinks, Janice! I bet you got +it in your mind to stir things up again. I can see it in your eyes. +You give Polktown its first clean-up day, and you've shook up the dry +bones in general all over the shop. There's going to be _something +doing_, I reckon, that'll make 'em all set up and take notice." + +"You talk as though I were one of these awful female reformers the +funny papers tell about," Janice said, with a little laugh. "You see +nothing in my eyes, Marty, unless it's tears for poor little Sophie +Narnay." + +The cousins arrived at the old Day house and entered the grass-grown +yard. It was an old-fashioned, homely place, a rambling farmhouse up +to which the village had climbed. There was plenty of shade, lush +grass beneath the trees, with crocuses and other Spring flowers peeping +from the beds about the front porch, and sweet peas already breaking +the soil at the side porch and pump-bench. + +A smiling, cushiony woman met Janice at the door, while Marty went +whistling barnward, having the chores to do. Aunt 'Mira nowadays +usually had a smile for everybody, but for Janice always. + +"Your uncle's home, Janice," she said, "and he brought the mail." + +"Oh!" cried the girl, with a quick intake of breath. "A letter from +daddy?" + +"Wal--I dunno," said the fleshy woman. "I reckon it must be. Yet it +don't look just like Brocky Day's hand of write. See--here 'tis. It's +from Mexico, anyway." + +The girl seized the letter with a gasp. "It--it's the same stationery +he uses," she said, with a note of thankfulness. "I--I guess it's all +right. I'll run right up and read it." + +She flew upstairs to her little room--her room that looked out upon the +beautiful lake. She could never bring herself to read over a letter +from her father first in the presence of the rest of the family. She +sat down without removing her hat and gloves, pulled a tiny hairpin +from the wavy lock above her ear and slit the thin, rice-paper +envelope. Two enclosures were shaken out into her lap. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"TALKY" DEXTER, INDEED! + +The moments of suspense were hard to bear. There was always a +fluttering at Janice's heart when she received a letter from her +father. She always dreamed of him as a mariner skirting the coasts of +Uncertainty. There was no telling, as Aunt 'Mira often said, what was +going to happen to Broxton Day next. + +First of all, on this occasion, the young girl saw that the most +important enclosure was the usual fat letter addressed to her in +daddy's hand. With it was a thin, oblong card, on which, in minute and +very exact script, was written this flowery note: + + +"With respect I, whom you know not, venture to address you humbly, and +in view of the situation of your honorable father, the Seņor B Day, beg +to make known to you that the military authorities now in power in this +district have refused him the privilege of sending or receiving mail. +Yet, fear not, sweet Seņorita; while the undersigned retains the boon +of breath and the power of brain and arm, thy letters, if addressed in +my care, shall reach none but thy father's eye, and his to thee shall +be safely consigned to the government mails beyond the Rio Grande. + +"Faithfully thine, + + "JUAN DICAMPA." + + +Who the writer of this peculiar communication was, Janice had no means +of knowing. In the letter from her father which she immediately +opened, there was no mention of Juan Dicampa. + +Mr. Day did say, however, that he seemed to have incurred the +particular enmity of the Zapatist chief then at the head of the +district because he was not prepared to bribe him personally and engage +his ragged and barefoot soldiery to work in the mine. + +He did not say that his own situation was at all changed. Rather, he +joked about the half-breeds and the pure-blood Yaquis then in power +about the mine. Either Mr. Broxton Day had become careless because of +continued peril, or he really considered these Indians less to be +feared than the brigands who had previously overrun this part of +Chihuahua. + +However, it was good to hear from daddy and to know that--up to the +time the letter was written, at least--he was all right. She went down +to supper with some cheerfulness, and took the letter to read aloud, by +snatches, during the meal. + +A letter from Mexico was always an event in the Day household. Marty +was openly desirous of emulating "Uncle Brocky" and getting out of +Polktown--no matter where or how. Aunt 'Mira was inclined to wonder +how the ladies of Mexico dressed and deported themselves. Uncle Jason +observed: + +"I've allus maintained that Broxton Day is a stubborn and foolish +feller. Why! see the strain he's been under these years since he went +down to that forsaken country. An' what for?" + +"To make a fortune, Dad," interposed Marty. "Hi tunket! Wisht I was +in his shoes." + +"Money ain't ev'rything," said Uncle Jason, succinctly. + +"Well, it's a hull lot," proclaimed the son. + +"I reckon that's so, Jason," Aunt Almira agreed. "It's his money +makin' that leaves Janice so comfterble here. And her automobile----" + +"Oh, shucks! Is money wuth life?" demanded Mr. Day. "What good will +money be to him if he's stood up against one o' them dough walls and +shot at by a lot of slantindicular-eyed heathen?" + +"Hoo!" shouted Marty. "The Mexicans ain't slant-eyed like Chinamen and +Japs." + +"And they ain't heathen," added Aunt Almira. "They don't bow down to +figgers of wood and stone." + +"Besides, Uncle," put in Janice, softly, and with a smile, "it is +_adobe_ not _dough_ they build their houses of." + +"Huh!" snorted Uncle Jason. "Don't keer a continental. He's one +foolish man. He'd better throw up the whole business, come back here +to Polktown, and I'll let him have a piece of the old farm to till." + +"Oh! that would be lovely, Uncle Jason!" cried Janice, clasping her +hands. "If he only _could_ retire to dear Polktown for the rest of his +life and we could live together in peace." + +"Hi tunket!" exclaimed Marty, pushing back his chair from the supper +table just as the outer door opened. "He kin have _my_ share of the +old farm," for Marty had taken a mighty dislike to farming and had long +before this stated his desire to be a civil engineer. + +"At it ag'in, air ye, Marty?" drawled a voice from the doorway. "If +repetition of what ye want makes detarmination, Mart, then you air the +most detarmined man since Lot's wife--and she was a woman, er-haw! haw! +haw!" + +"Come in, Walky," said Uncle Jason, greeting the broad and ruddy face +of his neighbor with a brisk nod. + +"Set up and have a bite," was Aunt 'Mira's hospitable addition. + +"No, no! I had a snack down to the tavern, Marthy's gone to see her +folks terday and I didn't 'spect no supper to hum. I'm what ye call a +grass-widderer. Haw! haw! haw!" explained the local expressman. + +Walky's voice seemed louder than usual, his face was more beaming, and +he was more prone to laugh at his own jokes. Janice and Marty +exchanged glances as the expressman came in and took a chair that +creaked under his weight. The girl, remembering what her cousin had +said about the visitor, wondered if it were possible that Walky had +been drinking and now showed the effects of it. + +It was true, as Janice had once said--the expressman should have been +named "Talkworthy" rather than "Walkworthy" Dexter. To-night he seemed +much more talkative than usual. + +"What were all you younkers out o' school so early for, Marty?" he +asked. "Ain't been an eperdemic o' smallpox broke out, has there?" + +"Teachers' meeting," said Marty. "The Superintendent of Schools came +over and they say we're going to have fortnightly lectures on Friday +afternoons--mebbe illustrated ones. Crackey! it don't matter what they +have," declared this careless boy, "as long as 'tain't lessons." + +"Lectures?" repeated Walky. "Do tell! What sort of lectures?" + +"I heard Mr. Haley say the first one would proberbly be illustrated by +a collection of rare coins some rich feller's lent the State School +Board. He says the coins are worth thousands of dollars." + +"Lectures on coins?" cackled Walky. "I could give ye a lecture on +ev'ry dollar me and Josephus ever airned! Haw! haw! haw!" + +Walky rolled in his chair in delight at his own wit. Uncle Jason was +watching him with some curiosity as he filled and lit his pipe. + +"Walky," he drawled, "what was the very hardest dollar you ever airned? +It strikes me that you allus have picked the softest jobs, arter all." + +"Me? Soft jobs?" demanded Walkworthy, with some indignation. "Ye +oughter try liftin' some o' them drummers' sample-cases that I hatter +wrastle with. Wal!" Then his face began to broaden and his eyes to +twinkle. "Arter all, it was a soft job that I airned my hardest dollar +by, for a fac'." + +"Let's have it, Walky," urged Marty. "Get it out of your system. +You'll feel better for it." + +"Why, ter tell the truth," grinned Walky, "it was a soft job, for I +carried five pounds of feathers in a bolster twelve miles to old Miz' +Kittridge one Winter day when I was a boy. I got a dollar for it and +come as nigh bein' froze ter death as ever a boy did and save his +bacon." + +"Do tell us about it, Walky," said Janice, who was wiping the supper +dishes for her aunt. + +"I should say it was a soft job--five pounds of feathers!" burst out +Marty. + +"How fur did you haf to travel, Walky?" asked Aunt 'Mira. + +"Twelve mile over the snow and ice, me without snowshoes and it thirty +below zero. Yes, sir!" went on Walky, beginning to stuff the tobacco +into his own pipe from Mr. Day's proffered sack. "That was some job! +Miz Bob Kittridge, the old lady's darter-in-law, give me the dollar +_and_ the job; and I done it. + +"The old lady lived over behind this here very mountain, all alone on +the Kittridge farm. The tracks was jest natcherly blowed over and hid +under more snow than ye ever see in a Winter nowadays. I believe there +was five foot on a level in the woods. + +"There'd been a rain; then she'd froze up ag'in," pursued Walky. "It +put a crust on the snow, but I had no idee it had made the ice rotten. +And with Mr. Mercury creepin' down to thirty below--jefers-pelters! +I'd no idee Mink Creek had open air-holes in it. I ain't never +understood it to this day. + +"Wal, sir! ye know where Mink Creek crosses the road to Kittridge's, +Jason?" + +Mr. Day nodded. "I know the place, Walky," he agreed. + +"That's where it happened," said Walky Dexter, nodding his head many +times. "I was crossin' the stream, thinkin' nothin' could happen, and +'twas jest at sunup. I'd come six mile, and was jest ha'f way to the +farm. I kerried that piller-case over my shoulder, and slung from the +other shoulder was a gun, and I had a hatchet in my belt. + +"Jefers-pelters! All of a suddint I slumped down, right through the +snow-crust, and douced up ter my middle inter the coldest water I ever +felt I did, for a fac'! + +"I sprung out o' that right pert, ye kin believe; and then the next +step I went down ker-chug! ag'in--this time up ter my armpits." + +"Crackey!" exclaimed Marty. "That was some slip. What did you do?" + +"I got out o' that hole purty careful, now I tell ye; but I left my cap +floatin' on the open pool o' water," the expressman said. "Why, I was +a cake of ice in two minutes--and six miles from anywhere, whichever +way I turned." + +"Oh, Walky!" ejaculated Janice, interested. "What ever did you do?" + +"Wal, I had either to keep on or go back. Didn't much matter which. +And in them days I hated ter gin up when I'd started a thing. But I +had ter git that cap first of all. I couldn't afford ter lose it +nohow. And another thing, I'd a froze my ears if I hadn't got it. + +"So I goes back to the bank of the crick and cut me a pole. Then I +fished out the cap, wrung it out as good as I could, and clapped it on +my head. Before I'd clumb the crick bank ag'in that cap was as stiff +as one o' them tin helmets ye read about them knights wearin' in the +middle ages--er-haw! haw! haw! + +"I had ter laig it then, believe me!" pursued the expressman. "Was +cased in ice right from my head ter my heels. Could git erlong jest +erbout as graceful as one of these here cigar-store Injuns--er-haw! +haw! haw! + +"I dunno how I made it ter Ma'am Kittridge's--but I done it! The old +lady seen the plight I was in, and she made me sit down by the kitchen +fire just like I was. Wouldn't let me take off a thing. + +"She het up some kinder hot tea--like ter burnt all the skin off my +tongue and throat, I swow!" pursued Walky. "Must ha' drunk two quarts +of it, an' gradually it begun ter thaw me out from the inside. That's +how I saved my feet--sure's you air born! + +"When I come inter her kitchen I clumped in with feet's big as an +elephant's an' no more feelin' in them than as though they'd been boxes +and not feet. If I'd peeled off that ice and them boots, the feet +would ha' come with 'em. But the old lady knowed what ter do, for a +fac'. + +"Hardest dollar ever I airned," repeated Walky, shaking his head, "and +jest carryin' a mess of goose feathers---- + +"Hullo! who's this here comin' aboard?" + +Janice had run to answer a knock at the side door. Aunt 'Mira came +more slowly with the sitting room lamp which she had lighted. + +"Well, Janice Day! Air ye all deef here?" exclaimed a high and rather +querulous voice. + +"Do come in, Mrs. Scattergood," cried the girl. + +"I declare, Miz Scattergood," said Aunt 'Mira, with interest, "you here +at this time o' night? I am glad to see ye." + +"Guess ye air some surprised," said the snappy, birdlike old woman whom +Janice ushered into the sitting room. "I only got back from Skunk's +Holler, where I been visitin', this very day. And what d'ye s'pose I +found when I went into Hopewell Drugg's?" + +"Goodness!" said Aunt 'Mira. "They ain't none o' them sick, be they?" + +"Sick enough, I guess," exclaimed Mrs. Scattergood, nodding her head +vigorously: "Leastways, 'Rill oughter be. I told her so! I was +faithful in season, and outer season, warnin' her what would happen if +she married that Drugg." + +"Oh, Mrs. Scattergood! What has happened?" cried Janice, earnestly. + +"What's happened to Hopewell?" added Aunt 'Mira. + +"Enough, I should say! He's out carousin' with that fiddle of +his'n--down ter Lem Parraday's tavern this very night with some wild +gang of fellers, and my 'Rill hum with that child o' his'n. And what +d'ye think?" demanded Mrs. Scattergood, still excitedly. "What d'ye +think's happened ter that Lottie Drugg?" + +"Oh, my, Mrs. Scattergood! What _has_ happened to poor little Lottie?" +Janice cried. + +"Why," said 'Rill Drugg's mother, lowering her voice a little and +moderating her asperity. "The poor little thing's goin' blind again, I +do believe!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +"THE SEVENTH ABOMINATION" + +Sorrowful as Janice Day was because of the report upon little Lottie +Drugg's affliction, she was equally troubled regarding the storekeeper +himself. Janice had a deep interest in both Mr. Drugg and 'Rill +Scattergood--"that was," to use a provincialism. The girl really felt +as though she had helped more than a little to bring the storekeeper +and the old-maid school-teacher together after so many years of +misunderstanding. + +It goes without saying that Mrs. Scattergood had given no aid in making +the match. Indeed, as could be gathered from what she said now, the +birdlike woman had heartily disapproved of her daughter's marrying the +widowed storekeeper. + +"Yes," she repeated; "there I found poor, foolish 'Rill--her own eyes +as red as a lizard's--bathing that child's eyes. I never did believe +them Boston doctors could cure her. Yeou jest wasted your money, +Janice Day, when you put up fer the operation, and I knowed it at the +time." + +"Oh, I hope not, Mrs. Scattergood!" Janice replied. "Not that I care +about the money; but I do, _do_ hope that little Lottie will keep her +sight. The poor, dear little thing!" + +"What's the matter with Lottie Drugg?" demanded Marty, from the +doorway. Walky Dexter had started homeward, and Marty and Mr. Day +joined the women folk in the sitting room. + +"Oh, Marty!" Janice exclaimed, "Mrs. Scattergood says there is danger +of the poor child's losing her sight again." + +"And that ain't the wust of it," went on Mrs. Scattergood, bridling. +"My darter is an unfortunate woman. I knowed how 'twould be when she +married that no-account Drugg. He sartainly was one 'drug on the +market,' if ever there was one! Always a-dreamin' an' never +accomplishin' anything. + +"Now Lem Parraday's opened that bar of his'n--an' he'd oughter be +tarred an' feathered for doin' of it--I 'spect Hopewell will be hangin' +about there most of his time like the rest o' the ne'er-do-well male +critters of this town, an' a-lettin' of what little business he's got +go to pot." + +"Oh, Miz Scattergood," said Aunt 'Mira comfortably, "I wouldn't give +way ter sech forebodin's. Hopewell is rather better than the ordinary +run of men, I allow." + +Uncle Jason chuckled. "It never struck me," he said, "that Hopewell +was one o' the carousin' kind. I'd about as soon expec' Mr. Middler to +cut up sech didoes as Hope Drugg." + +Mrs. Scattergood flushed and her eyes snapped. If she was birdlike, +she could peck like a bird, and her bill was sharp. + +"I reckon there ain't none of you men any too good," she said; +"minister, an' all of ye. Oh! I know enough about _men_, I sh'd hope! +I hearn a lady speak at the Skunk's Holler schoolhouse when I was there +at my darter-in-law's last week. She was one o' them suffragettes ye +hear about, and she knowed all about men and their doin's. + +"I wouldn't trust none o' ye farther than I could sling an elephant by +his tail! As for Hopewell Drugg--he never was no good, and he never +will be wuth ha'f as much again!" + +"Well, well, well," chuckled Uncle Jason, easily. "How did this here +sufferin-yet l'arn so much about the tribes o' men? I 'spect she was a +spinster lady?" + +"She was a Miss Pogannis," was the tart reply. + +"Ya-as," drawled Mr. Day. "It's them that's never summered and +wintered a man that 'pears ter know the most about 'em. Ev'ry old maid +in the world knows more about bringin' up children than the wimmen +that's had a dozen." + +"Oh, yeou needn't think she didn't know what she was talkin' abeout!" +cried Mrs. Scattergood, tossing her head. "She culled her examples +from hist'ry, as well as modern times. Look at Abraham, Isaac, and +Jacob! All them men kep' their wimmen in bondage. + +"D'yeou s'pose Sarah wanted to go trapesing all over the airth, ev'ry +time Abraham wanted ter change his habitation?" demanded the +argumentative suffragist. "Of course, he always said God told him to +move, not the landlord. But, my soul! a man will say anything. + +"An' see how Jacob treated Rachel----" + +"Great Scott!" ejaculated Uncle Jason, letting his pipe go out. "I +thought Jacob was a fav'rite hero of you wimmen folks. Didn't he +sarve--how many was it?--fourteen year, for Rachel?" + +"Bah!" exclaimed the old lady. "I 'spect she wished he'd sarved +fourteen year _more_, when she seen the big family she had to wash and +mend for. Don't talk to me! Wimmen's never had their rights in this +world yet, but they're goin' to get 'em now." + +Here Aunt 'Mira broke in to change the topic of conversation to one +less perilous: "I never did hear tell that Hopewell Drugg drank a drop. +It's a pity if he's took it up so late in life--and him jest married." + +"Wal! I jest tell ye what I know. There's my 'Rill cryin' her eyes +out an' she confessed that Drugg had gone down to the tavern to fiddle, +and that he'd been there before. She has to wait on store evenin's, as +well as take care of that young one, while he's out carousin'." + +"Carousin'! Gosh!" exploded Marty, suddenly. "I know what it is. +There's a bunch of fellers from Middletown way comin' over to-night +with their girls to hold a dance. I heard about it. Hopewell's goin' +to play the fiddle for them to dance by. Tell you, the Inn's gettin' +to be a gay place." + +"It's disgustin whatever it is!" cried Mrs. Scattergood, rather taken +aback by Marty's information, yet still clinging to her own opinion. +It was not Mrs. Scattergood's nature to scatter good--quite the +opposite. "An' no married man should attend sech didoes. Like enough +he _will_ drink with the rest of 'em. Oh, 'Rill will be sick enough of +her job before she's through with it, yeou mark my words." + +"Oh, Mrs. Scattergood," Janice said pleadingly, "I hope you are wrong. +I would not want to see Miss 'Rill unhappy." + +"She's made her bed--let her lie in it," said the disapproving mother, +gloomily. "I warned her." + +Later, both Janice and Marty went with Mrs. Scattergood to see her +safely home. She lived in the half of a tiny cottage on High Street +above the side street on which Hopewell Drugg had his store. Had it +not been so late, Janice would have insisted upon going around to see +"Miss 'Rill," as all her friends still called, the ex-school teacher, +though she was married. + +As they were bidding their caller good night at her gate, a figure +coming up the hill staggered into the radiance of the street light on +the corner. Janice gasped. Mrs. Scattergood ejaculated: + +"What did I tell ye?" + +Marty emitted a shrill whistle of surprise. + +"What d'ye know about _that_?" he added, in a low voice. + +There was no mistaking the figure which turned the corner toward +Hopewell Drugg's store. It was the proprietor of the store himself, +with his fiddle in its green baize bag tightly tucked under his arm; +but his feet certainly were unsteady, and his head hung upon his breast. + +They saw him disappear into the darkness of the side street. Janice +Day put her hand to her throat; it seemed to her as though the pulse +beating there would choke her. + +"What did I tell ye? What did I tell ye?" cried the shrill voice of +Mrs. Scattergood. "_Now_ ye'll believe what I say, I hope! The +disgraceful critter! My poor, poor 'Rill! I knew how 'twould be if +she married that man." + +It chanced that Janice Day's Bible opened that night to the sixth of +Proverbs and she read before going to bed these verses: + + +"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination +unto him. + +"A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. + +"An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in +running to mischief. + +"A false witness that speaketh lies, _and he that soweth discord among +brethren_." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A RIFT IN THE HONEYMOON + +Janice could not call at the little grocery on the side street until +Friday afternoon when she returned from Middletown for over Sunday. +While the roads were so bad that she could not use her car in which to +run back and forth to the seminary she boarded during the school days +near the seminary. + +But 'Rill Drugg and little Lottie were continually in her mind. From +Walky Dexter, with whom she rode home to Polktown on Friday, she gained +some information that she would have been glad not to hear. + +"Talk abeout the 'woman with the sarpint tongue,'" chuckled Walky. "We +sartain sure have our share of she in Polktown." + +"What is the matter now, Walky?" asked Janice, gaily, not suspecting +what was coming. "Has somebody got ahead of you in circulating a +particularly juicy bit of gossip?" + +"Huh!" snorted the expressman. "I gotter take a back seat, _I_ have. +Did ye hear 'bout Hopewell Drugg gittin' drunk, an' beatin' his wife, +an' I dunno but they say by this time that it's his fault lettle +Lottie's goin' blind again----" + +"Oh, Walky! it can't be true!" gasped the girl, horrified. + +"What can't? That them old hens is sayin' sech things?" demanded the +driver. + +"That Lottie is truly going blind?" + +"Dunno. She's in a bad way. Hopewell wants to send her back to Boston +as quick's he can. I know that. And them sayin' that he's turned +inter a reg'lar old drunk, an' sich." + +"What do you mean, Walky?" asked Janice, seriously. "You cannot be in +earnest. Surely people do not say such dreadful things about Mr. +Drugg?" + +"Fact. They got poor old Hopewell on the dissectin' table, and the way +them wimmen cut him up is a caution to cats!" + +"What women, Walky?" + +"His blessed mother-in-law, for one. And most of the Ladies Aid is +a-follerin' of her example. They air sayin' he's nex' door to a ditch +drunkard." + +"Why, Walky Dexter! nobody would really believe such talk about Mr. +Drugg," Janice declared. + +"Ye wouldn't think so, would ye? We've all knowed Hopewell Drugg for +years an' years, and he's allus seemed the mildest-mannered pirate that +ever cut off a yard of turkey-red. But now--Jefers-pelters! ye oughter +hear 'em! He gits drunk, beats 'Rill Scattergood, _that was_, and +otherwise behaves himself like a hardened old villain." + +"Oh, Walky! I would not believe such things about Mr. Drugg--not if he +told them to me himself!" exclaimed Janice. + +"An' I reckon nobody would ha' dreamed sech things about him if Marm +Scattergood hadn't got home from Skunk's Holler. I expect she stirred +up things over there abeout as much as her son and his wife'd stand, +and they shipped her back to Polktown. And Polktown--includin' +Hopewell--will hafter stand it." + +"It is a shame!" cried Janice, with indignation. Then she added, +doubtfully, remembering the unfortunate incident she and Marty and Mrs. +Scattergood had viewed so recently: "Of course, there isn't a word of +truth in it?" + +"That Hopewell's become a toper and beats his wife?" chuckled Walky. +"Wal--I reckon not! Maybe Hopewell takes a glass now and then--I +dunno. I never seen him. But they _do_ say he went home airly from +the dance at Lem Parraday's t'other night in a slightly elevated +condition. Haw! haw! haw!" + +"It is nothing to laugh at," Janice said severely. + +"Nor nothin' ter cry over," promptly returned Walkworthy Dexter. +"What's a drink or two? It ain't never hurt _me_. Why should it +Hopewell?" + +"Don't argue with me, Walky Dexter!" Janice exclaimed, much +exasperated. "I--I _hate_ it all--this drinking. I never thought of +it much before. Polktown has been free of that curse until lately. It +is a shame the bar was ever opened at the Lake View Inn. _And +something ought to be done about it!_" + +Walky had pulled in his team for her to jump down before Hopewell +Drugg's store. "Jefers-pelters!" murmured the driver, scratching his +head. "If that gal detarmines to put Lem Parraday out o' the licker +business, mebbe--mebbe I'd better go down an' buy me another drink +'fore she does it. Haw! haw! haw!" + +Hopewell Drugg's store was a very different looking shop now from its +appearance that day when Janice had led little blind Lottie up from the +wharf at Pine Cove and delivered her to her father for safe keeping. + +Then the goods had been dusty and fly-specked, and the interior of the +store dark and musty. Now the shelves and showcases were neatly +arranged, everything was scrupulously clean, and it was plain that the +reign of woman had succeeded the pandemonium of man. + +There was nobody in the store at the moment; but from the rear the +sobbing tones of a violin took up the strains of "Silver Threads Among +the Gold." Janice listened. There seemed, to her ear, a sadder strain +than ever in Hopewell's playing of the old ballad. For a time this +favorite had been discarded for lighter and brighter melodies, for the +little family here on the by-street had been wonderfully happy. + +They all three welcomed Janice Day joyfully now. The storekeeper, much +sprucer in dress than heretofore, smiled and nodded to her over the +bridge of his violin. His wife, in a pretty print house dress, ran out +from her sitting room where she was sewing, to take Janice in her arms. +As for little Lottie, she danced about the visitor in glee. + +"Oh, Janice Day! Oh, Janice Day! Looker me!" she crowed. "See my new +dress? Isn't it pretty? And Mamma 'Rill made it for me--all of it! +She makes me lots and lots of nice things. Isn't she just the bestest +Mamma 'Rill that ever was?" + +"She certainly is," admitted Janice, laughing and kissing the pretty +child. But she looked anxiously into the beautiful blue eyes, too. +Nothing there betrayed growing visual trouble. Yet, when Lottie Drugg +was stone-blind, the expression of her eyes had been lovely. + +"Weren't you and your papa lucky to get such a mamma?" continued Janice +with a swift glance over her shoulder at Hopewell. + +The storekeeper was drawing the bow across the strings softly and just +a murmur came from them as he listened. His eyes, Janice saw, were +fixed in pride and satisfaction upon his wife's trim figure. + +On her part, Mrs. Drugg seemed her usual brisk, kind self. Yet there +was a cheerful note lacking here. The honeymoon for such a loving +couple could not yet have waned; but there was a rift in it. + +'Rill wanted to talk. Janice could see that. The young girl had been +the school teacher's only confidant previous to her marriage to +Hopewell Drugg, and she still looked upon Janice as her dearest friend. +They left Lottie playing in the back room of the store and listening to +her father's fiddle, while 'Rill closed the door between that room and +the dwelling. + +"Oh, my dear!" Janice hastened to ask, first of all, "is it true?" + +'Rill flushed and there was a spark in her eye--Janice thought of +indignation. Indeed, her voice was rather sharp as she asked: + +"Is what true?" + +"About Lottie. Her eyes--you know." + +"Oh, the poor little thing!" and instantly the step-mother's +countenance changed. "Janice, we don't know. Poor Hopewell is 'most +worried to death. Sometimes it seems as though there was a blur over +the child's eyes. And she has never got over her old habit of shutting +her eyes and seeing with her fingers, as she calls it." + +"Ah! I know," the girl said. "But that does not necessarily mean that +she has difficulty with her vision." + +"That is true. And the doctor in Boston wrote that, at times, there +might arise some slight clouding of the vision if she used her eyes too +much, if she suffered other physical ills, even if she were frightened +or unhappy." + +"The last two possibilities may certainly be set aside," said Janice, +with confidence. "And she is as rosy and healthy looking as she could +be." + +"Yes," said 'Rill. + +"Then what can it be that has caused the trouble?" + +"We cannot imagine," with a sigh. "It--it is worrying Hopewell, night +and day." + +"Poor man!" + +"He--he is changed a great deal, Janice," whispered the bride. + +Janice was silent, but held 'Rill's hand in her own comforting clasp. + +"Don't think he isn't good to me. He is! He is! He is the sweetest +tempered man that ever lived! You know that, yourself. And I thought +I was going to make him--oh!--so happy." + +"Hush! hush, dear!" murmured Janice, for Mrs. Drugg's eyes had run over +and she sobbed aloud. "He loves you just the same. I can see it in +the way he looks at you. And why should he not love you?" + +"But he has lost his cheerfulness. He worries about Lottie, I know. +There--there is another thing----" + +She stopped. She pursued this thread of thought no further. Janice +wondered then--and she wondered afterward--if this unexplained anxiety +connected Hopewell Drugg with the dances at the Lake View Inn. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"THE BLUEBIRD--FOR HAPPINESS" + +Could it be possible that Janice Day had alighted from Walky Dexter's +old carryall at the little grocery store for still another purpose? It +was waning afternoon, yet she did not immediately make her way homeward. + +Mrs. Beaseley lived almost across the street from Hopewell Drugg's +store, and Nelson Haley, the principal of Polktown's graded school, +boarded with the widow. Janice ran in to see her "just for a moment." +Therefore, it could scarcely be counted strange that the young school +principal should have caught the girl in Mrs. Beaseley's bright kitchen +when he came home with his satchel of books and papers. + +"There! I do declare for't!" ejaculated the widow, who was a rather +lugubrious woman living in what she believed to be the remembrance of +"her sainted Charles." + +"There! I do declare for't! I git to talkin' and I forgit how the +time flies. That's what my poor Charles uster say--he had _that_ fault +to find with me, poor soul. I couldn't never seem to git the vittles +on the table on time when I was young. + +"I was mindin' to make you a shortcake for your supper to-night, Mr. +Haley, out o' some o' them peaches I canned last Fall! But it's so +late----" + +"You needn't hurry supper on my account, Mrs. Beaseley," said Nelson, +cheerily, and without removing his gloves. "I find I've to go downtown +again on an errand. I'll not be back for an hour." + +Janice was smiling merrily at him from the doorway. + +Mrs. Beaseley began to bustle about. "That'll give me just time to +toss up the shortcake," she proclaimed. "Good-bye, Janice. Come +again. Mr. Haley'll like to walk along with you, I know." + +Mrs. Beaseley was blind to what most people, in Polktown knew--that +Janice and the schoolteacher were the very closest of friends. Only +their years--at least, only Janice's youth--precluded an announced +engagement between them. + +"Wait until I can come home and get a square look at this phenomenal +young man whom you have found in Polktown," Daddy had written, and +Janice would not dream of going against her father's expressed wish. + +Besides, Nelson Haley was a poor young man, with his own way to make in +the world. His work in the Polktown school had attracted the attention +of the faculty of a college not far away, and he had already been +invited to join the teaching staff of that institution. + +Janice had been the young man's inspiration when he had first come to +Polktown, a raw college graduate, bent only on "teaching for a living" +and on earning his salary as easily as possible. Awakened by his +desire to stand well in the estimation of the serious-minded +girl--eager to "make good" with her--Nelson Haley had put his shoulder +to the wheel, and the result was Polktown's fine new graded school, +with the young man himself at the head of it. + +Nelson was good looking--extremely good looking, indeed. He was light, +not dark like Janice, and he was muscular and sturdy without being at +all fleshy. The girl was proud of him--he was always so well-dressed, +so gentlemanly, and carried himself with such an assured air. Daddy +was bound to be pleased with a young man like Nelson Haley, once he +should see the schoolteacher! + +In his companionship now, Janice rather lost sight of the troubles that +had come upon her of late. Nelson told her of his school plans as they +strolled down High Street. + +"And I fancy these lectures and readings the School Committee are +arranging will be a good thing," the young man said. "We'll slip a +little extra information to the boys and girls of Polktown without +their suspecting it." + +"Sugar-coated pills?" laughed Janice. + +"Yes. The old system of pounding knowledge into the infant cranium +isn't in vogue any more." + +"Poor things!" murmured Janice Day, from the lofty rung of the +scholastic ladder she had attained. "Poor things! I don't blame them +for wondering: 'What's the use?' Marty wonders now, old as he is. +There is such a lot to learn in the world!" + +They talked of other things, too, and it was the appearance of Jim +Narnay weaving a crooked trail across High Street toward the rear of +the Inn that brought back to the girl's mind the weight of new trouble +that had settled upon it. + +"Oh, dear! there's that poor creature," murmured Janice. "And I +haven't been to see how his family is." + +"Who--Jim Narnay's family?" asked Nelson. + +"Yes." + +"You'd better keep away from such people, Janice," the young man said +urgently. + +"Why?" + +"You don't want to mix with such folk, my dear," repeated the young +man, shaking his head. "What good can it do? The fellow is a drunken +rascal and not worth striving to do anything for." + +"But his family? The poor little children?" said Janice, softly. + +"If you give them money, Jim'll drink it up." + +"I believe that," admitted Janice. "So I won't give them money. But I +can buy things for them that they need. And the poor little baby is +sick. That cunning Sophie told me so." + +"Goodness, Janice!" laughed Nelson, yet with some small vexation. "I +see there's no use in opposing your charitable instincts. But I really +wish you would not get acquainted with every rag-tag and bob-tail in +town. First those Trimminses--and now these Narnays!" + +Janice laughed at this. "Why, they can't hurt me, Nelson. And perhaps +I might do them good." + +"You cannot handle charcoal without getting some of the smut on your +fingers," Nelson declared, dogmatically. + +"But they are not charcoal. They are just some of God's unfortunates," +added the young girl, gently. "It is not Sophie's fault that her +father drinks. And maybe it isn't altogether _his_ fault." + +"What arrant nonsense!" exclaimed Nelson, with some exasperation. "It +always irritates me when I hear these old topers excused. A man should +be able to take a glass of wine or beer or spirits--or let it alone." + +"Yes, indeed, Nelson," agreed Janice, demurely. "He _ought_ to." + +The young man glanced sharply into her rather serious countenance. He +suspected that she was not agreeing with him, after all, very strongly. +Finally he laughed, and the spark of mischief immediately danced in +Janice Day's hazel eyes. + +"That is just where the trouble lies, Nelson, with drinking +intoxicating things. People should be able to drink or not, as they +feel inclined. But alcohol is insidious. Why! you teach that in your +own classes, Nelson Haley!" + +"Got me there," admitted the young school principal, with a laugh. +Then he became sober again, and added: "But _I_ can take a drink or +leave it alone if I wish." + +"Oh, Nelson! You _don't_ use alcoholic beverages, do you?" cried +Janice, quite shocked. "Oh! you _don't_, do you?" + +"My, my! See what a little fire-cracker it is!" laughed Nelson. "Did +I say I was in the habit of going into Lem Parraday's bar and spending +my month's salary in fiery waters?" + +"Oh, but Nelson! You don't _approve_ of the use of liquor, do you?" + +"I'm not sure that I do," returned the young man, more gravely. "And +yet I believe in every person having perfect freedom in that as well as +other matters." + +"Anarchism!" cried Janice, yet rather seriously, too, although her lips +smiled. + +"I know the taste of all sorts of beverages," the young man said. "I +was in with rather a sporty bunch at college, for a while. But I knew +I could not afford to keep up that pace, so I cut it out." + +"Oh, Nelson!" Janice murmured. "It's too bad!" + +"Why, it never hurt me," answered the young schoolmaster. "It never +could hurt me. A gentleman eats temperately and drinks temperately. +Of course, I would not go into the Lake View Inn and call for a drink, +now that I am teaching school here. My example would be bad for the +boys. And I fancy the School Committee would have something to say +about it, too," and he laughed again, lightly. + +They had turned into Hillside Avenue and the way was deserted save for +themselves. The warm glow of sunset lingered about them. Lights +twinkling in the kitchens as they went along announced the preparation +of the evening meal. + +Janice clasped her hands over Nelson's arm confidingly and looked +earnestly up into his face. + +"Nelson!" she said softly, "don't even _think_ about drinking anything +intoxicating. I should be afraid for you. I should worry about the +hold it might get upon you----" + +"As it has on Jim Narnay?" interrupted the young man, laughing. + +"No," said Janice, still gravely. "You would never be like him, I am +sure------" + +"Nor will drink ever affect me in any way--no fear! I know what I am +about. I have a will of my own, I should hope. I can control my +appetites and desires. And I should certainly never allow such a +foolish habit as tippling to get a strangle hold on me." + +"Of course, I know you won't," agreed Janice. + +"I thank goodness I'm not a man of habit, in any case," continued +Nelson, proudly. "One of our college professors has said: 'There is +only one thing worse than a bad habit--and that's a good habit.' It is +true. No man can be a well-rounded and perfectly poised man, if he is +hampered by habits of any kind. Habits narrow the mind and contract +one's usefulness in the world----" + +"Oh, Nelson!" excitedly interrupted Janice. "See the bluebird! The +first I have seen this Spring. The dear, little, pretty thing!" + +"Good-_night_!" exploded the school teacher, with a burst of laughter. +"My little homily is put out of business. A bluebird, indeed!" + +"But the bluebird is so pretty--and so welcome in Spring. See! there +he goes." Then she added softly, still clinging to Nelson's arm: + +"'The bluebird--for happiness.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TENTACLES OF THE MONSTER + +The sweet south wind blew that night and helped warm to life the +Winter-chilled breast of Mother Earth. Her pulses leaped, rejuvenated; +the mellowing soil responded; bud and leaf put forth their effort to +reach the sun and air. + +At Janice Day's casement the odors of the freshly-turned earth and of +the growing things whispered of the newly begun season. The ruins of +the ancient fortress across the lake to the north still frowned in the +mists of night when Janice left her bed and peered from the open +window, looking westward. + +Behind the mountain-top which towered over Polktown it was already +broad day; but the sun would not appear, to gild the frowning fortress, +or to touch the waters of the lake with its magic wand, for yet several +minutes. + +As the first red rays of the sun graced the rugged prospect across the +lake, Janice went through the barnyard and climbed the uphill pasture +lane. She was bound for the great "Overlook" rock in the +second-growth, from which spot she never tired of looking out upon the +landscape--and upon life itself. + +Janice Day took many of her problems to the Overlook. There, alone +with the wild things of the wood, with nothing but the prospect to +tempt her thoughts, she was wont to decide those momentous questions +that come into every young girl's life. + +As she sped up the path past the sheep sheds on this morning, her feet +were suddenly stayed by a most unexpected incident. Janice usually had +the hillside to herself at this hour; but now she saw a dark figure +huddled under the shelter, the open side of which faced her. + +"A bear!" thought Janice. Yet there had not been such a creature seen +in the vicinity of Polktown for years, she knew. + +She hesitated. The "bear" rolled over, stretched himself, and yawned a +most prodigious yawn. + +"Goodness, mercy, me!" murmured Janice Day. "It's a man!" + +But it was not. It was a boy. Janice popped down behind a boulder and +watched, for at first she had no idea who he could be. Certainly he +must have been up here in the sheepfold all night; and a person who +would spend a night in the open, on the raw hillside at this time of +year, must have something the matter with him, to be sure. + +"Why--why, that's Jack Besmith! He worked for Mr. Massey all Winter. +What is he doing here?" murmured Janice. + +She did not rise and expose herself to the fellow's gaze. For one +thing, the ex-drug clerk looked very rough in both dress and person. + +His uncombed hair was littered with straw and bits of corn-blades from +the fodder on which he had lain. His clothing was stained. He wore no +linen and the shoes on his feet were broken. + +Never in her life had Janice Day seen a more desperate looking young +fellow and she was actually afraid of him. Yet she knew he came of a +respectable family, and that he had a decent lodging in town. What +business had he up here at her uncle's sheepfold? + +Janice continued her walk no farther. She remained in hiding until she +saw Jack Besmith stumble out of the sheep pasture and down the hill +behind the Day stables--taking a retired route toward the village. + +Coming down into the barnyard once more, Janice met Marty with a +foaming milk pail. + +"Hullo, early bird!" he sang out. "Did you catch the worm this +morning?" + +Janice shuddered a trifle. "I believe I did, Marty," she confessed. +"At least, I saw some such crawling thing." + +"Hi tunket! Not a snake so early in the year?" + +"I don't know," and his cousin smiled, yet with gravity. + +"Huh?" queried the boy, with curiosity, for he saw that something +unusual had occurred. + +Janice gravely told him whom she had seen in the sheepfold. "And, +Marty, I believe he must have been up there all night--sleeping +outdoors such weather as this. What for, do you suppose?" + +Marty professed inability to explain; but after he had taken the milk +in to his mother, he slipped away and ran up to the sheep pasture +himself. + +"I say, Janice," he said, grinning, when he came back. "I can solve +the mystery, I can." + +"What mystery?" asked his cousin, who was flushed now with helping her +aunt get breakfast. + +"The mystery of the 'early worm' that you saw this mornin'." He +brought his hand from behind him and displayed an empty, amber-colored +flask on which was a gaudy label announcing its contents to have been +whiskey and sold by "_L. Parraday, Polktown._" + +"Oh, dear! Is _that_ the trouble with the Besmith boy?" murmured +Janice. + +"That's how he came to lose his job with Massey." + +"Poor fellow! He looked dreadful!" + +"Oh, he's a bad egg," said her cousin, carelessly. + +Janice hurried through breakfast, for the car was to be brought forth +to-day. Marty had been fussing over it for almost a week. The wind +was drying up the roads and it was possible for Janice to take a spin +out into the open country. + +Marty's prospects of enjoying the outing, however, were nipped before +he could leave the table. + +"Throw the chain harness on the colts, Marty," said his father. "The +'tater-patch is dry enough to put the plow in. And I'll want ye to +help me." + +"Oh--Dad! I got to help Janice get her car out. This ain't no time to +plow for 'taters," declared Marty. + +"Your mouth'll be open wider'n anybody else's in the house for the +'taters when they're grown," said Uncle Jason, calmly. "You got to do +your share toward raisin' 'em." + +"Oh, Dad!" ejaculated the boy again. + +"Now, Marty, you stop talkin'!" cried his mother. + +"Huh! you wanter make a feller dumb around here, too. S'pose Janice +breaks down on the road?" he added, with reviving hope. + +"I guess she'll find somebody that knows fully as much about them +gasoline buggies as you do, Son," observed Uncle Jason, easily. "You +an' me'll tackle the 'tater field." + +When his father spoke so positively Marty knew there was no use trying +to change him. He frowned, and muttered, and kicked the table leg as +he got up, but to no avail. + +Janice, later, got into her car and started for a ride. She put the +Kremlin right at the hill and it climbed Hillside Avenue with wonderful +ease. The engine purred prettily and not a thing went wrong. + +"Poor Marty! It's too bad he couldn't go, too," she thought. "I'd +gladly share this with somebody." + +Nelson, she knew, was busy this forenoon. It took no little of his +out-of-school time to prepare the outline for the ensuing week's work. +Besides, on this Saturday morning, there was a special meeting of the +School Committee, as he had told her the afternoon before. Something +to do with the course of lectures before mentioned. And the young +principal of Polktown's graded school was very faithful to his duties. + +She thought of Mrs. Drugg and little Lottie; but there was trouble at +the Drugg home. Somehow, on this bright, sweet-smelling morning, +Janice shrank from touching anything unpleasant, or coming into +communication with anybody who was not in attune with the day. + +She was fated, however, to rub elbows with Trouble wherever she went +and whatever she did. She ran the Kremlin past the rear of Walky +Dexter's place and saw Walky himself currying Josephus and his mate on +the stable floor. The man waved his currycomb at her and grinned. But +his well-known grimace did not cheer Janice Day. + +"Dear me! Poor Walky is in danger, too," thought the young girl. +"Why! the whole of Polktown is changing. In some form or other that +liquor selling at the Inn touches all our lives. I wonder if other +people see it as plainly as I do." + +She ran up into the Upper Middletown Road, as far out as Elder +Concannon's. The old gentleman--once Janice Day's very stern critic, +but now her staunch friend--was in the yard when Janice approached in +her car. He waved a cordial hand at her and turned away from the man +he had been talking with. + +"Well, there ye have it, Trimmins," the girl heard the elder say, as +her engine stopped. "If you can find a man or two to help you, I'll +let you have a team and you can go in there and haul them logs. +There's a market for 'em, and the logs lie jest right for hauling. You +and your partner can make a profit, and so can I." + +Then he said to Janice: "Good morning, child! You're as fresh to look +at as a morning-glory." + +She had nodded and smiled at the patriarchal old gentleman; but her +eyes were now on the long and lanky looking woodsman who stood by. + +"Good day, Mr. Trimmins," she said, when she had returned Elder +Concannon's greeting. "Is Mrs. Trimmins well? And my little Virginia +and all the rest of them?" + +"The fambly's right pert, Miss," Trimmins said. + +Janice had a question or two to ask the elder regarding the use of the +church vestry for some exercises by the Girl's Guild of which she had +been the founder and was still the leading spirit. + +"Goodness, yes!" agreed the elder. "Do anything you like, Janice, if +you can keep those young ones interested in anything besides dancing +and parties. Still, what can ye expect of the young gals when their +mothers are given up to folly and dissipation? + +"There's Mrs. Marvin Petrie and Mrs. Major Price want to be +'patronesses,' I believe they call themselves, of an Assembly Ball, an' +want to hold the ball at Lem Parraday's hotel. It's bad enough to have +them dances; but to have 'em at a place where liquor is sold, is a sin +and a shame! I wish Lem Parraday had lost the hotel entirely, before +he got a liquor license." + +"Oh, Elder! It is dreadful that liquor should be sold in Polktown," +Janice said, from the seat of the automobile. "I'm just beginning to +see it." + +"That's what it is," said the elder, sturdily. + +"It's a shame Mr. Parraday was ever allowed to have a license at the +Lake View Inn." + +"Wal--it does seem too bad," the elder agreed, but with less confidence +in his tone. + +"I know they say the Inn scarcely paid him and his wife, and he might +have had to give it up this Spring," Janice said. + +"Ahem! That would have been unfortunate for the mortgagee," slowly +observed the old man. + +"Mr. Cross Moore?" Janice quickly rejoined. "Well! he could afford to +lose a little money if anybody could." + +"Tut, tut!" exclaimed the elder, who had a vast respect for money. +"Don't say that, child. Nobody can afford to lose money." + +Janice turned her car about soberly. She saw that the ramification of +this liquor selling business was far-reaching, indeed. Elder Concannon +spoke only too truly. + +Where self-interest was concerned most people would lean toward the +side of liquor selling. + +"The tentacles of the monster have insinuated themselves into our +social and business life, as well as into our homes," she thought. +"Why--why, what can _I_ do about it? Just _me_, a girl all alone." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SWEPT ON BY THE CURRENT + +Janice picked up Trimmins on the road to town. The lanky Southerner, +who lived as a squatter with his ever-increasing family back in the +woods, was a soft-spoken man with much innate politeness and a great +distaste for regular work. He said the elder had just offered him a +job in the woods that he was going to take if he could get a man to +help him. + +"I heard you talking about it, Mr. Trimmins," the young girl said, with +her eyes on the road ahead and her foot on the gas pedal. "I hope you +will make a good thing out of it." + +"Not likely. The elder's too close for that," responded the man, with +a twinkle in his eye. + +"Yes. I suppose that Elder Concannon considers a small profit +sufficient. He got his money that way--by 'littles and dribbles'--and +I fancy he thinks small pay is all right." + +"My glo-_ree_! You bet he does!" said Trimmins. "But the elder never +had but one--leastways, two--chillen to raise. He wouldn't ha' got +rich very fast with _my_ family--no, sir!" + +"Perhaps that is so," Janice admitted. + +"Tell ye what, Miss," the woodsman went on to say, "a man ought to git +paid accordin' to the mouths there is to home to feed. I was readin' +in a paper t'other day that it took ten dollars a week to take proper +care of a man and his wife, and there ought to be added to them ten +dollars two dollars a week ev'ry time they got a baby." + +"Why! wouldn't that be fine?" cried Janice, laughing. + +"It sure would be a help," said Trimmins, the twinkle in his eye again. +"I reckon both me an' Narnay would 'preciate it." + +"Oh! you mean Jim Narnay?" asked Janice, with sudden solemnity. + +"Yes ma'am. I'm goin' to see him now. He's a grand feller with the +axe and I want him to help me." + +Janice wondered how much work would really be done by the two men if +they were up in the woods together. Yet Mrs. Narnay and the children +might get along better without Jim. Janice had made some inquiries and +learned that Mrs. Narnay was an industrious woman, working steadily +over her washtub, and keeping the children in comparative comfort when +Jim was not at home to drink up a good share of her earnings. + +"Are you going down to the cove to see Narnay now, Mr. Trimmins?" +Janice asked, as she turned the automobile into the head of High Street. + +"Yes, ma'am. That is, if I don't find him at Lem Parraday's." + +"Oh, Mr. Trimmins!" exclaimed Janice, earnestly. "Look for him at the +house first. And don't you go near Lem Parraday's, either." + +"Wal!" drawled the man. "I s'pose you air right, Miss." + +"I'll drive you right down to the cove," Janice said. "I want to see +little Sophie, and--and her mother." + +"Whatever you say, Miss," agreed the woodsman. + +They followed a rather rough street coveward, but arrived safely at the +small collection of cottages, in one of which the Narnays lived. Jim +Narnay was evidently without money, for he sat on the front stoop, +sober and rather neater than Janice was used to seeing him. He was +whittling a toy of some kind for the little boys, both of whom were +hanging upon him. + +Their attitude, as well as what Sophie Narnay had told her, assured +Janice that the husband and father of the household was not a cruel man +when he was sober. The children still loved him, and he evidently +loved them. + +"Got a job, Jim?" asked Trimmins, after thanking Janice for the ride, +and getting out of the automobile. + +"Not a smitch of work since I come out of the woods," admitted the +bewhiskered man, rising quickly from the stoop to make way for Janice. + +"Come on, old feller," said Trimmins. "I want to talk to you. If you +are favorable inclined, I reckon I got jest the job you've been lookin' +for." + +The two went off behind the cottage. Janice did not know then that +there was a short cut to High Street and the Lake View Inn. + +Sophie came running to the door to welcome the visitor, her thin little +arms red and soapy from dish-water. + +"I knowed 'twas you," she said, smiling happily. "They told me you was +the only girl in town that owned one o' them cars. And I told mom that +you must be awful rich and kind. Course, you must be, or you couldn't +afford to give away ten cent pieces so easy." + +Mrs. Narnay came to the door, too, her arms right out of the washtub; +but Janice begged her not to inconvenience herself. "Keep right on +with your work and I'll come around to the back and sit on that stoop," +said the young girl. + +"And you must see the baby," Sophie urged. "I can bring out the baby +if I wrap her up good, can't I, Marm?" + +"Have a care with the poor child, Sophie," said Mrs. Narnay, wearily. +"Where's your pop gone?" + +"He's walked out with Mr. Trimmins," said the little girl. + +The woman sighed, and Janice, all through her visit, could see that she +was anxious about her absent husband. The baby was brought out--a +pitifully thin, but pretty child--and Sophie nursed her little sister +with much enjoyment. + +"I wisht she was twins," confessed the little girl. "It must be awful +jolly to have twins in the family." + +"My soul, child!" groaned Mrs. Narnay. "Don't talk so reckless. One +baby at a time is affliction enough--as ye'll find out for yourself +some day." + +Janice, leaving a little gift to be hidden from Jim Narnay and divided +among the children, went away finally, with the determination that Dr. +Poole should see the baby again and try to do something for the poor, +little, weakly thing. Trimmins and Jim Narnay had disappeared, and +Janice feared that, after all, they had drifted over to the Inn, there +to celebrate the discovery of the job they both professed to need so +badly. + +"That awful bar!" Janice told herself. "If it were not here in +Polktown those two ne'er-do-wells would have gone right about their +work without any celebration at all. I guess Mrs. Scattergood is +right--Mr. Lem Parraday ought to be tarred and feathered for ever +taking out that license! And how about the councilmen who voted to let +him have it?" + +As she wheeled into High Street once more a tall, well groomed young +man, with rosy cheeks and the bluest of blue eyes, hailed her from the +sidewalk. + +"Oh, Janice Day!" he cried. "How's the going?" + +"Mr. Bowman! I didn't know you had returned," Janice said, smiling and +stopping the car. "The going is pretty good." + +"Have you been around by the Lower Road where my gang is working?" + +"No," Janice replied. "But Marty says the turnout is being put in and +that the bridge over the creek is almost done." + +"Good! I'll get over there by and by to see for myself." He had set +down a heavy suitcase and still held a traveling bag. "Just now," he +added, "I am hunting a lodging." + +"Hunting a lodging? Why! I thought you were a fixture with Marm +Parraday," Janice said. + +"I thought so, too. But it's got too strong for me down there. +Besides, it is a rule of the Railroad Company that we shall find board, +if possible, where no liquor is sold. I had a room over the bar and it +is too noisy for me at night." + +"Marm Parraday will be sorry to lose you, Mr. Bowman," Janice said. +"Isn't it dreadful that they should have taken up the selling of liquor +there?" + +"Bad thing," the young civil engineer replied, promptly. "I'm sorry +for Marm Parraday. Lem ought to be kicked for ever getting the +license," he added vigorously. + +"Dear me, Mr. Bowman," sighed Janice. "I wish everybody thought as you +do. Polktown needs reforming." + +"What! Again?" cried the young man, laughing suddenly. Then he added: +"I expect, if that is so, you will have to start the reform, Miss +Janice. And--and you'd better start it with your friend, Hopewell +Drugg. Really, they are making a fool of him around the Inn--and he +doesn't even know it." + +"Oh, Mr. Bowman! what do you mean?" called Janice after him; but the +young man had picked up his bag and was marching away, so that he did +not hear her question. Before she could start her engine he had turned +into a side street. + +She ran back up Hillside Avenue in good season for dinner. The potato +patch was plowed and Marty had gone downtown on an errand. Janice +backed the car into the garage and went upstairs to her room to change +her dress for dinner. She was there when Marty came boisterously into +the kitchen. + +"My goodness! what's the matter with you, Marty Day?" asked his mother +shrilly. "What's happened?" + +"It's Nelson Haley," the boy said, and Janice heard him plainly, for +the door at the foot of the stairs was ajar. "It's awful! They are +going to arrest him!" + +"What do you mean, Marty Day? Be you crazy?" Mrs. Day demanded. + +"What's this? One o' your cheap jokes?" asked the boy's father, who +chanced to be in the kitchen, too. + +"Guess Nelson Haley don't think it's a joke," said the boy, his voice +still shaking. "I just heard all about it. There ain't many folks +know it yet----" + +"Stop that!" cried his mother. "You tell us plain what Mr. Haley's +done." + +"Ain't done nothin', of course. But they _say_ he has," Marty stoutly +maintained. + +"Then what do they accuse him of?" queried Mr. Day. + +"They accuse him of stealin'! Hi tunket! ain't that the meanest thing +ye ever heard?" cried the boy. "Nelson Haley, stealin'. It gets _me_ +for fair!" + +"Why--why I can't believe it!" Aunt 'Mira gasped, and she sat down with +a thud on one of the kitchen chairs. + +"I got it straight," Marty went on to say. "The School Committee's all +in a row over it. Ye see, they had the coins----" + +"_Who_ had _what_ coins?" cried his mother. + +"The School Committee. That collection of gold coins some rich feller +lent the State Board of Education for exhibition at the lecture next +Friday. They only come over from Middletown last night and Mr. Massey +locked them in his safe." + +"Wal!" murmured Uncle Jason. + +"Massey brought 'em to the school this morning where the committee held +a meeting. I hear the committee left the trays of coins in their room +while they went downstairs to see something the matter with the heater. +When they come up the trays had been skinned clean--'for a fac'!" +exclaimed the excited Marty. + +"What's that got to do with Mr. Haley?" demanded Uncle Jason, grimly. + +"Why--he'd been in the room. I believe he don't deny he was there. +Nobody else was in the buildin' 'cept the janitor, and he was with +Massey and the others in the basement. + +"Then coins jest disappeared--took wings and flewed away," declared +Marty with much earnestness. + +"What was they wuth?" asked his father, practically. + +"Dunno. A lot of money. Some says two thousand and some says five +thousand. Whichever it is, they'll put him under big bail if they +arrest him." + +"Why, they wouldn't dare!" gasped Mrs. Day. + +"Say! Massey and them others has got to save their own hides, ain't +they?" demanded the suspicious Marty. + +"Wal. 'Tain't common sense that any of the School Committee should +have stolen the coins," Uncle Jason said slowly. "Mr. Massey, and +Cross Moore, and Mr. Middler----" + +"Mr. Middler warn't there," said Marty, quickly. "He'd gone to +Middletown." + +"Joe Pellet and Crawford there?" asked Uncle Jason. + +"All the committee but the parson," his son admitted. + +"And all good men," Uncle Jason said reflectively. "Schoolhouse +locked?" + +"So they say," Marty declared. "That's what set them on Nelson. Only +him and the janitor carry keys to the building." + +"Who's the janitor?" asked Uncle Jason. + +"Benny Thread. You know, the little crooked-backed feller--lives on +Paige Street. And, anyway, there wasn't a chance for him to get at the +coins. He was with the committee all the time they was out of the +room." + +"And are they sure Mr. Haley was in there?" asked Aunt 'Mira. + +"He admits it," Marty said gloomily. "I don't know what's going to +come of it all----" + +"Hush!" said Uncle Jason suddenly. "Shut that door." + +But it was too late, Janice had heard all. She came down into the +kitchen, pale-faced and with eyes that blazed with indignation. She +had not removed her hat. + +"Come, Uncle Jason," she said, brokenly. "I want you to go downtown +with me. If Nelson is in trouble we must help him." + +"Drat that boy!" growled Uncle Jason, scowling at Marty. "He's a +reg'lar big mouth! He has to tell ev'rything he knows all over the +shop." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +REAL TROUBLE + +It seemed to Janice Day as though the drift of trouble, which had set +her way with the announcement by her father of his unfortunate +situation among the Yaqui Indians, had now risen to an overwhelming +height. + +'Rill's secret misgivings regarding Hopewell Drugg, little Lottie's +peril of blindness, the general tendency of Polktown as a whole to +suffer the bad effects of liquor selling at the tavern--all these +things had added to Janice's anxiety. + +Now, on the crest of the threatening wave, rode this happening to +Nelson Haley, an account of which Marty had brought home. + +"Come, Uncle Jason," she said again to Mr. Day. "You must come with +me. If Nelson is arrested and taken before Justice Little, the justice +will listen to _you_. You are a property owner. If they put Nelson +under bail----" + +"Hold your hosses," interrupted Uncle Jason, yet not unkindly. "Noah +didn't build the ark in a day. We'd best go slow about this." + +"Slow!" repeated Janice. + +"I guess you wouldn't talk about bein' slow, Jason Day, if _you_ was +arrested," Aunt 'Mira interjected. + +"Ma's right," said Marty. "Mebbe they'll put him in the cell under the +Town Hall 'fore you kin get downtown." + +"There ain't no sech haste as all that," stated Uncle Jason. "What's +the matter of you folks?" + +He spoke rather testily, and Janice looked at him in surprise. "Why, +Uncle!" she cried, "what do you mean? It's Nelson Haley who is in +trouble." + +"I mean to eat my dinner fust of all," said her uncle firmly. "And so +had you better, my gal. A man can't be expected to go right away to +court an' put up every dollar he's got in the world for bail, until +he's thought it over a little, and knows something more about the +trouble." + +"Why, Jason!" exploded Aunt 'Mira. "Of course Mr. Haley is innocent +and you will help him." + +"Hi tunket, Dad!" cried Marty. "You ain't goin' back on Nelson?" + +Janice was silent. Her uncle did not look at her, but drew his chair +to the table. "I ain't goin' back on nobody," he said steadily. "But +I can't do nothing to harm my own folks. If, as you say, Marty, them +coins is so vallible, his bail'll be consider'ble--for a fac'. If I +put up this here property that we got, an'--an' anything happens--not +that I say anythin' will happen--where'd we be?" + +"What ever do ye mean, Jason Day?" demanded his wife. "That Nelson +Haley would run away?" + +"Ahem! We don't know how strongly the young man's been tempted," said +Mr. Day doggedly. + +"Uncle!" cried Janice, aghast. + +"Dad!" exclaimed Marty. + +"Jase Day! For the land's sake!" concluded Aunt 'Mira. + +"Sit down and eat your dinner, Janice," said Uncle Jason a second time, +ignoring his wife and son. "Remember, I got a duty to perform to your +father as well as to you. What would Broxton Day do in this case?" + +"I--I don't know, Uncle Jason," Janice said faintly. + +"Fust of all, he wouldn't let you git mixed up in nothin' that would +make the neighbors talk about ye," Mr. Day said promptly. "Now, +whether Nelson Haley is innercent or guilty, there is bound ter be +slathers of talk about this thing and about ev'rybody connected with +it." + +"He is not guilty, Uncle," said Janice, quietly. + +"That's my opinion, too," said Mr. Day, bluntly. "But I want the +pertic'lars, jest the same. I want to know all about it. Where +there's so much smoke there must be some fire." + +"Not allus, Dad," growled Marty, in disgust. "Smoke comes from an +oak-ball, but there ain't no fire." + +"You air a smart young man," returned his father, coolly. "You'll grow +up to be the town smartie, like Walky Dexter, I shouldn't wonder. +Nelson must ha' done somethin' to put himself in bad in this thing, and +I want to know what it is he done." + +"He went into the schoolhouse," grumbled Marty. + +"Howsomever," pursued Mr. Day, "if they shut Nelson Haley up on this +charge and he ain't guilty, we who know him best will git together and +bail him out, if that seems best." + +"'If that seems best!'" repeated Aunt 'Mira. "Jason Day! I'm glad the +Lord didn't make me such a moderate critter as you be." + +"You're a great friend of Nelse Haley--I don't think!" muttered Marty. + +But Janice said nothing more. That Uncle Jason did not rush to +Nelson's relief as she would have done had it been in her power, was +not so strange. Janice was a singularly just girl. + +The hurt was there, nevertheless. She could not help feeling keenly +the fact that everybody in Polktown did not respond at once to Nelson's +need. + +That he should be accused of stealing the collection of coins was +preposterous indeed. Yet Janice was sensible enough to know that there +would be those in the village only too ready and willing to believe ill +of the young schoolmaster. + +Nelson Haley's character was not wishy-washy. He had made everybody +respect him. His position as principal of the school gave him almost +as much importance in the community as the minister. But not all the +Polktown folk loved Nelson Haley. He had made enemies as well as +friends since coming to the lakeside town. + +There were those who would seize upon this incident, no matter how +slightly the evidence might point to Nelson, and make "a mountain of a +molehill." Nelson was a poor young man. He had come to Polktown with +college debts to pay off out of his salary. To those who were not +intimately acquainted with the school-teacher's character, it would not +seem such an impossibility that he should yield to temptation where +money was concerned. + +But to Janice the thought was not only abhorrent, it was ridiculous. +She would have believed herself capable of stealing quite as soon as +she would have believed the accusation against Nelson. + +Yet she could not blame Uncle Jason for his calm attitude in this +event. It was his nature to be moderate and careful. She did not +scold like Aunt 'Mira, nor mutter and glare like Marty. She could not, +however, eat any dinner. + +It was nerve-racking to sit there, playing with her fork, awaiting +Uncle Jason's pleasure. Janice's eyes were tearless. She had learned +ere this, in the school of hard usage, to control her emotions. Not +many girls of her age could have set off finally with Mr. Day for the +town with so quiet a mien. For she insisted upon accompanying her +uncle on this quest. She felt that she could not remain quietly at +home and wait upon his leisurely report of the situation. + +First of all they learned that no attempt had been made as yet to +curtail the young schoolmaster's liberty; otherwise the situation was +quite as bad as Marty had so eagerly reported. + +The collection of gold coins, valued at fifteen hundred dollars, had +been left in the committee room next to the principal's office in the +new school building. It being Saturday, the outer doors of the +building were locked--or supposedly so. + +Benny Thread, the janitor, was with the four committeemen in the +basement for a little more than half an hour. During that half-hour +Nelson Haley had entered the school building, using his pass key, had +been to his office, and entered the committee room, and from thence +departed, all while the committee was below stairs. + +He had been seen both going in and coming out by the neighbors. He +carried his school bag in both instances. The collection of coins was +of some weight; but Nelson could have carried that weight easily. + +The committee, upon returning to the second floor and finding the trays +empty, had at once sent for Nelson and questioned him. In their first +excitement over the loss of the coins, they had been unwise enough to +state the trouble and their suspicions to more than one person. In an +hour the story, with many additions, had spread over Polktown. A fire +before a high wind could have traveled no faster. + +Uncle Jason listened, digested, and made up his mind. Although a +moderate man, he thought to some purpose. He was soon satisfied that +the four committeemen, having got over their first fright, would do +nothing rash. And Janice had much to thank her uncle for in this +emergency; for he was outspoken, once having formed an opinion in the +matter. + +Finding the four committeemen in the drugstore, Uncle Jason berated +them soundly: + +"I did think you four fellers was safe to be let toddle about alone. I +swan I did! But here ye ac' jest like ye was nuthin' but babies! + +"Jest because ye acted silly and left that money open for the fust +comer to pocket, ye hafter run about an' squeal, layin' it all to the +fust person that come that way. If Mr. Middler or Elder Concannon had +come inter that school buildin', I s'pose it'd ha' been jest the same. +You fellers would aimed ter put it on them--one or t'other. I'm +ashamed of ye." + +"Wal, Jase Day, you're so smart," drawled Cross Moore, "who d'ye reckon +could ha' took the coins?" + +"Most anybody _could_. Mr. Haley sartinly did _not_," Uncle Jason +returned, briskly. + +"How d'ye know so much?" demanded Massey, the druggist. + +"'Cause I know him," rejoined Mr. Day, quite as promptly as before. + +"Aw--that's only talk," said Joe Pellet, pulling his beard +reflectively. "Mr. Haley's a nice young man----" + +"I've knowed him since ever he come inter this town," Mr. Day +interrupted, with energy. "He's too smart ter do sech a thing, even if +he was so inclined. You fellers seem ter think he's an idiot. What! +steal them coins when he's the only person 'cept the janitor that's +knowed to have a key to the school building? + +"Huh!" pursued Uncle Jason, with vast disgust. "You fellers must have +a high opinion of your own judgment, when you choosed Mr. Haley to +teach this school. Did ye hire a nincompoop, I wanter know? Why! if +he'd wanted ever so much ter steal them coins, he'd hafter been a fule +ter done it in this way." + +"There's sense in what ye say, Jason," admitted Mr. Crawford. + +"I sh'd hope so! But there ain't sense in what you fellers have +done--for a fac! Lettin' sech a story as this git all over town. By +jiminy! if I was Mr. Haley, I'd sue ye!" + +"But what are we goin' ter do, Jason?" demanded Cross Moore. "Sit here +an' twiddle our thumbs, and let that feller 't owns the coins come down +on us for their value?" + +"You'll have to make good to him anyway," said Mr. Day, bluntly. "You +four air responserble." + +"Hi tunket!" exploded Joe Pellet. "And let the thief git away with +'em?" + +"Better git a detecertif, an' put him on the case," said Mr. Day. "Of +course, you air all satisfied that nobody could ha' got into the +schoolhouse but Mr. Haley?" + +"He an' Benny is all that has keys," said Massey. + +"Sure about this here janitor?" asked Uncle Jason, slowly. + +"Why, he was with us all the time," said Crawford, in disgust. + +"And he's a hardworkin' little feller, too," Massey added. "Not a +thing wrong with Benny but his back. That is crooked; but he's as +straight as a string." + +"How's his fambly?" asked Uncle Jason. + +"Ain't got none--but a wife. A decent, hard-working woman," proclaimed +the druggist. "No children. Her brother boards with 'em. That's all." + +"Well, sir!" said Uncle Jason, oracularly. "There air some things in +this worl' ye kin be sure of, besides death and taxes. There's a few +things connected with this case that ye kin pin down. F'r instance: +The janitor didn't do it. Nelse Haley didn't do it. None o' you four +fellers done it." + +"Say! you goin' to drag us under suspicion, Jase?" drawled Cross Moore. + +"If you keep on sputterin' about Nelse Haley--yes," snapped Mr. Day, +nodding vigorously. "Howsomever, there's still another party ter which +the finger of suspicion p'ints." + +"Who's that?" was the chorus from the school committee. + +"A party often heard of in similar cases," said Mr. Day, solemnly. +"His name is _Unknown_! Yes, sir! Some party unknown entered that +building while you fellers was down cellar, same as Nelson Haley did. +This party, Unknown, stole the coins." + +"Aw, shucks, Jase!" grunted Mr. Cross Moore. "You got to give us +something more satisfactory than that if you want to shunt us off'n +Nelson Haley's trail," and the other three members of the School +Committee nodded. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOW NELSON TOOK IT + +Something more than mere curiosity drew Janice Day's footsteps toward +the new school building. There were other people drawn in the same +direction; but their interest was not like hers. + +Somehow, this newest bit of gossip in Polktown could be better +discussed at the scene of the strange robbery itself. Icivilly Sprague +and Mabel Woods walked there, arm in arm, passing Janice by with side +glances and the tossing of heads. + +Icivilly and Mabel had attended Nelson's school the first term after +Miss 'Rill Scattergood gave up teaching; but finding the young +schoolmaster impervious to their charms, they had declared themselves +graduated. + +They were not alone among the older girls who found Nelson provokingly +adamant. He did not flirt. Of late it had become quite apparent that +the schoolmaster had eyes only for Janice Day. Of course, that fact +did not gain Nelson friends among girls like Icivilly and Mabel in this +time of trial. + +Janice knew that they were whispering about her as she passed; but her +real thought was given to more important matters. Uncle Jason had told +her just how the affair of the robbery stood. There was a mystery--a +deep, deep mystery about it. + +In the group about the front gate of the school premises were Jim +Narnay and Trimmins, the woodsmen. Both had been drinking and were +rather hilarious and talkative. At least, Trimmins was so. + +"Wish _we'd_ knowed there was all that cash so free and open up here in +the schoolhouse--heh, Jim?" Trimmins said, smiting his brother toper +between the shoulders. "We wouldn't be diggin' out for no swamp to +haul logs." + +"You're mighty right, Trimmins! You're mighty right!" agreed the +drunken Narnay. "Gotter leave m' fambly--hate ter do it!" and he +became very lachrymose. "Ter'ble thing, Trimmins, f'r a man ter be +sep'rated from his fambly jest so's ter airn his livin'." + +"Right ye air, old feller," agreed the Southerner. "Hullo! here's the +buddy we're waitin' for. How long d'ye s'pose he'll last, loggin?" + +Janice saw the ex-drug clerk, Jack Besmith, mounting the hill with a +pack on his back. Rough as the two lumbermen were, Besmith looked the +more dissolute character, despite his youth. + +The trio went away together, bound evidently for one of Elder +Concannon's pieces of woodland, over the mountain. + +Benny Thread came out of the school building and locked the door +importantly behind him. Several of the curious ones surrounded the +little man and tried to get him into conversation upon the subject of +the robbery. + +"No, I can't talk," he said, shaking his head. "I can't, really. The +gentlemen of the School Committee have forbidden me. Why--only think! +It was more by good luck than good management that I wasn't placed in a +position where I could be suspected of the robbery. Lucky I was with +the committeemen every moment of the time they were down cellar. No, I +am not suspected, thanks be! But I must not talk--I must not talk." + +It was evident that he wanted to talk and he could be over-urged to +talk if the right pressure was brought to bear. Janice came away, +leaving the eagerly curious pecking at him--the one white blackbird in +the flock. + +Uncle Jason had given her some blunt words of encouragement. Janice +felt that she must see Nelson personally and cheer him up, if that were +possible. At least, she must tell him how she--and, indeed, all his +friends--had every confidence in him. + +Some people whom she met as she went up High Street looked at her +curiously. Janice held her head at a prouder angle and marched up the +hill toward Mrs. Beaseley's. She ignored these curious glances. + +But there was no escaping Mrs. Scattergood. That lover of gossip must +have been sitting behind her blind, peering down High Street, and +waiting for Janice's appearance. + +She hurried out of the house, beckoning to the girl eagerly. Janice +could not very well refuse to approach, so she walked on up the hill +beyond the side street on which Mrs. Beaseley's cottage stood, and met +the birdlike little woman at her gate. + +"For the good land's sake, Janice Day!" exploded Mrs. Scattergood. "I +was wonderin' if you'd never git up here. Surely, you've heard abeout +this drefful thing, ain't you?" + +Janice knew there was no use in evasion with Mrs. Scattergood. She +boldly confessed. + +"Yes, Mrs. Scattergood, I have heard about it. And I think Mr. Cross +Moore and those others ought to be ashamed of themselves--letting +people think for a moment that Mr. Haley took those coins." + +"Who _did_ take 'em?" asked the woman, eagerly. "Have they found out?" + +"Why, nobody but the person who really is the thief knows who stole the +coins; but of course everybody who knows Nelson at all, is sure that it +was not Mr. Haley." + +"Wal--they gotter lay it to somebody," Mrs. Scattergood said, rather +doubtfully. "That's the best them useless men could do," she added, +with that birdlike toss of the head that was so familiar to Janice. + +"If there'd been a woman around, they'd laid it on to her. Oh! I know +'em all--the hull kit an' bilin' of 'em." + +Janice tried to smile at this; but the woman's beadlike eyes seemed to +be boring with their glance right through the girl and this made her +extremely uncomfortable. + +"I expect you feel pretty bad, Janice Day," went on Mrs. Scattergood. +"But it's allus the way. You'll find as you grow older that there +ain't much in this world for females, young or old, but trouble." + +"Why, Mrs. Scattergood!" cried the girl, and this time she did call up +a merry look. "What have you to trouble you? You have the nicest time +of any person I know--unless it is Mrs. Marvin Petrie. No family to +trouble you; enough to live on comfortably; nothing to do but go +visiting--or stay at home if you'd rather----" + +"Tut, tut, tut, child! All is not gold that glitters," was the quick +reply. "I ain't so happy as ye may think. I have my troubles. But, +thanks be! they ain't abeout men. But you've begun yours, I kin see." + +"Yes, I am troubled because Mr. Haley is falsely accused," admitted +Janice, stoutly. + +"Wal--yes. I expect you air. And if it ain't no worse than you +believe--Wal! I said you was a new-fashioned gal when I fust set eyes +on you that day comin' up from the Landing in the old _Constance +Colfax_; and you be." + +"How am I different from other girls?" asked Janice, curiously. + +"Wal! Most gals would wait till they was sure the young man wasn't +goin' to be arrested before they ran right off to see him. But mebbe +it's because you ain't got your own mother and father to tell ye +diff'rent." + +Janice flushed deeply at this and her eyes sparkled. + +"I am sure Aunt 'Mira and Uncle Jason would have told me not to call on +Nelson if they did not believe just as I do--that he is guiltless and +that all his friends should show him at once that they believe in him." + +"Hoity-toity! Mebbe so," said the woman, tartly. "Them Days never did +have right good sense--yer uncle an' aunt, I mean. When _I_ was a gal +we wouldn't have been allowed to have so much freedom where the young +fellers was consarned." + +Janice was quite used to Mrs. Scattergood's sharp tongue; but it was +hard to bear her strictures on this occasion. + +"I hope it is not wrong for me to show my friend that I trust and +believe in him," she said firmly, and nodding good-bye, turned abruptly +away. + +Of herself, or of what the neighbors thought of her conduct, Janice Day +thought but little. She went on to Mrs. Beaseley's cottage, solely +anxious on Nelson's account. + +She found the widow in tears, for selfishly immured as Mrs. Beaseley +was in her ten-year-old grief over the loss of her "sainted Charles," +she was a dear, soft-hearted woman and had come to look upon Nelson +Haley almost as her son. + +"Oh, Janice Day! what ever are we going to do for him?" was her +greeting, the moment the girl entered the kitchen. "If my poor, dear +Charles were alive I know he would be furiously angry with Mr. Cross +Moore and those other men. Oh! I cannot bear to think of how angry he +would be, for Charles had a very stern temper. + +"And Mr. Haley is such a pleasant young man. As I tell 'em all, a +nicer and quieter person never lived in any lone female's house. And +to think of their saying such dreadful things about him! I am sure _I_ +never thought of locking anything away from Mr. Haley in this +house--and there's the 'leven sterling silver teaspoons that belonged +to poor, dear Charles' mother, and the gold-lined sugar-basin that was +my Aunt Abby's, and the sugar tongs--although they're bent some. + +"Why! Mr. Haley is jest one of the nicest young gentlemen that ever +was. And here he comes home, pale as death, and won't eat no dinner. +Janice, think of it! I allus have said, and I stick to it, that if one +can eat they'll be all right. My sainted Charles," she added, stating +for the thousandth time an uncontrovertible fact, "would be alive to +this day if he had continued to eat his victuals!" + +"I'd like to speak to Mr. Haley," Janice said, finally "getting a word +in edgewise." + +"Of course. Maybe he'll let you in," said the widow. "He won't me, +but I think he favors you, Janice," she added innocently, shaking her +head with a continued mournful air. "He come right in and said: +'Mother Beaseley, I don't believe I can eat any dinner to-day,' and +then shut and locked his door. I didn't know what had happened till +'Rene Hopper, she that works for Mrs. Cross Moore, run in to borry my +heavy flat-iron, an' she tol' me about the stolen money. Ain't it +_awful_?" + +"I--I hope Nelson will let me speak to him, Mrs. Beaseley," stammered +Janice, finding it very difficult now to keep her tears back. + +"You go right along the hall and knock at his door," whispered Mrs. +Beaseley, hoarsely. "An' you tell him I've got his dinner down on the +stove-hearth, 'twixt plates, a-keepin' it hot for him." + +Janice did as she was bidden as far as knocking at the door of the +front room was concerned. There was no answer at first--not a sound +from within. She rapped a second time. + +"I am sorry, Mrs. Beaseley; I could not possibly eat any dinner +to-day," Nelson's voice finally replied. + +There was no tremor in the tone of it. Janice knew just how proud the +young man was, and no matter how bitterly he was hurt by this trouble +that had fallen upon him, he would not easily reveal his feelings. + +She put her lips close to the crack of the door. "Nelson!" she +whispered. "Nelson!" a little louder. + +She heard him spring to his feet and overturn the chair in which he had +been sitting. + +"Nelson! it's only me," Janice quavered, the pulse beating painfully in +her throat. "Let me in--do!" + +He came across the room slowly. She heard him fumble at the key and +knob. Then the door opened. + +"Oh, Nelson!" she repeated, when she saw him in the darkened parlor. + +The pallor of his face went to her heart. His hair was disheveled; his +eyes red from weeping. After all, he was just a big boy in trouble, +and with no mother to comfort him. + +All the maternal instincts of Janice Day's nature went out to the young +fellow. "Nelson! Nelson!" she cried, under her breath. "You poor, +poor boy! I'm so sorry for you." + +"Janice--you----" He stammered, and could not finish the phrase. + +She cried, emphatically: "Of course I believe in you, Nelson. We _all_ +do! You must not take it so to heart. You will not bear it all alone, +Nelson. Every friend you have in Polktown will help you." + +She had come close to him, her hands fluttering upon his breast and her +eyes, sparkling with teardrops, raised to his face. + +"Oh, Janice!" he groaned, and swept her into his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +HOW POLKTOWN TOOK IT + +That was a very serious Saturday night at the old Day house, as well as +at the Beaseley cottage. Aunt 'Mira had whispered to Janice before the +girl had set forth with her uncle in the afternoon: + +"Bring him home to supper with ye, child--the poor young man! We got +to cheer him up, betwixt us. I'm goin' to have raised biscuits and +honey. He does dote on light bread." + +But Nelson would not come. Janice had succeeded in encouraging him to +a degree; but the young schoolmaster was too seriously wounded, both in +his self-respect and at heart, to wish to mingle on this evening with +any of his fellow-townsmen--even those who were his declared friends +and supporters. + +"Don't look for me at church to-morrow, either, Janice," the young man +said. "It may seem cowardly; but I cannot face all these people and +ignore this disgrace." + +"It is _not_ disgrace, Nelson!" Janice cried hotly. + +"It is, my dear girl. One does not have to be guilty to be disgraced +by such an accusation. I may be a coward; I don't know. At least, I +feel it too keenly to march into church to-morrow and know that +everybody is whispering about me. Why, Janice, I might break down and +make a complete fool of myself." + +"Oh, no, Nelson!" + +"I might. Even the children will know all about it and will stare at +me. I have to face them on Monday morning, and by that time I may have +recovered sufficient self-possession to ignore their glances and +whispers." + +And with that decision Janice was obliged to leave him. + +"The poor, foolish boy!" Aunt 'Mira said. "Don't he know we all air +sufferin' with him?" + +But Uncle Jason seemed better to appreciate the schoolmaster's attitude. + +"I don't blame him none. He's jest like a dog with a hurt paw--wants +ter crawl inter his kennel and lick his wounds. It's a tough +propersition, for a fac'." + +"He needn't be afraid that the fellers will guy him," growled Marty. +"If they do, I'll lick 'em!" + +"Oh, Marty! All of them?" cried Janice, laughing at his vehemence, yet +tearful, too. + +"Well--all I _can_," declared her cousin. "And there ain't many I +can't, you bet." + +"If you was as fond of work as ye be of fightin', Marty," returned Mr. +Day, drily, "you sartin sure'd be a wonderful feller." + +"Ya-as," drawled his son but in a very low tone, "maw says I'm growin' +more'n more like you, every day." + +"Marty," Janice put in quickly, before the bickering could go any +further, "did you see little Lottie? It was so late when I came out of +Mrs. Beaseley's, I ran right home." + +"I seed her," her cousin said gloomily. + +"How air her poor eyes?" asked Aunt 'Mira. + +"They're not poor eyes. They're as good as anybody's eyes," Marty +cried, with exasperation. + +"Wal--they say she's' goin' blind again," said tactless Aunt 'Mira. + +"I say she ain't! She ain't!" ejaculated Marty. "All foolishness. I +don't believe a thing them doctors say. She's got just as nice eyes as +anybody'd want." + +"That is true, Marty," Janice said soothingly; but she sighed. + +The door was open, for the evening was mild. On the damp Spring breeze +the sound of a husky voice was wafted up the street and into the old +Day house. + +"Hello!" grunted Uncle Jason, "who's this singin' bird a-comin' up the +hill? Tain't never Walky a-singin' like that, is it?" + +"It's Walky; but it ain't him singin'," chuckled Marty. + +"Huh?" queried Uncle Jason. + +"It's Lem Parraday's whiskey that's doin' the singin'," explained the +boy. "Hi tunket! Listen to that ditty, will ye?" + + "'I wish't I was a rock + A-settin' on a hill, + A-doin' nothin' all day long + But jest a-settin' still,'" + +roared Walky, who was letting the patient Josephus take his own gait up +Hillside Avenue. + +"For the Good Land o' Goshen!" cried Aunt 'Mira. "What's the matter o' +that feller? Has he taken leave of his senses, a-makin' of the night +higeous in that-a-way? Who ever told Walky Dexter 't he could sing?" + +"It's what he's been drinking that's doing the singing, I tell ye," +said her son. + +"Poor Walky!" sighed Janice. + +The expressman's complaint of his hard lot continued to rise in song: + + "'I wouldn't eat, I wouldn't sleep, + I wouldn't even wash; + I'd jest set still a thousand years, + And rest myself, b'gosh!'" + + +"Whoa, Josephus!" + +He had pulled the willing Josephus (willing at all times to stop) into +the open gateway of the old Day place. Marty went out on the porch to +hail him. + + "'I wish I was a bump + A-settin' on a log, + Baitin' m' hook with a flannel shirt + For to ketch a frog! + + "And when I'd ketched m' frog, + I'd rescue of m' bait-- + An' what a mess of frog's hind laigs + I _wouldn't_ have ter ate!'" + + +"Come on in, Walky, and rest your voice." + +"You be gittin' to be a smart young chap, Marty," proclaimed Walky, +coming slowly up the steps with a package for Mrs. Day and his book to +be signed. + +The odor of spirits was wafted before him. Walky's face was as round +and red as an August full moon. + +"How-do, Janice," he said. "What d'yeou think of them fule +committeemen startin' this yarn abeout Nelson Haley?" + +"What do folks say about it, Walky?" cut in Mr. Day, to save his niece +the trouble of answering. + +"Jest erbeout what you'd think they would," the philosophical +expressman said, shaking his head. "Them that's got venom under their +tongues, must spit it aout if they open their lips at all. Polktown's +jest erbeout divided--the gossips in one camp and the kindly talkin' +people in t'other. One crowd says Mr. Haley would steal candy from a +blind baby, an' t'other says his overcoat fits him so tight across't +the shoulders 'cause his wings is sproutin'. Haw! haw! haw!" + +"And what d' ye say, Mr. Dexter?" asked Aunt 'Mira, bluntly. + +The expressman puckered his lips into a curious expression. "I tell ye +what," he said. "Knowin' Mr. Haley as I do, I'm right sure he's +innercent as the babe unborn. But, jefers-pelters! who _could_ ha' +done it?" + +"Why, Walky!" gasped Janice. + +"I know. It sounds awful, don't it?" said the expressman. "I don't +whisper a word of this to other folks. But considerin' that the +schoolhouse doors was locked and Mr. Haley had the only other key +besides the janitor, who air Massey and them others goin' to blame for +the robbery?" + +"They air detarmined to save their own hides if possible," Uncle Jason +grumbled. + +"Natcherly--natcherly," returned Walky. "We know well enough none o' +them four men of the School Committee took the coins, nor Benny Thread, +neither. They kin all swear alibi for each other and sartain sure they +didn't all conspire ter steal the money and split it up 'twixt 'em. +Haw! haw! haw! 'Twouldn't hardly been wuth dividin' into five parts," +he added, his red face all of a grin. + +"That sounds horrid, Mr. Dexter," said Aunt 'Mira. + +"Wal, it's practical sense," the expressman said, wagging his head. +"It's a problem for one o' them smart detecatifs ye read abeout in the +magazines--one o' them like they have in stories. I read abeout one of +'em in a story. Yeou leave him smell the puffumery on a gal's +handkerchief and he'll tell right away whether she was a blonde or a +brunette, an' what size glove she wore! Haw! haw! haw! + +"This ain't no laughing matter, Walky," Mr. Day said, with a side +glance at Janice. + +"Better laff than cry," declared Walky. "Howsomever, folks seed Mr. +Haley go into the schoolhouse and come out ag'in----" + +"He told the committee he had been there," Janice interrupted. + +"That's right, too. Mebbe not so many folks would ha' knowed they'd +seen him there if he hadn't up and said so. Proberbly there was ha'f a +dozen other folks hangin' abeout the schoolhouse, too, at jest the time +the coin collection was stole; but they ain't remembered 'cause they +didn't up and tell on themselves." + +"Oh, Walky!" gasped the girl, startled by the suggestion. + +"Wal," drawled the expressman, in continuation, "that ain't no good to +us, for nobody had a key to the door but him and Benny Thread." + +"I wonder----" murmured Janice; but said no more. + +"It's a scanderlous thing," Walky pursued, receiving his book back and +preparing to join Josephus at the gate. "Goin' ter split things wide +open in Polktown, I reckon. 'Twill be wuss'n a church row 'fore it +finishes. Already there's them that says we'd oughter have another +teacher in Mr. Haley's place." + +"Oh, my!" cried Aunt 'Mira. + +"Ain't willin' ter give the young feller a chance't at all, heh?" said +Mr. Day, puffing hard at his pipe. "Wall! we'll see abeout _that_." + +"We'd never have a better teacher, I tell 'em," Walky flung back over +his shoulder. "But Mr. Haley's drawin' a good salary and there's them +that think it oughter go ter somebody that belongs here in Polktown, +not to an outsider like him." + +"Hi tunket!" cried Marty, after Walky had gone. "There ye have it. +Miss Pearly Breeze, that used ter substi-_toot_ for 'Rill Scattergood, +has wanted the school ever since Mr. Haley come. She'd do fine tryin' +to be principal of a graded school--I don't think!" + +"Oh, don't talk so, I beg of you," Janice said. "Of course Nelson +won't lose his school. If he did, under these circumstances, he could +never go to Millhampton College to teach. Why! perhaps his career as a +teacher would be irrevocably ruined." + +"Now, don't ye take on so, Janice," cried Aunt 'Mira, with her arm +about the girl. "It won't be like that. It _can't_ be so bad--can it, +Jason?" + +"We mustn't let it go that fur," declared her spouse, fully aroused +now. "Consarn Walky Dexter, anyway! I guess, as Marty says, what he +puts in his mouth talks as well as sings for him. + +"I snum!" added the farmer, shaking his head. "I dunno which is the +biggest nuisance, an ill-natered gossip or a good-natered one. Walky +claims ter feel friendly to Mr. Haley, and then comes here with all the +unfriendly gossip he kin fetch. Huh! I ain't got a mite o' use fer +sech folks." + +Uncle Jason was up, pacing the kitchen back and forth in his stocking +feet. He was much stirred over Janice's grief. Aunt 'Mira was in +tears, too. Marty went out on the porch, ostensibly for a pail of +fresh water, but really to cover his emotion. + +None of them could comfortably bear the sight of Janice's tears. As +Marty started the pump a boy ran into the yard and up the steps. + +"Hullo, Jimmy Gallagher, what you want?" demanded Marty. + +"I'm after Janice Day. Got a note for her," said the urchin. + +"Hey, Janice!" called her cousin; but the young girl was already out on +the porch. + +"What is it, Jimmy? Has Nelson----" + +"Here's a note from Miz' Drugg. Said for me to give it to ye," said +the boy, as he clattered down the steps again. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"MEN MUST WORK WHILE WOMEN MUST WEEP" + +Janice brought the letter indoors to read by the light of the kitchen +lamp. Her heart fluttered, for she feared that it was something about +Nelson. The Drugg domicile was almost across the street from the +Beaseley cottage and the girl did not know but that 'Rill had been +delegated to tell her something of moment about the young schoolmaster. + +Marty, too, was eagerly curious. "Hey, Janice! what's the matter?" he +whispered, at her shoulder. + +"Mr. Drugg has to be away this evening and she is afraid to stay in the +house and store alone. She wants me to come over and spend the night +with her. May I, Auntie?" + +"Of course, child--go if you like," Aunt 'Mira said briskly. "You've +been before." + +Twice Mr. Drugg had been away buying goods and Janice had spent the +night with 'Rill and little Lottie. + +"Though what protection I could be to them if a burglar broke in, I'm +sure I don't know," Janice had said, laughingly, on a former occasion. + +She went upstairs to pack her handbag rather gravely. She was glad to +go to the Drugg place to remain through the night. She would be near +Nelson Haley! Somehow, she felt that being across the street from the +schoolmaster would be a comfort. + +When she came downstairs Marty had his hat and coat on. "I'll go +across town with ye--and carry the bag," he proposed. "Going to the +reading room, anyway." + +"That's nice of you, Marty," she said, trying to speak in her usual +cheery manner. + +Janice was rather glad it was a moonless evening as she walked side by +side with her cousin down Hillside Avenue. It was one of the first +warm evenings of the Spring and the neighbors were on their porches, or +gossiping at the gates and boundary fences. + +What about? Ah! too well did Janice Day know the general subject of +conversation this night in Polktown. + +"Come on, Janice," grumbled Marty. "Don't let any of those old cats +stop you. They've all got their claws sharpened up." + +"Hush, Marty!" she begged, yet feeling a warm thrill at her heart +because of the boy's loyalty. + +"There's that old Benny Thread!" exploded Marty, as they came out on +the High Street. "Oh! he's as important now as a Billy-goat on an +ash-heap. You'd think, to hear him, that he'd stole the coins +himself--only he didn't have no chance't. He and Jack Besmith wouldn't +ha' done a thing to that bunch of money--no, indeed!--if they'd got +hold of it." + +"Why, Marty!" put in Janice; "you shouldn't say that." Then, with +sudden curiosity, she added: "What has that drug clerk got to do with +the janitor of the school building?" + +"He's Benny's brother-in-law. But Jack's left town, I hear." + +"He's gone with Trimmins and Narnay into the woods," Janice said +thoughtfully. + +"So _he's_ out of it," grumbled Marty. "Jack went up to Massey's the +other night to try to get his old job back, and Massey turned him out +of the store. Told him his breath smothered the smell of iodoform in +the back shop," and Marty giggled. "That's how Jack come to get a pint +and wander up into our sheep fold to sleep it off." + +"Oh, dear, Marty," sighed Janice, "this drinking in Polktown is getting +to be a dreadful thing. See how Walky Dexter was to-night." + +"Yep." + +"Everything that's gone wrong lately is the fault of Lem Parraday's +bar." + +"Huh! I wonder?" questioned Marty. "Guess Nelse Haley won't lay _his_ +trouble to liquor drinking." + +"No? I wonder----" + +"Here's the library building, Janice," interrupted the boy. "Want me +to go any further with you?" + +"No, dear," she said, taking the bag from him. "Tell Aunt 'Mira I'll +be home in the morning in time enough to dress for church." + +"Aw-right." + +"And, Marty!" + +"Yep?" returned he, turning back. + +"I see there's a light in the basement of the library building. What's +going on?" + +"We fellers are holding a meeting," said Marty, importantly. "I called +it this afternoon. I don't mind telling you, Janice, that we're going +to pass resolutions backing up Mr. Haley--pass him a vote of +confidence. That's what they do in lodges and other societies. And if +any of the fellers renege tonight on this, I'll--I'll--Well, I'll show +'em somethin'!" finished Marty, very red in the face and threatening as +he dived down the basement steps. + +"Oh, well," thought Janice, encouraged after all. "Nelson has some +loyal friends." + +She came to the store on the side street without further incident. She +looked across timidly at Nelson's windows. A lamp burned dimly there, +so she knew he was at home. + +Indeed, where would he go--to whom turn in his trouble? Aside from an +old maiden aunt who had lent him enough of her savings to enable him to +finish his college course, Nelson had no relatives alive. He had no +close friend, either young or old, but herself, Janice knew. + +"Oh, if daddy were only home from Mexico!" was her unspoken thought, as +she lifted the latch of the store door. + +There were no customers at this hour; but it was Hopewell Drugg's +custom to keep the store open until nine o'clock every evening, and +Saturday night until a much later hour. Every neighborhood store must +do this to keep trade. + +"I'm so glad to see you, Janice," 'Rill proclaimed, without coming from +behind the counter. "You'll stay?" + +"Surely. Don't you see my bag?" returned Janice gaily. "Is Mr. Drugg +going to be away all night?" + +"He--he could not be sure. It's another dance," 'Rill said, rather +apologetically. "He feels he must play when he can. Every five +dollars counts, you know, and Hopewell is sure that Lottie will have to +go back to the school." + +"Where is the dance?" asked Janice gravely. "Down at the Inn?" + +"Yes," replied the wife, quite as seriously, and dropping her gaze. + +"Oh! I hear my Janice! I hear my Janice Day!" cried Lottie's sweet, +shrill voice from the rear apartment and she came running out into the +store to meet the visitor. + +"Have a care! have a care, dear!" warned 'Rill. "Look where you run." + +Janice, seeing more clearly from where she stood in front of the +counter, was aware that the child ran toward her with her hands +outstretched, and with her eyes tightly closed--just as she used to do +before her eyes were treated and she had been to the famous Boston +physician. + +"Oh, Lottie dear!" she exclaimed, taking the little one into her arms. +"You will run into something. You will hurt yourself. Why don't you +look where you are going?" + +"I _do_ look," Lottie responded pouting. Then she wriggled all her ten +fingers before Janice's face. "Don't you see my lookers? I can +see--oh! so nicely!--with my fingers. You know I always could, Janice +Day." + +'Rill shook her head and sighed. It was plain the bride was a very +lenient stepmother indeed--perhaps too lenient. She loved Hopewell +Drugg's child so dearly that she could not bear to correct her. Lottie +had always had her own way with her father; and matters had not +changed, Janice could see. + +"Mamma 'Rill," Lottie coaxed, patting her step-mother's pink cheek, +"you'll let me sit up longer, 'cause Janice is here--won't you?" + +Of course 'Rill could not refuse her. So the child sat there, blinking +at the store lights like a little owl, until finally she sank down in +the old cushioned armchair behind the stove and fell fast asleep. +Occasionally customers came in; but between whiles Janice and the +storekeeper's wife could talk. + +The racking "clump, clump, clump," of a big-footed farm horse sounded +without and a woman's nasal voice called a sharp: + +"Whoa! Whoa, there! Now, Emmy, you git aout and hitch him to that +there post. Ain't no ring to it? Wal! I don't see what Hope Drugg's +thinkin' of--havin' no rings to his hitchin' posts. He ain't had none +to that one long's I kin remember." + +"Here comes Mrs. Si Leggett," said 'Rill to Janice. "She's a +particular woman and I am sorry Hopewell isn't here himself. Usually +she comes in the afternoon. She is late with her Saturday's shopping +this time." + +"Take this basket of eggs--easy, now, Emmy!" shrilled the woman's +voice. "Handle 'em careful--handle 'em like they _was_ eggs!" + +A heavy step, and a lighter step, on the porch, and then the store door +opened. The woman was tall and raw-boned. She wore a sunbonnet of +fine green and white stripes. Emmy was a lanky child of fourteen or +so, with slack, flaxen hair and a perfectly colorless face. + +"Haow-do, Miz' Drugg," said the newcomer, putting a large basket of +eggs carefully on the counter. "What's Hopewell givin' for eggs +to-day?" + +"Just what everybody else is, Mrs. Leggett. Twenty-two cents. That's +the market price." + +"Wal--seems ter me I was hearin' that Mr. Sprague daowntown was +a-givin' twenty-three," said the customer slowly. + +"Perhaps he is, Mrs. Leggett. But Mr. Drugg cannot afford to give even +a penny above the market price. Of course, either cash or trade--just +as you please." + +"Wal, I want some things an' I wasn't kalkerlatin' to go 'way daowntown +ter-night--it's so late," said Mrs. Leggett. + +'Rill smiled and waited. + +"Twenty-two's the best you kin do?" queried the lanky woman querulously. + +"That is the market price." + +"Wal! lemme see some cheap gingham. It don't matter abeout the +pattern. It's only for Emmy here, and it don't matter what 'tis that +covers her bones' long's it does cover 'em. Will this fade?" + +"I don't think so," Mrs. Drugg said, opening the bolt of goods so that +the customer could get at it better. + +Janice watched, much amused. The woman pulled at the piece one way, +and then another, wetting it meantime and rubbing it with her fingers +to ascertain if the colors were fast. She was apparently unable to +satisfy herself regarding it. + +Finally she produced a small pair of scissors and snipped off a tiny +piece and handed it to Emmy. "Here, Emmy," she said, "you spit aout +that there gum an' chew on this here awhile ter see if it fades any." + +Janice dodged behind the post to hide the expression of amusement that +she could not control. She wondered how 'Rill could remain so placid +and unruffled. + +Emmy took the piece of goods, clapped it into her mouth with the most +serious expression imaginable, and went to work. Her mother said: + +"Ye might's well count the eggs, Miz' Drugg. I make 'em eight dozen +and ten. I waited late for the rest of the critters ter lay; but they +done fooled me ter-day--for a fac'!" + +Emmy having chewed on the gingham to her mother's complete +satisfaction, Mrs. Leggett finished making her purchases and they +departed. Then 'Rill and her guest could talk again. Naturally the +conversation almost at the beginning turned upon Nelson Haley's trouble. + +"It is terrible!" 'Rill said. "Mr. Moore and those others never could +have thought what they were doing when they accused Mr. Haley of +stealing." + +"They were afraid that they would have to make good for the coins, and +felt that they must blame somebody," Janice replied with a sigh. + +"Of course, Hopewell went right over to tell the schoolmaster what he +thought about it as soon as the story reached us. Hopewell thinks +highly of the young man, you know." + +"Until this thing happened, I thought almost everybody thought highly +of him," said Janice, with a sob. + +"Oh, my dear!" cried 'Rill, tearful herself, "there is such gossip in +Polktown. So many people are ready to make ill-natured and untruthful +remarks about one----" + +Janice knew to what secret trouble the storekeeper's wife referred. "I +know!" she exclaimed, wiping away her own tears. "They have talked +horridly about Mr. Drugg." + +"It is untruthful! It is unfair!" exclaimed Hopewell Drugg's wife, her +cheeks and eyes suddenly ablaze with indignation. To tell the truth, +she was like an angry kitten, and had the matter not been so serious, +Janice must have laughed at her. + +"They have told all over town that Hopewell came home intoxicated from +that last dance," continued the wife. "But it is a story--a wicked, +wicked story!" + +Janice was silent. She remembered what she and Marty and Mrs. +Scattergood had seen on the evening in question--how Hopewell Drugg had +looked as he staggered past the street lamp on the corner on his way +home with the fiddle under his arm. + +She looked away from 'Rill and waited. Janice feared that the poor +little bride would discover the expression of her doubt in her eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AN UNEXPECTED EMERGENCY + +'Rill seemed to understand what was in Janice's mind and heart. She +kept on with strained vehemence: + +"I know what they all say! And my mother is as bad as any of them. +They say Hopewell was intoxicated. He was sick, and the bartender +mixed him something to settle his stomach. I think maybe he put some +liquor in it unbeknown to Hopewell. Or something! + +"The poor, dear man was ill all night, Janice, and he never did +remember how he got home from the dance. Whatever he drank seemed to +befuddle his brain just as soon as he came out into the night air. +That should prove that he's not a drinking man." + +"I--I am sorry for you, dear," Janice said softly. "And I am sorry +anybody saw Mr. Drugg that evening on his way home." + +"Oh, I know you saw him, Janice--and Marty Day and my mother. Mother +can be as mean as mean can be! She has never liked Hopewell, as you +know." + +"Yes, I know," admitted Janice. + +"She keeps throwing such things up to me. And her tongue is never +still. It is true Hopewell's father was a drinking man." + +"Indeed?" said Janice, curiously. + +"Yes," sighed 'Rill Drugg. "He was rather shiftless. Perhaps it is +the nature of artists so to be," she added reflectively. "For he was +really a fine musician. Had Hopewell had a chance he might have been +his equal. I often think so," said the storekeeper's bride proudly. + +"I know that the elder Mr. Drugg taught the violin." + +"Yes. And he used to travel about over the country, giving lessons and +playing in orchestras. That used to make Mrs. Drugg awfully angry. +She wanted him to be a storekeeper. She made Hopewell be one. How she +ever came to marry such a man as Hopewell's father, I do not see." + +"She must have loved him," said Janice wistfully. + +"Of course!" cried the bride, quite as innocently. "She couldn't have +married him otherwise." + +"And was Hopewell their only child?" + +"Yes. He seldom saw his father, but he fairly worshiped him. His +father was a handsome man--and he used to play his violin for Hopewell. +It was this very instrument my husband prizes so greatly now. When Mr. +Drugg died the violin was hid away for years in the garret. + +"You've heard how Hopewell found it, and strung it himself, and used to +play on it slyly, and so taught himself to be a fiddler, before his +mother had any idea he knew one note from another. She was extremely +deaf at the last and could not hear him playing at odd times, up in the +attic." + +"My!" said Janice, "he must have really loved music." + +"It was his only comfort," said the wife softly. "When he was +twenty-one what little property his father had left came to him. But +his mother did not put the violin into the inventory; so Hopewell said: +'Give me the fiddle and you can have the rest.'" + +"He loved it so!" murmured Janice appreciatively: + +"Yes. I guess that was almost the only time in his life that Hopewell +really asserted himself. With his mother, at least. She was a very +stubborn woman, and very stern; more so than my own mother. But Mrs. +Drugg had to give in to him about the violin, for she needed Hopewell +to run the store for her. They had little other means. + +"But she made him marry 'Cinda Stone," added 'Rill. "Poor 'Cinda! she +was never happy. Not that Hopewell did not treat her well. You know, +Janice, he is the sweetest-tempered man that ever lived. + +"And that is what hurts me more than anything else," sobbed the bride, +dabbling her eyes with her handkerchief. "When they say Hopewell gets +intoxicated, and is cruel to me and to Lottie, it seems as though--as +though I could scratch their eyes out!" + +For a moment Hopewell's wife looked so spiteful, and her eyes snapped +so, that Janice wanted to laugh. Of course, she did not do so. But to +see the mild and sweet-tempered 'Rill display such venom was amusing. + +The store door opened with a bang. The girl and the woman both started +up, Lottie remaining asleep. + +"Hush! Never mind!" whispered Janice to 'Rill. "I'll wait on the +customer." + +When she went out into the front of the store, she saw that the figure +which had entered was in a glistening slicker. It had begun to rain. + +"Why, Frank Bowman! Is it you?" she asked, in surprise. + +"Oh! how-do, Janice! I didn't expect to find you here." + +"Nor I you. What are you doing away up here on the hill?" Janice asked. + +Frank Bowman did not look himself. The girl could not make out what +the trouble with him was, and she was puzzled. + +"I guess you forgot I told you I was moving," he said hesitatingly. + +"Oh, I remember! And you've moved up into this neighborhood?" + +"Not exactly. I am going to lodge with the Threads, but I shall +continue to eat Marm Parraday's cooking." + +"The Threads?" murmured Janice. + +"You know. The little, crooked-backed man. He's janitor of the +school. His wife has two rooms I can have. Her brother has been +staying with them; but he's lost his job and has gone up into the +woods. It's a quiet place--and that's what I want. I can't stand the +racket at the hotel any longer," concluded the civil engineer. + +But Janice thought he still looked strange and spoke differently from +usual. His glance wandered about the store as he talked. + +"What did you want to buy, Frank?" she asked. "I'm keeping store +to-night." She knew that 'Rill would not want the young man to see her +tears. + +"Oh--ah--yes," Bowman stammered. "What did I want?" + +At that Janice laughed outright. She thought highly of the young civil +engineer, and she considered herself a close enough friend to ask, +bluntly: + +"What ever is the matter with you, Frank Bowman? You're acting +ridiculously." + +He came nearer to her and whispered: "Where's Mrs. Drugg?" + +Janice motioned behind her, and her face paled. What had happened? + +"I--I declare I don't know how to tell her," murmured the young man, +his hand actually trembling. + +"Tell her what?" gasped Janice. + +"Or even that I ought to tell her," added Frank Bowman, shaking his +head. + +Janice seized him by the lapel of his coat and tried to shake him. +"What do you mean? What are you talking about?" she demanded. + +"What is the matter, Janice?" called 'Rill's low voice from the back. + +"Never mind! I can attend to _this_ customer," Janice answered gaily. +"It's Frank Bowman." + +Then she turned swiftly to the civil engineer again and whispered: +"What is it about? Hopewell?" + +"Yes," he returned in the same low tone. + +"What is the matter with him?" demanded the girl greatly worried. + +"He's down at the Inn----" + +"I know. He went there to play at a dance tonight. That's why I am +here--to keep his wife company," explained Janice. + +"Well," said Bowman. "I went down to get some of my books I'd left +there. They're having a high old time in that big back room, +downstairs. You know?" + +"Where they are going to have the Assembly Ball?" + +"Yes," he agreed. + +"But it's nothing more than a dance, is it?" whispered Janice. +"Hopewell was hired to play----" + +"I know. But such playing you never heard in all your life," said +Bowman, with disgust. "And the racket! I wonder somebody doesn't +complain to Judge Little or to the Town Council." + +"Not with Mr. Cross Moore holding a mortgage on the hotel," said +Janice, with more bitterness than she usually displayed. + +"You're right there," Bowman agreed gloomily. + +"But what about Hopewell?" + +"I believe they have given him something to drink. That Joe Bodley, +the barkeeper, is up to any trick. If Hopewell keeps on he will +utterly disgrace himself, and----" + +Janice clung to his arm tightly, interrupting his words with a little +cry of pity. "And it will fairly break his wife's heart!" she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +INTO THE LION'S DEN + +Janice Day was growing up. + +What really ages one in this life? Emotions. +Fear--sorrow--love--hate--sympathy--jealousy--all the primal passions +wear one out and make one old. This young girl of late had suffered +from too much emotion. + +Nelson Haley's trouble; her father's possible peril in Mexico; the many +in whom she was interested being so affected by the sale of liquor in +Polktown--all these things combined to make Janice feel a burden of +responsibility that should not have rested upon the shoulders of so +young a girl. + +"Frank," she whispered to Bowman, there in the front of the dusky +store, "Frank, what shall we do?" + +"What can we do?" he asked quite blankly. + +"He--he should be brought home." + +"My goodness!" Bowman stammered. "Do you suppose Mrs. Drugg would go +down there after him?" + +"She mustn't," Janice hastened to reply, with decision; "but I will." + +"Not you, Janice!" Bowman exclaimed, recoiling at the thought. + +"Do you suppose I'd let you tell Mrs. Drugg?" demanded the girl, +fiercely, yet under her breath. + +"He's her husband." + +"And I'm her friend." + +Bowman looked admiringly at the flushed face of the girl. "You are +fine, Janice," he said. "But you're too fine to go into that place +down there and get Drugg out of it. If you think it is your duty to go +for the man, I'll go with you. And I'll go in after him." + +"Oh, Mr. Bowman! If you would!" + +"Oh, I will. I only wish we had your car. He may be unable to walk +and then the neighbors will talk." + +"It's got beyond worrying about what the neighbors say," said Janice +wearily. "Now, wait. I must go and excuse myself to Mrs. Drugg. She +must not suspect. Maybe it isn't as bad as you think and we'll get +Hopewell home all right." + +The storekeeper's wife had carried Lottie back to the sitting room. +The child was still asleep and 'Rill was undressing her. + +"What is the matter, Janice?" she asked curiously. "Has Mr. Bowman +gone? What did he want?" + +"He didn't want to buy anything. He wanted to see me. I--I am going +out with him a little while, Miss 'Rill." + +The latter nodded her head knowingly. "I know," she said. "You are +going across the street. I am glad Mr. Bowman feels an interest in Mr. +Haley's affairs." + +"Yes!" gasped Janice, feeling that she was perilously near an untruth, +for she was allowing 'Rill to deceive herself. + +"Will you put the window lamps out before you go, dear?" the +storekeeper's wife said. + +"Certainly," Janice answered, and proceeded to do so before putting on +her coat and hat. + +"Don't be long," 'Rill observed softly. "It's after eleven now." + +Janice came and kissed her--oh, so tenderly! They stood above the +sleeping child. 'Rill had eyes only for the half naked, plump limbs +and body of the little girl, or she might have seen something in +Janice's tearful glance to make her suspicious. + +Janice thought of a certain famous picture of the "Madonna and Child" +as she tiptoed softly from the room, looking back as she went 'Rill +yearned over the little one as only a childless and loving woman does. +Perhaps 'Rill had married Hopewell Drugg as much for the sake of being +able to mother little Lottie as for any other reason. + +Yet, what a shock that tender, loving heart was about to receive--what +a blow! Janice shrank from the thought of being one of those to bring +this hovering trouble home to the trusting wife. + +Could she not escape it? There was her handbag on the end of the +counter. She was tempted to seize it, run out of the store, and make +her way homeward as fast as possible. + +She could leave Frank Bowman to settle the matter with his own +conscience. He had brought the knowledge of this trouble to the little +store on the side street. Let him solve the problem as best he might. + +Then Janice gave the civil engineer a swift glance, and her heart +failed her. She could not leave that unhappy looking specimen of +helplessness to his own devices. + +Frank's pompadour was ruffled, his eyes were staring, and his whole +countenance was a troubled mask. In that moment Janice Day realized +for the first time the main duty of the female in this world. That is, +she is here to pull the incompetent male out of his difficulties! + +She thought of Nelson, thoughtful and sensible as he was, actually +appalled by his situation in the community. And here was Frank Bowman, +a very efficient engineer, unable to engineer this small matter of +getting Hopewell Drugg home from the dance, without her assistance. + +"Oh, dear me! what would the world be without us women?" thought +Janice--and gave up all idea of running away and leaving Frank to +bungle the situation. + +The two went out of the store together and closed the door softly +behind them. Janice could not help glancing across at the lighted +front windows of Mrs. Beaseley's cottage. + +"There's trouble over yonder," said young Bowman gently. "I went in to +see him after supper. He said you'd been there to help him buck up, +Janice. Really, you're a wonderful girl." + +"I'm sorry," sighed Janice. + +"What?" cried Frank. + +"Yes. I am sorry if I am wonderful. If I were not considered so, then +not so many unpleasant duties would fall my way." + +Frank laughed at that. "I guess you're right," he said. "Those that +seem to be able to bear the burdens of life certainly have them to +bear. But poor Nelson needs somebody to hold up his hands, as it were. +He's up against it for fair, Janice." + +"Oh! I can't believe that the committee will continue this +persecution, when they come to think it over," the girl cried. + +"It doesn't matter whether they do or not, I fear," Bowman said, with +conviction. "The harm is done. He's been accused." + +"Oh, dear me! I know it," groaned Janice. + +"And unless he is proved innocent, Nelson Haley is bound to have +trouble here in Polktown." + +"Do you believe so, Frank?" + +"I hate to say it. But we--his friends--might as well face the fact +first as last," said the civil engineer, sheltering Janice beneath the +umbrella he carried. It was misting heavily and she was glad of this +shelter. + +"Oh, I hope they will find the real thief very quickly!" + +"So do I. But I see nothing being done toward that. The committee +seems satisfied to accuse Nelson--and let it go at that." + +"It is too, too bad!" + +"They are following the line of least resistance. The real thief is, +of course, well away--out of Polktown, and probably in some big city +where the coins can be disposed of to the best advantage." + +"Do you really believe so?" cried the girl. + +"I do. The thief was some tramp or traveling character who got into +the schoolhouse by stealth. That is the only sensible explanation of +the mystery." + +"Do you really believe so?" repeated Janice. + +"Yes. Think of it yourself. The committee and Benny Thread are not +guilty. Nelson is not guilty. Only two keys to the building and those +both accounted for. + +"Some time--perhaps on Friday afternoon or early evening--this tramp I +speak of crept into the cellar when the basement door of the +schoolhouse was open, with the intention of sleeping beside the +furnace. In the morning he slips upstairs and hides from the janitor +and keeps in hiding when the four committeemen appear. + +"He sees the trays of coins," continued Frank Bowman, waxing +enthusiastic with his own story, "and while the committeemen are +downstairs, and before Nelson comes in, he takes the coins." + +"Why _before_ Nelson entered?" asked Janice sharply. + +"Because Nelson tells me that he did not see the trays on the table in +the committee room when he looked in there. The thief had removed +them, and then put the trays back. Had Nelson seen them he would have +stopped to examine the coins, at least. You see, they were brought +over from Middletown and delivered to Massey, who kept them in his safe +all night. Nelson never laid eyes on them." + +"I see! I see!" murmured Janice. + +"So this fellow stole the coins and slipped out of the building with +them. They may even be melted down and sold for old gold by this time; +although that would scarcely be possible. At any rate, the committee +will have to satisfy the owner of the collection. That is sure." + +"And that is going to make them all just as mad as they can be," +declared the girl. "They want to blame somebody----" + +"And they have blamed Nelson. It remains that he must prove himself +innocent--before public opinion, not before a court. There they have +to prove guilt. He is guilty already in the eyes of half of Polktown. +No chance of waiting to be proved guilty before he is considered so." + +Janice flushed and her answer came sharply: "And how about the other +half of Polktown?" + +"We may be evenly divided--fifty-fifty," and Bowman laughed grimly. +"But the ones who believe--or _say_ that they believe--Nelson Haley +guilty, will talk much louder than those who deny." + +"Oh, Frank Bowman! you take all my hope away." + +"I don't mean to. I want to point out to you--and myself, as +well--that to sit idle and wait for the matter to settle itself, is not +enough for us who believe Haley is guiltless. We've got to set about +disproving the accusation." + +"I--I can see you are right," admitted the girl faintly. + +"Yes; I am right. But being right doesn't end the matter. The +question is: How are we going about it to save Nelson?" + +Janice was rather shocked by this conclusion. Frank had seemed so +clear up to this point. And then he slumped right down and practically +asked her: "What are _you_ going to do about it?" + +"Oh, dear me!" cried Janice Day, faintly, "I don't know. I can't +think. We must find some way of tracing the real thief. Oh! how can I +think of that, when here poor 'Rill and Hopewell are in trouble?" + +"Never mind! Never mind, Janice!" said Frank Bowman. "We'll soon get +Hopewell home. And I hope, too, that his wife will know enough to keep +him away from the hotel hereafter." + +"But, suppose she can't," whispered Janice. "You know, his father was +given to drinking." + +"No! Is that so?" + +"Yes. Maybe it is hereditary----" + +"Queer it didn't show itself before," said Bowman sensibly. "I am more +inclined to believe that Joe Bodley is playing tricks. Why! he's kept +bar in the city and I know he was telling some of the scatter-brained +young fools who hang around the Inn, that he's often seen 'peter' used +in men's drink to knock them out. 'Peter,' you know, is 'knock-out +drops!'" + +"No, I don't know," said Janice, with disgust. "Or, I didn't till you +told me." + +"Forgive me, Janice," the civil engineer said humbly. "I was only +explaining." + +"Oh, I'm not blaming you at all," she said. "But I am angry to think +that my own mind--as well as everybody's mind in Polktown--is being +contaminated from this barroom. We are all learning saloon phrases. I +never heard so much slang from Marty and the other boys, as I have +caught the last few weeks. Having liquor sold in Polktown is giving us +a new language." + +"Well," said Bowman, as the lights of the Inn came in sight, "I hadn't +thought of it that way. But I guess you are right. Now, now, Janice, +what had we better do? Hear the noise?" + +"What kind of dance is it?" asked Janice, in disgust. "I should think +that it was a sailor's dance hall, or a lumber camp dance. I have +heard of such things." + +"It's going a little too strong for Lem Parraday himself to-night, I +guess. Marm shuts herself in their room upstairs, I understand, and +reads her Bible and prays." + +"Poor woman!" + +"She's of the salt of the earth," said Bowman warmly. "But she can't +help herself. Lem would do it. The Inn did not pay. And it is paying +now. At least, he says it is." + +"It won't pay them in the end if this keeps up," said Janice, listening +to the stamping and the laughter and the harsh sounds of violins and +piano. "Surely Hopewell isn't making _all_ that--that music?" + +"I'll go in and see. I shouldn't wonder if he was not playing at all +now. Maybe one of the boys has got his fiddle." + +"Oh, no! He'd never let that precious violin out of his own hands, +would he?" queried Janice. "Why! do you know, Frank, I believe that is +quite a valuable instrument." + +"I don't know. But when I started uptown one of the visitors was +teasing to get hold of the violin. I don't know the man. He is a +stranger--a black-haired, foxy-looking chap. Although, by good rights, +I suppose a 'foxy-looking' person should be red-haired, eh?" + +Janice, however, was not splitting hairs. She said quickly: "Do go in; +Frank, and see what Hopewell is about." + +"How'll I get him out?" + +"Tell him I want to see him. He'll think something has happened to +'Rill or Lottie. I don't care if he is scared. It may do him good." + +"I'll go around by the barroom door," said the young engineer, for they +had come to the front entrance of the hotel. + +Lights were blazing all over the lower floor of the sprawling building; +but from the left of the front door came the sound of dancing. Some of +the windows were open and the shades were up. Janice, standing in the +darkness of the porch, could see the dancers passing back and forth +before the windows. + +By the appearance of those she saw, she judged that the girls and women +were mostly of the mill-hand class, and were from Middletown and +Millhampton. She knew the men of the party were of the same class. +The tavern yard was full of all manner of vehicles, including huge +party wagons which carried two dozen passengers or more. There was a +big crowd. + +Janice felt, after all, as though she had urged Frank Bowman into the +lion's den! The dancers were a rough set. She left the front porch +after a while and stole around to the barroom door. + +The door was wide open, but there was a half-screen swinging in the +opening which hid all but the legs and feet of the men standing at the +bar. Here the voices were much plainer. There were a few boys hanging +about the doorway, late as the hour was. Janice was smitten with the +thought that Marty's boys' club, the foundation society of the Public +Library and Reading Room, would better be after these youngsters. + +"Why, Simeon Howell!" she exclaimed suddenly. "You ought not to be +here. I don't believe your mother knows where you are." + +The other boys, who were ragamuffins, giggled at this, and one said to +young Howell: + +"Aw, Sim! Yer mother don't know yer out, does she? Better run home, +Simmy, or she'll spank ye." + +Simeon muttered something not very complimentary to Janice, and moved +away. The Howells lived on Hillside Avenue and he was afraid Janice +would tell his mother of this escapade. + +Suddenly a burst of voices proclaimed trouble in the barroom. She +heard Frank Bowman's voice, high-pitched and angry: + +"Then give him his violin! You've no right to it. I'll take him away +all right; but the violin goes, too!" + +"No, we want the fiddle. He was to play for us," said a harsh voice. +"There is another feller here can play instead. But we want both +violins." + +"None of that!" snapped the engineer. "Give me that!" + +There was a momentary struggle near the flapping screen. Suddenly +Hopewell Drugg, very much disheveled, half reeled through the door; but +somebody pulled him back. + +"Aw, don't go so early, Hopewell. You're your own man, ain't ye? +Don't let this white-haired kid boss you." + +"Let him alone, Joe Bodley!" commanded Bowman again, and Janice, +shaking on the porch, knew that it must be the barkeeper who had +interfered with Hopewell Drugg's escape. + +The girl was terror-stricken; but she was indignant, too. She shrank +from facing the half-intoxicated crowd in the room just as she would +have trembled at the thought of entering a cage of lions. + +Nevertheless, she put her hand against the swinging screen, pushed it +open, and stepped inside the tavern door. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DECLARATION OF WAR + +The room was a large apartment with smoke-cured and age-blackened beams +in the ceiling. This was the ancient tap-room of the tavern, which had +been built at that pre-Revolutionary time when the stuffed catamount, +with its fangs and claws bared to the York State officers, crouched on +top of the staff at Bennington--for Polktown was one of the oldest +settlements in these "Hampshire Grants." + +No noisier or more ill-favored crew, Janice Day thought, could ever +have been gathered under the roof of the Inn, than she now saw as she +pushed open the screen. Tobacco smoke poisoned the air, floating in +clouds on a level with the men's heads, and blurring the lamplight. + +There was a crowd of men and boys at the door of the dance hall. At +the bar was another noisy line. It was evident that Joe Bodley had +merely run from behind the bar for a moment to stop, if he could, +Hopewell Drugg's departure. Hopewell was flushed, hatless, and +trembling. Whether he was intoxicated or ill, the fact remained that +he was not himself. + +The storekeeper clung with both hands to the neck of his violin. A +greasy-looking, black-haired fellow held on to the other end of the +instrument, and was laughing in the face of the expostulating Frank +Bowman, displaying a wealth of white teeth, and the whites of his eyes, +as well. He was a foreigner of some kind. Janice had never seen him +before, and she believed he must be the "foxy-looking" man Frank had +previously mentioned. + +It was, however, Joe Bodley, whom the indignant young girl confronted +when she came so suddenly into the room. Most of the men present paid +no attention to the quarreling group at the entrance. + +"Come now, Hopewell, be a sport," the young barkeeper was saying. +"It's early yet, and we want to hear more of your fiddling. Give us +that 'Darling, I Am Growing Old' stuff, with all the variations. +Sentiment! Sentiment! Oh, hullo! Evening, Miss! What can I do for +you?" + +He said this last impudently enough, facing Janice. He was a +fat-faced, smoothly-shaven young man--little older than Frank Bowman, +but with pouches under his eyes and the score of dissipation marked +plainly in his countenance. He had unmeasured impudence and bravado in +his eyes and in his smile. + +"I have come to speak to Mr. Drugg," Janice said, and she was glad she +could say it unshakenly, despite her secret emotions. She would not +give this low fellow the satisfaction of knowing how frightened she +really was. + +Frank Bowman's back was to the door. Perhaps this was well, for he +would have hesitated to do just what was necessary had he known Janice +was in the room. The young engineer had not been bossing a +construction gang of lusty, "two-fisted" fellows for six months without +many rude experiences. + +"So, you won't let go, eh?" he gritted between his teeth to the smiling +foreigner. + +With his left hand in his collar, Frank jerked the man toward him, +thrust his own leg forward, and then pitched the fellow backward over +his knee. This act broke the man's hold upon Drugg's violin and he +crashed to the floor, striking the back of his head soundly. + +"All right, Mr. Drugg," panted Frank. "Get out." + +But it was Janice, still confronting Bodley, that actually freed the +storekeeper from his enemies. Her eyes blazed with indignation into +the bartender's own. His fat, white hand dropped from Hopewell's arm. + +"Oh, if the young lady's really come to take you home to the missus, I +s'pose we'll have to let you go," he said, with a nasty laugh. "But no +play, no pay, you understand." + +Janice drew the bewildered Hopewell out of the door, and Frank quickly +followed. Few in the room had noted the incident at all. + +The three stood a minute on the porch, the mist drifting in from the +lake and wetting them. The engineer finally took the umbrella from +Janice and raised it to shelter her. + +"They--they broke two of the strings," muttered Hopewell, with thought +for nothing but his precious violin. + +"You'd better cover it up, or it will be wet; and that won't do any +fiddle any good," growled Frank, rather disgusted with the storekeeper. + +But there was something queer about Hopewell's condition that both +puzzled Janice and made her pity him. + +"He is not intoxicated--not as other men are," she whispered to the +engineer. + +"I don't know that he is," said Frank. "But he's made us trouble +enough. Come on; let's get him home." + +Drugg was trying to shelter the precious violin under his coat. + +"He has no hat and the fiddle bag is gone," said Janice. + +"I'm not going back in there," said the civil engineer decidedly. And +then he chuckled, adding: + +"That fellow I tipped over will be just about ready to fight by now. I +reckon he thinks differently now about the 'white-headed kid,' as he +called me. You see," Frank went on modestly, "I was something of a +boxer at the Tech school, and I've had to keep my wits about me with +those 'muckers' of the railroad construction gang." + +"Oh, dear, me! I think there must be something very tigerish in all of +us," sighed Janice. "I was glad when I saw that black-haired man go +down. What did he want Hopewell's violin for?" + +"Don't know. Just meanness, perhaps. They doctored Hopewell's drink +somehow, and he was acting like a fool and playing ridiculously." + +They could talk plainly before the storekeeper, for he really did not +know what was going on. His face was blank and his eyes staring, but +he had buttoned the violin beneath the breast of his coat. + +"Come on, old fellow," Frank said, putting a heavy hand on Drugg's +shoulder. "Let's be going. It's too wet to stand here." + +The storekeeper made no objection. Indeed, as they walked along, +Hopewell between Frank and Janice, who carried the umbrella, Drugg +seemed to be moving in a daze. His head hung on his breast; he said no +word; and his feet stumbled as though they were leaden and he had no +feeling in them. + +"Mr. Bowman!" exclaimed Janice, at last, and under her breath, "he is +ill!" + +"I am beginning to believe so myself," the civil engineer returned. +"I've seen enough drunken fellows before this to know that Hopewell +doesn't show many of the usual symptoms." + +Janice halted suddenly. "There's a light in Mr. Massey's back room," +she said. + +"Eh? Back of the drugstore? Yes, I see it," Bowman said, puzzled. + +"Why not take Mr. Drugg there and see if Massey can give him something? +I hate to take him home to 'Rill in this condition." + +"Something to straighten him up--eh?" cried the engineer. "Good idea. +If he's there and will let us in," he added, referring to the druggist, +for the front store was entirely dark, it being now long past the usual +closing hour of all stores in Polktown. + +Janice and Frank led Hopewell Drugg to the side door of the shop, he +making no objection to the change in route. It was doubtful if he even +knew where they were taking him. He seemed in a state of partial +syncope. + +Frank had to knock the second time before there was any answer. They +heard voices--Massey's and another. Then the druggist came to the +entrance, unbolted it and stuck his head out--his gray hair all ruffled +up in a tuft which made him, with his big beak and red-rimmed eyes, +look like a startled cockatoo. + +"Who's this, now? Jack Besmith again? What did I tell you?" he +snapped. Then he seemed to see that he was wrong, and the next moment +exclaimed: "Wal! I am jiggered!" for, educated man though he was, Mr. +Massey had lived in the hamlet of his birth all of his life and spoke +the dialect of the community. "Wal! I am jiggered!" he repeated. +"What ye got there?" + +"I guess you see whom we have, Mr. Massey," said Frank Bowman pushing +in and leading the storekeeper. + +"Oh, Mr. Massey! It's Hopewell Drugg," Janice said pleadingly. "Can't +you help him?" + +"Janice Day! I declare to sun-up!" ejaculated the druggist. "What you +beauing about that half-baked critter for? And he's drunk?" + +"He is _not_!" cried the girl, with indignation. "At least, he is like +no other drunken person I have seen. He is ill. They gave him +something to drink down at the Inn--at that dance where he was playing +his violin--and it has made him ill. Don't you _see_?" and she stamped +her foot impatiently. + +"Hoity-toity, young lady!" chuckled Massey. + +They were all inside now and the druggist locked the door again. +Behind the stove, in the corner, sat Mr. Cross Moore, and he did not +say a word. + +"You can see yourself, Mr. Massey," urged Frank Bowman, helping Drugg +into a chair, "that this is no ordinary drunk." + +"No," Massey said reflectively, and now looked with some pity at the +helpless man. "Alcohol never did exhilarate Hopewell. It just dopes +him. It does some folks. And it doesn't take much to do it." + +"Then Hopewell Drugg has been in the habit of drinking?" asked Bowman, +in surprise. "You have seen him this way before?" + +"No, he hasn't. Never mind what these chattering old women in town say +about him now. I never saw him this way but once before. That was +when he had been given some brandy. 'Member that time, Cross, when we +all went fishin' down to Pine Cove? Gosh! Must have been all of +twenty years ago." + +All that Mr. Cross Moore emitted was a grunt, but he nodded. + +"Hopewell cut himself--'bad--on a rusty bailer. He fell on it and +liked ter bled to death. You know, Cross, we gave him brandy and he +was dead to the world for hours." + +"Yes," said Mr. Moore. "What did he want to drink now for?" + +"I do not believe he knowingly took anything intoxicating," Janice said +earnestly. "They have been playing tricks down there at the tavern on +him." + +"Tricks?" repeated Mr. Moore curiously. + +"Yes, sir," said Janice. "Men mean enough to sell liquor are mean +enough to do anything. And not only those who actually sell the stuff +are to blame in a case like this, but those who encourage the sale of +it." + +Mr. Cross Moore uncrossed his long legs and crossed them slowly the +other way. He always had a humorous twinkle in his shrewd gray eye. +He had it now. + +"Meaning me?" he drawled, eyeing the indignant young girl just as he +would look at an angry kitten. + +"Yes, Mr. Moore," said Janice, with dignity. "A word from you, and Lem +Parraday would stop selling liquor. He would have to. And without +your encouragement he would never have entered into the nefarious +traffic. Polktown is being injured daily by that bar at the Inn, and +you more than any other one person are guilty of this crime against the +community!" + +Mr. Cross Moore did not change his attitude. Janice was panting and +half crying now. The selectman said, slowly: + +"I might say that you are an impudent girl." + +"I guess I am," Janice admitted tearfully. "But I mean every word I +have said, and I won't take it back." + +"You and I have been good friends, Janice Day," continued Mr. Moore in +his drawling way. "I never like to quarrel with my friends." + +"You can be no friend of mine, Mr. Moore, till the sale of liquor stops +in this town, and you are converted," declared Janice, wiping her eyes, +but speaking quite as bravely as before. + +"Then it is war between us?" he asked, yet not lightly. + +"Yes, sir," sobbed Janice. "I always have liked you, Mr. Cross Moore. +But now I can't bear even to look at you! I don't approve of you at +all--not one little bit!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AND NOW IT IS DISTANT TROUBLE + +Mr. Massey had been attending to the overcome Hopewell Drugg. He mixed +him something and forced it down his throat. Then he whispered to Frank +Bowman: + +"It was brandy. I can smell it on his breath. Pshaw! Hopewell's a +harmless critter. Why couldn't they let him alone?" + +Frank had taken up the violin. The moisture had got to it a little on +the back and the young man thoughtlessly held it near the fire to dry. +Hopewell's eyes opened and almost immediately he staggered to his feet, +reaching for the instrument. + +"Wrong! wrong!" he muttered. "Never do that. Crack the varnish. Spoil +the tone." + +"Hullo, old fellow!" said Mr. Massey, patting Hopewell on the shoulder. +"Guess you feel better--heh?" + +"Ye--yes. Why! that you, Massey?" ejaculated the storekeeper, in +surprise. + +"'Twas me when I got up this mornin'," grunted the druggist. + +"Why--why--I don't remember coming here to your store, Massey," said the +mystified Hopewell Drugg. "I--I guess I didn't feel well." + +"I guess you didn't," said the druggist, drily, eyeing him curiously. + +"Was I sick? Lost consciousness? This is odd--very odd," said Hopewell. +"I believe it must have been that lemonade." + +Mr. Cross Moore snorted. "Lemonade!" he ejaculated. "Suthin' b'sides +tartaric acid to aid the lemons in that lemonade, Hopewell. You was +drunk!" + +Drugg blinked at him. "That--that's a hard sayin', Cross Moore," he +observed gently. + +"What lemonade was this, Hopewell?" demanded the druggist. + +"I had some. Two glasses. The other musicians took beer. I always take +lemonade." + +"That's what did it," Frank Bowman said, aside to Janice. "Joe Bodley +doped it." + +"You had brandy, Hopewell. I could smell it on your breath," said +Massey. "And I know how that affects you. Remember?" + +"Oh, no, Massey! You know I do not drink intoxicants," said Hopewell +confidently. + +"I know you are a dern fool, Hopewell--and mebbe I'm one!" declared Mr. +Cross Moore, suddenly rising. Then he bolted for the door and went out +without bidding anybody good night. + +Massey looked after his brother committeeman with surprise. "Now!" he +muttered, "what's got into him, I'd like for to be told?" + +Meanwhile Hopewell was saying to Janice: "Miss Janice, how do you come +here? I know Amarilla expected you. Isn't it late?" + +"Mr. Drugg," said the girl steadily, "we brought you here to be treated +by Mr. Massey--Mr. Bowman and I. I do not suppose you remember our +getting you out of the Lake View Inn?" + +"Getting me out of the Inn?" he gasped flushing. + +"Yes. You did not know what you were doing. They did not want you to +leave the dance, but Mr. Bowman made them let you come away with us." + +"You don't mean that, Miss Janice?" said the storekeeper horrified. +"Are--are you sure? I had not been drinking intoxicants." + +"Brandy, I tell ye, Hopewell!" exclaimed the druggist exasperated. "You +keep away from the Inn. They're playing tricks on you down there, them +fellers are. You ain't fit to run alone, anyway--and never was," he +added, too low for Hopewell to hear. + +"And look out for that violin, Mr. Drugg, if you prize it at all," added +Frank Bowman. + +"Why do you say that?" asked Hopewell puzzled. + +"I believe there was a fellow down there trying to steal it," the +engineer said. "He had got it away from you and was looking inside of +it. Is the name of the maker inside the violin? Is it a valuable +instrument, Mr. Drugg?" + +"I--I don't know," the other said slowly. "Only for its associations, I +presume. It was my father's instrument and he played on it a great many +years. I--I think," said Hopewell diffidently, "that it has a +wonderfully mellow tone." + +"Well," said Frank, "that black-haired fellow had it. And he looks like +a fellow that's not to be trusted. There's more than Joe Bodley around +that hotel who will bear watching, I guess." + +"I will not go down to Lem Parraday's again," sighed Hopewell. "I--I +felt that I should earn all the extra money possible. You see, my little +girl may have to return to Boston for treatment." + +"It's a mean shame!" muttered the civil engineer. + +"Oh! I hope you are wrong about Lottie," Janice said quickly. "The dear +little thing! She seemed very bright to-night," she added, with more +cheerfulness in her tone than she really felt. + +"Say, you don't want that violin stole, Hopewell," said Mr. Massey +reflectively. "Enough's been stole in Polktown to-day, I should say, to +last us one spell." + +"Never mind," put in Frank Bowman, scornfully, looking full at the +druggist. "You won't have to pay for Mr. Drugg's violin if it is stolen." + +"Hum! Don't I know that?" snarled Massey. "We committeemen have our +hands full with that missin' collection. Wish't we'd never voted to have +the coins brought over here. Them lectures are mighty foolish things, +anyway. That is scored up against young Haley, too. He wanted the +lecture to come here." + +"And you are foolish enough to accuse Nelson of stealing the coins," said +Bowman, in a low voice. "I should think you'd have more sense." + +"Hey!" exclaimed the druggist. "Who would _you_ accuse?" + +"Not Haley, that's sure." + +"Nobody but the committee, the janitor, and Haley knew anything about the +coins," the druggist said earnestly. "They were delivered to me last +night right here in the store by Mr. Hobart, the lecturer. He came +through from Middletown a-purpose. He took the boat this morning for the +Landing. Now, nobody else knew about the coins being in town----" + +"Who was here with you, Mr. Massey, when the coins were delivered to your +keeping?" Janice Day interposed, for she had been listening. + +"Warn't nobody here," said Mr. Massey promptly. + +"You were alone in the store?" + +"Yes, I was," quite as positively. + +"What did you do with the trays?" + +"Locked 'em in my safe." + +"At once?" again asked Janice. + +"Say! what you tryin' to get at, young lady?" snorted the druggist. +"Don't you s'pose I knew what I was about last night? I hadn't been down +to Lem Parraday's." + +"Some of you didn't know what you were about this morning, or the coins +never would have been lost," said Frank Bowman significantly. + +"That's easy enough to say," complained the committeeman. "It's easy +enough to blame us----" + +"And it seems to be easy for you men to blame Mr. Haley," Janice +interrupted indignantly. + +"Well!" + +"I'd like to know," continued the girl, "if there was not somebody around +here who saw Mr. Hobart bring the coins in here and leave them with you." + +"What if there was?" demanded Mr. Massey with sudden asperity. "The +coins were not stolen from this shop--make up your mind on that score, +Miss Janice." + +"But if some evilly disposed person had seen them in your possession, he +might have planned to do exactly what was afterward done." + +"What's that?" demanded the druggist. + +"Planned to get into the schoolhouse, wait till you brought the coins +there, and then steal them." + +"Aw, young lady!" grunted the druggist. "That's too far-fetched. I +don't want to hurt your feelin's; but young Haley was tempted, and young +Haley fell. That's all there is to it." + +Janice was not silenced. She said reflectively: + +"We may all be mistaken. I really wish you would put your mind to it, +Mr. Massey, and try to remember who was here in the evening, about the +time that Mr. Hobart brought you the coin collection." + +She was not looking at the druggist as she spoke; but she was looking +into the mirror over the prescription desk. And she could see Massey's +face reflected in that glass. She saw his countenance suddenly change. +It flushed, and then paled, and he showed great confusion. But he did +not say a word. She was puzzled, but said no more to him. It did not +seem as though there was anything more to say regarding the robbery and +Nelson Haley's connection with it. + +Besides, Hopewell Drugg was gently reminding her that they must start for +home. + +"I'm afraid Amarilla will be anxious. It--it is dreadfully late," he +suggested. + +"We'll leave Mr. Massey to think it over," said Frank Bowman. "Maybe +he'll come to a better conclusion regarding Nelson Haley." + +"I don't care who stole the coins. We want 'em back," growled the +druggist, preparing to lock them all out. + +The trio separated on the corner. Hopewell was greatly depressed as he +walked on with Janice Day. + +"I--I hope that Amarilla will not hear of this evening's performance. I +declare! I had no idea that that Bodley young man would play me such a +trick. I shall have to refuse to play for any more of the dances," he +said, in his hesitating, stammering way. + +"You may be sure I shall not tell her," Janice said firmly. + +They went into the dark store together as though they had just met on the +porch. "I'm awfully glad you've both come," said 'Rill Drugg. "I was +getting real scared and lonesome. Mr. Bowman gone home, Janice?" + +The girl nodded. She had not much to say. The last hour had been so +full of incident that she wanted to be alone and think it over. So she +hurried to bid the storekeeper and his wife good night and went into the +bedroom she was to share with little Lottie. + +Janice lay long awake. That was to be expected. Her mind was +overwrought and her young heart burdened with a multitude of troubles. + +Her night spent with 'Rill had not turned out just as she expected, that +was sure. From her window she could watch the front of Mrs. Beaseley's +cottage and she saw that Nelson's lamp burned all night. He was wakeful, +too. It made another bond between them; but it was not a bond that made +Janice any more cheerful. + +She returned to the Day house early on Sunday morning, and her +unobservant aunt did not notice the marks the young girl's sleepless +night had left upon her countenance. Aunt 'Mira was too greatly +distracted just then about a new gown she, with the help of Mrs. John-Ed. +Hutchins, had made and was to wear for the first time on this occasion. + +"That is, if I kin ever git the pesky thing ter set straight over my +hips. Do come here an' see what's the matter with it, Janice," Aunt +'Mira begged, in a great to-do over the frock. "What do you make of it?" + +"It doesn't fit very smoothly--that is true," Janice said gently. "I--I +am afraid, Aunt 'Mira, that it draws so because you are not drawn in just +the same as you were when the dress was fitted by Mrs. John-Ed." + +"My soul and body!" gasped the heavy lady, in desperation. "I knowed it! +I felt it in my bones that she'd got me pulled in too tight." + +Janice finally got the good woman into proper shape to fit the new frock, +rather than the new frock to fitting her, and started off with Aunt 'Mira +to church, leaving Mr. Day and Marty to follow. + +Janice looked hopefully for Nelson. She really believed that he would +change his determination at the last moment and appear at church. But he +did not. Nor did anybody see him outside the Beaseley cottage all day. +It was a very unhappy Sunday for Janice. + +The whole town was abuzz with excitement. There were two usually +inoffensive persons "on the dissecting table," as Walky Dexter called +it--Nelson and Hopewell Drugg. Much had already been said about the +missing coin collection and Nelson Haley's connection with it; so the +second topic of conversation rather overshadowed the schoolmaster's +trouble. It was being repeated all about town that Hopewell Drugg had +been taken home from the dance at the Lake View Inn "roaring drunk." + +Monday morning saw Nelson put to the test. Some of the boys gathered on +the corner of High Street near the teacher's lodging, whispering together +and waiting for his appearance. It was said by some that Mr. Haley would +not appear; that he "didn't dare show his head outside the door." + +About quarter past eight that morning there were many more people on the +main street of the lakeside village than were usually visible at such an +hour. Especially was there a large number of women, and it was notorious +that on that particular Monday more housewives were late with their +weekly wash than ever before in the annals of Polktown. + +"Jefers-pelters!" muttered Walky Dexter, as he urged Josephus into High +Street on his first trip downtown. "What's got ev'rybody? Circus in +town? If so, it must ha' slipped my mind." + +"Yep," said Massey, the druggist, at his front door, and whom the +expressman had hailed. "And here comes the procession." + +From up the hill came a troop of boys--most of them belonging in the +upper class of the school. Marty was one of them, and in their midst +walked the young schoolmaster! + +"I snum!" ejaculated Walky. "I guess that feller ain't got no +friends--oh, no!" and he chuckled. + +The druggist scowled. "Boy foolishness. That don't mean nothing." + +"He, he, he! It don't, hey?" drawled Walky, chirping to Josephus to +start him. "Wal--mebbe not. But if I was you, and had plate glass +winders like you've got, an' no insurance on 'em, I wouldn't let that +crowd of young rapscallions hear my opinion of Mr. Haley." + +Indeed, Marty and his friends had gone much further than passing +resolutions. Nelson was their friend and chum as well as their teacher. +He coached their baseball and football teams, and was the only instructor +in gymnastics they had. The streak of loyalty in the average boy is the +biggest and best thing about him. + +Nelson often joined the crowd on the way to the only level lot in town +where games could be played; and this seemed like one of those Saturday +occasions, only the boys carried their books instead of masks and bats. + +Their chorus of "Hullo, Mr. Haley!" "Morning, Mr. Haley!" and the like, +as he reached the corner, almost broke down the determination the young +man had gathered to show a calm exterior to the Polktown inhabitants. +More than a few other well-wishers took pains to bow to the schoolmaster +or to speak to him. And then, there was Janice, flying by in her car on +her way to Middletown to school, passing him with a cheery wave of her +gloved hand and he realized that she had driven this way in the car on +purpose to meet him. + +Indeed, the young man came near to being quite as overwhelmed by this +reception as he might have been had he met frowning or suspicious faces. +But he got to the school, and the School Committee remained under +cover--for the time being. + +Janice, coming back from Middletown in the afternoon, stopped at the +post-office and got the mail. In it was a letter which she knew must be +from her father, although the outer envelope was addressed in the same +precise, clerkly hand which she associated with the mysterious Juan +Dicampa. + +No introductory missive from the flowery Juan was inside, however; and +her father's letter began as follows: + + +"Dear daughter:-- + +"I am under the necessity of putting on your young shoulders more +responsibility than I think you should bear. But I find that of a sudden +I am confined to an output of one letter a month, and that one to you. +As I write in English, and these about me read (if they are able to read +at all) nothing but Spanish, I have some chance of getting information +and instructions to my partners in Ohio, by this means, and by this means +only. + +"First of all, I will assure you, dear child, that my health is quite, +quite good. There is nothing the matter with me save that I am a 'guest +of the State,' as they pompously call it, and I cannot safely work the +mining property. I am not going to dig ore for the benefit of either the +Federal forces or the Constitutionalists. + +"I shall stay to watch the property, however, and meanwhile the Zapatist +chief in power here watches me. He takes pleasure in nagging and +interfering with me in every possible way; so issues this last decree +limiting the number of letters to one a month. + +"He would do more, but he dare not. I happen to be on friendly terms +with a chief who is this fellow's superior. If the chief in charge here +should harm me and my friend should feel so inclined, he might ride up +here, and stand my enemy up against an adobe wall. The fellow knows +it--and is aware of my friend's rather uncertain temper. That temper, my +dear Janice, known to all who have ever heard of Juan Dicampa, and his +abundant health, is the wall between me and a possibly sudden and very +unpleasant end." + + +There was a great deal more to the letter, but at first Janice could not +go on with it for surprise. The clerkly writer with the abundance of +flowery phrases, Juan Dicampa was, then, a Mexican chieftain--perhaps a +half-breed Yaqui murderer! The thought rather startled Janice. Yet she +was thankful to remember how warmly the man had written of her father. + +Much of what followed in her father's letter she had to transmit to the +bank officials and others of his business associates in her old home +town. But the important thing, it seemed all the time to Janice, was +Juan Dicampa. + +She thought about him a great deal during the next few days. Mostly she +thought about his health, and the chances of his being shot in some +battle down there in Mexico. + +She began to read even more than heretofore of the Mexican situation in +the daily papers. She began to look for mention of Dicampa, and tried to +learn what manner of leader he was among his people. + +If Juan Dicampa should be removed what, then, would happen to Broxton Day? + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ONE MATTER COMES TO A HEAD + +That was a black week for Janice as well as for the young schoolmaster. +She could barely keep her mind upon her studies at the seminary. +Nelson Haley's salvation was the attention he was forced to give to his +classes in the Polktown school. + +One or another of the four committeemen who had constituted themselves +his enemies, were hovering about Nelson all the time. He felt himself +to be continually watched and suspected. + +Mr. Middler, who had been away on an exchange over Sunday, returned to +find his parish split all but in two by the accusation against Nelson +Haley. Mr. Middler was the fifth member of the School Committee, and +both sides in the controversy clamored for him to take a hand in the +case. + +"Gentlemen," he said to his four brother committeemen in Massey's back +room, "I have not a doubt in my mind that you are all honestly +convinced that Mr. Haley has stolen the coins. Otherwise you would not +have made a matter public that was quite sure to ruin the young man's +reputation." + +The four committeemen writhed under this thrust, and the minister went +on: + +"On the other hand, I have no doubt in my mind that Mr. Haley is just +as innocent as I am of the robbery." + +"Ye say that 'cause you air a clergyman," said Cross Moore bluntly. +"It's your business to be allus seeing the good side of folks, whether +they've got a good side, or not." + +The minister flushed. "I thank God I can see the good side of my +fellow men," he said quickly. "I can even see your good side, Mr. +Moore, when you are willing to uncover it. You do not show it now, +when you persecute this young man----" + +"'Persecute'? We oughter prosecute," flashed forth Cross Moore. "The +fellow's as guilty as can be. Nobody else could have done it." + +"I wonder?" returned the minister, and walked out before there could be +further friction between them; for he liked the hard-headed, shrewd, +and none-too-honest politician, as he liked few men in Polktown. + +If the minister did not distinctly array himself with the partisans of +Nelson Haley, he expressed his full belief in his honesty in a public +manner. And at Thursday night prayer meeting he incorporated in his +petition a request that his parishioners be not given to judging those +under suspicion, and that a spirit of charity be spread abroad in the +community at just this time. + +The next day, Walky Dexter said, that charitable spirit the minister +had prayed for "got awfully swatted." News spread that on the previous +Saturday, only a few hours after the coin collection was missed, Nelson +Haley had sent away a post-office money order for two hundred dollars. + +"That's where a part of the missing money went," was the consensus of +public opinion. How this news leaked out from the post-office was a +mystery. But when taxed with the accusation Nelson's pride made him +acknowledge the fact without hesitation. + +"Yes; I sent away two hundred dollars. It went to my aunt in +Sheffield. I owed it to her. She helped me through college." + +"Where did I get the money? I saved it from my salary." + +Categorically, these were his answers. + +"If that young feller only could be tongue-tied for a few weeks, he +might git out o' this mess in some way," Walky Dexter said. "He talks +more useless than th' city feller that was a-sparkin' one of our +country gals. He talked mighty high-falutin'--lots dif'rent from what +the boys she'd been bringed up with talked. + +"Sez he: 'See haow b-e-a-u-tiful th' stars shine ter-night. An' if th' +moon would shed--would shed----' 'Never mind the woodshed,' sez the +gal. 'Go on with yer purty talk.' Haw! haw! haw! + +"Now, this here Nelson Haley ain't got no more control of his tongue +than that feller had. Jefers-pelters! what ye goin' ter do with a +feller that tells ev'rything he knows jest because he's axed?" + +"He's perfectly honest," Janice cried. "That shows it." + +"If he's puffec' at all," grunted Walky, "he's a puffec' fule! That's +what he is!" + +And Nelson Haley's frankness really did spell disaster. Taking courage +from the discovery of the young schoolmaster's use of money, the +committee swore a warrant out for him before Judge Little. It was done +very quietly; but Nelson's friends, who were on the watch for just such +a move, were informed almost as soon as the dreadful deed was done. + +News of it came to the Day house on Saturday afternoon, just before +supper-time. On this occasion Uncle Jason waited for no meal to be +eaten. Marty ran and got out Janice's car. His cousin and Mr. Day +joined him while Aunt 'Mira came to the kitchen door with the +inevitable slice of pork dangling from her fork. + +"I'd run him right out o' the county, that's what I'd do, Janice, an' +let Cross Moore and Massey whistle for him!" cried the angry lady. +"Leastwise, don't ye let that drab old crab, Poley Cantor, take him to +jail." + +"We'll see about _that_," said Uncle Jason grimly. "Let her go, +Marty--an' see if ye can git us down the hill without runnin' over +nobody's pup." + +Perhaps Judge Little had purposely delayed giving the warrant to +Constable Cantor to serve. The Days found Nelson at home and ran him +down to the justice's office before the constable had started to hunt +for his prey. + +The "drab" old constable met them in front of the justice's office and +marched back into the room with Janice and Nelson and Marty and his +father. Judge Little looked surprised when they entered. + +"What's this? what's this?" he demanded, smiling at Janice. "Another +case of speeding, Janice Day?" + +"Somebody's been speeding, I reckon, Jedge," drawled Mr. Day. "And +their wheels have skidded, too. I understand that you've issued a +warrant for Mr. Haley?" + +"Had to do it, Jason--positively _had_ to," said the justice. "Better +serve it right here, quietly, Constable. This is a serious matter, Mr. +Haley. I'm sorry." + +"Wal," drawled Uncle Jason, "it ain't so serious; I s'pose, but what +you kin take bail for him? I'm here to offer what leetle tad of +property I own. An' if ye want more'n I got, I guess I kin find all ye +want purty quick." + +"That'll be all right, Jason," Judge Little said quickly. "I'll put +him under nominal bail, only. We'll have a hearing Monday evening, if +that's agreeable to----" + +"Nossir!" exclaimed Uncle Jason promptly. "This business ain't goin' +ter be hurried. We gotter git a lawyer--and a good one. I dunno but +Mr. Haley will refuse to plead and the case will hatter be taken to a +higher court. Why, Jedge Little! this here means life an' repertation +to this young man, and his friends aren't goin' ter see no chance +throwed away ter clear him and make them school committeemen tuck their +tails atween their laigs, an' skedaddle!" + +"Oh, very well, Jason. We'll set the examination for next Saturday, +then?" + +"That'll be about right," said Uncle Jason. "Give us a week to turn +around in. What d'ye say, Mr. Haley?" + +"I'd like to have it over as quickly as possible," sighed the young +man. "But I think you know best, Mr. Day." + +He could not honestly feel grateful. As they got into the car again to +whirl up the hill to the Day house for supper, Nelson felt a little +doubtful, after all, of Mr. Day's wisdom in putting off the trial. + +"I might just as well be tried, convicted, and sentenced right now, as +to have it put off a week," he said, after they reached the Day place. +"They've got me, and they mean to put me through. A demand has been +made upon the committee through the State Board by the owner of the +collection of coins. The value of the collection is placed by the +owner at sixteen hundred and fifty dollars, their face value--although +some of the pieces were rare, and worth more. There is not a man of +the quartette that would not sell his soul for four hundred and twelve +dollars and fifty cents!" + +"_Now_ you've said a mouthful!" grunted Marty, in agreement. + +"That's a hard sayin'," Mr. Day observed judiciously. "They're +all--th' hull quadruped (Yes, Marty, that's what I meant, 'quartette,') +of 'em--purty poor pertaters, I 'low. But four hundred dollars is a +lot of money for any man ter lose." + +Nelson was very serious, however. He said to Janice: + +"You see now, can't you, why I can not teach any longer? I should not +have done it this past week. I shall ask for my release. It is +neither wise, nor right for a person accused of robbery to teach school +in the community." + +"Oh, Nelson!" gasped the girl despairing. + +"Hi tunket! I won't go to school--_a-tall_, if they don't let you +teach, Mr. Haley," cried Marty. + +"Of course you will, Marty," said the schoolmaster. "I shall need you +boys right there to stand up for me." + +"Well!" gasped the very red lad, "you kin bet if they put Miss Pearly +Breeze inter your place, I won't go. I've vowed I won't never go to +school to no old maid again!" + +"Wal, now you've said it," sniffed his father, "and hev relieved your +mind, s'pose ye bring in some wood for the settin' room stove. We need +a spark o' fire to take the chill off." + +Meanwhile Nelson was saying: "I will resign; I will not wait for them +to request me to get out. If you will lend me ink and paper, Janice, +I'll write my resignation here and hand it to Massey as I go home." + +"But, Mr. Middler----" began Janice. + +"Mr. Middler is only one of five. He has no power now in the +committee, for the other four are against him. Cross Moore and Massey +and Crawford and Joe Pellet mean to put it on me if they can. I think +they have already had legal advice. I think they will attempt to +escape responsibility for the loss of the coin collection by +prosecuting and convicting me of having stolen the money. They were +not under bond, you know." + +"It's a mess! it's a mess!" groaned Uncle Jason, "whichever way ye look +at it. What ye goin' ter do, Mr. Haley, if ye don't teach?" + +"I'd go plumb away from here an' never come back to Polktown no more!" +declared the heated Marty, coming in with an armful of wood. + +"I feel as though I might as well do that, Marty, when I hear you +speak," said Nelson, shaking his head. "What good does it do you to go +to school? I have failed somewhere when you use such poor grammar +as----" + +"Huh! what's good grammar?" demanded the boy, so earnest that he +interrupted the teacher. "That won't make ye a civil engineer--and +that's what I'm goin' ter be." + +"A proper use of English will help even in that calling in life," said +the schoolmaster. "But seriously, I have no intention of running away." + +"Ye don't wanter be idle," Mr. Day said. + +"I'll find something to do, I fancy. But whether or no, it shall not +be said of me that I was afraid to face this business. I won't run +away from it." + +Janice squeezed his hand privately in approval. She had been afraid +that he might wish to flee. And who could blame him? During this week +of trial, however, Nelson Haley had recovered his self-control, and had +deliberately made up his mind to the manly course. + +Nevertheless, he did not appear in his accustomed place in church on +the morrow. It was not possible for him to walk boldly up the church +aisle among the people who doubted his honesty, or would sneer at him, +either openly or behind his back. And it was known all over the town +by church time that Sunday that he had been arrested, bailed, and had +asked the school committee for a vacation of indefinite length and +without pay, and that this had been granted. + +Miss Pearly Breeze and her contingent of trends were not happy for +long. The School Committee knew that a return to old methods in school +matters would never satisfy Polktown again. + +They telegraphed the State Superintendent of Schools and a proper and +capable substitute for Mr. Haley was expected to arrive on Monday. + +It was on Monday morning, too, that Nelson's partisans and the enemy +came to open warfare. That is, the junior portion of the community +began belligerent action. + +Janice was rather belated that morning in starting for Middletown in +the Kremlin car. Marty jumped on the running board with his school +books in a strap, to ride down the hill to the corner of School Street. + +Just as they came in sight of Polktown's handsome brick schoolhouse, +there was Nelson Haley briskly approaching. + +He had given up his key to the committee on Saturday night; but there +were books and private papers in his desk that he desired to remove +before his successor arrived. The front door was locked and he had to +wait for Benny Thread to hobble up from the basement to open it. + +This delay brought every woman on the block to her front windows. Some +peeped from behind the blinds; some boldly came out on their "stoops" +to eye the unfortunate schoolmaster askance. A group of boys were +gathered on the corner within plain earshot of the schoolmaster. As +Janice turned the car carefully into School Street Sim Howell, one of +these young loungers, uttered a loud bray. + +"What d'ye s'pose he's after now?" he then demanded of nobody in +particular, but loud enough for all the neighbors to hear. "S'pose he +thinks there's any more money in there ter steal?" + +"Stop, Janice!" yelped Marty. "I knew I'd got ter do it. That +feller's been spoilin' for it for a week! Lemme down, I say!" + +He did not wait for his cousin to obey his command. Before she could +stop the car he took a flying leap from the running-board of the +automobile. His books flew one way, his cap another; and with a wild +shout of rage, Marty fell upon Sim Howell! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN + +Janice ran the car on for half a block before she stopped. She looked +back. She had never approved of fisticuffs--and Marty was prone to +such disgraceful activities. Nevertheless, when she saw Sim Howell's +blood-besmeared countenance, his wide-open mouth, his clumsy fists +pawing the air almost blindly, something primal--instinctive--made her +heart leap in her bosom. + +She delighted in Marty's clean blows, in his quick "duck" and +"side-step;" and when her cousin's freckled fist impinged upon the +fatuous countenance of Sim Howell, Janice Day uttered an unholy gasp of +delight. + +She saw Nelson striding to separate the combatants. She hoped he would +not be harsh with Marty. + +Then, seeing the neighbors gathering, she pressed the starter button +and the Kremlin glided on again. The tall young schoolmaster was +between the two boys, holding each off at arm's length, when Janice +wheeled around the far corner and gave a last glance at the field of +combat. + +"I am getting to be a wicked, wicked girl!" she accused herself, when +she was well out of town and wheeling cheerfully over the Lower Road +toward Middletown. "I have just longed to see that Simeon Howell +properly punished ever since I caught him that day mocking Jim Narnay. +And _that_ arises from the influence of Lem Parraday's bar. Oh, dear +me! _I_ am affected by the general epidemic, I believe. + +"If the Inn did not sell liquor, in all human probability, Narnay would +not have been drunk that day; at least, not where I could see him. And +so Sim and those other young rascals would not have chased and mocked +him. I would not have felt so angry with Sim--Dear me! everything +dovetails together, Nelson's trouble and all. I wonder if, after all, +the selling of liquor at the Inn isn't at the bottom of Nelson's +trouble. + +"It sounds foolish--or at least, far-fetched. But it may be so. +Perhaps the person who stole those coins was inspired to do the wicked +deed because he was under the influence of liquor. And, of course, the +Lake View Inn was the nearest place where liquor was to be bought. + +"Dear me! Am I foolish? Who knows?" Janice concluded, with a sigh. + +The thought of Sim Howell mocking Jim Narnay reminded her of the +latter's unfortunate family. She had been only once to the little +cottage near Pine Cove since Narnay had gone into the woods with +Trimmins and Jack Besmith. + +Nor had she been able to see Dr. Poole, amid her multitudinous duties, +and ask him how the nameless little baby was getting on; although she +had at once left a note at the doctor's office asking him to call and +see the child at her expense. + +The peril threatening her father and the peril threatening Nelson Haley +filled Janice Day's mind and heart so full that other interests had +been rather lost sight of during the past eventful week. + +She had not seen Frank Bowman since the time they had separated on the +street corner by the drug store, late Saturday night, when she had +taken Hopewell Drugg home. + +Bowman was with his railroad construction gang not far off the Lower +Middletown Road. But Janice had been going to and from school by the +Upper Road, past Elder Concannon's place, because it was dryer. + +This morning, however, Frank heard her car coming, and he appeared, +plunging through the jungle, shouting to her to stop. He could +scarcely make a mistake in hailing the car, for Janice's automobile was +almost the only one that ran on this road. By summer time, however, +the boarding house people and Lem Parraday hoped that automobiles in +Polktown would be, in the words of Walky Dexter, "as thick as fleas on +a yaller hound." + +Janice saw Frank Bowman coming, if she did not hear him call, and +slowed down. He strode crashingly down the hillside in his high boots, +corduroys, and canvas jacket, his face flushed with exercise and, of +course, broadly smiling. Janice liked the civil engineer immensely. +He lacked Nelson Haley's solid character and thoughtfulness; but he +always had a fund of enthusiasm on tap. + +"How goes the battle, Janice?" was his cheery call, as he leaped down +into the roadway and thrust out a gloved hand to grasp hers. + +"I guess, by now, Simmy Howell has learned a thing or two," she +declared, her mind on the scrimmage she had just seen. + +"What?" demanded Bowman, wonderingly. + +At that Janice burst into a laugh. "Oh! I am a perfect heathen. I +suppose you did not mean Marty's battle with his schoolmate. But that +was in my mind." + +"What's Marty fighting about now?" asked the civil engineer, with a +puzzled smile. "And are you interested in such sparring encounters?" + +"I was in this one," confessed Janice. Then she told him of the +occurrence--and its cause, of course. + +"Well, I declare!" said Frank Bowman, happily. "For once I fully +approve of Marty." + +"Do you? Well, to tell the truth, so do I!" gasped Janice, laughing +again. "But I know it is wicked." + +"Guess the whole Day family feels friendly toward Nelson," declared the +engineer. "I hear Mr. Day went on Nelson's bond Saturday night." + +"Yes, indeed. Dear Uncle Jason! He's slow, but he's dependable." + +"Well, I am glad Nelson Haley has some friends," Bowman said quickly. +"But I didn't stop you to say just this." + +"No?" + +"No," said the civil engineer. "When I asked you, 'How goes the +battle?' I was thinking of something you said the other night when we +were rounding up that disgraceful old reprobate, Hopewell Drugg," and +he laughed. + +"Oh, poor Hopewell! Isn't it a shame the way they talk about him?" + +"It certainly is," agreed Frank Bowman. "But whether Hopewell Drugg is +finally injured in character by Lem Parraday's bar or not, enough other +people are being injured. You said you'd do anything to see it closed." + +"I would," cried Janice. "At least, anything I could do." + +"By jove! so would I!" exclaimed Frank Bowman, vigorously. "It was pay +night for my men last Saturday night. One third of them have not shown +up this morning, and half of those that have are not fit for work. +I've got a reputation to make here. If this drunkenness goes on I'll +have a fat chance of making good with the Board of Directors of the +railroad." + +"How about making good with that pretty daughter of Vice President +Harrison's?" asked Janice, slily. + +Bowman blushed and laughed. "Oh! she's kind. She'll understand. But +I can't take the same excuses for failure to a Board of Directors." + +"Of course not," laughed Janice. "A mere Board of Directors hasn't +half the sense of a lovely girl--nor half the judgment." + +"You're right!" cried Bowman, seriously. "However, to get back to my +men. They've got to put the brake on this drinking stuff, or I'll +never get the job done. As long as the drink is right here handy in +Polktown, I'm afraid many of the poor fellows will go on a spree every +pay day." + +"It is too bad," ventured Janice, warmly. + +"I guess it is! For them and me, too!" said Bowman, shaking his head. +"Do you know, these fellows don't want to drink? And they wouldn't +drink if there was anything else for them to do when they have money in +their pockets. Let me tell you, Janice," he added earnestly, "I +believe that if these fellows had it to vote on right now, they'd vote +'no license' for Polktown--yes, ma'am!" + +"Oh! I wish we could _all_ vote on it," cried Janice. "I am sure more +people in Polktown would like to see the bar done away with, than +desire to have it continued." + +"I guess you're right!" agreed Bowman. + +"But, of course, we 'female women,' as Walky calls us, can't vote." + +"There are enough men to put it down," said Bowman, quickly. "And it +can come to a vote in Town Meeting next September, if it's worked up +right." + +"Oh, Frank! Can we do that?" + +"Now you've said it!" crowed the engineer. "That's what I meant when I +wondered if you had begun your campaign." + +"_My_ campaign?" repeated Janice, much flurried. + +"Why, yes. You intimated the other night that you wanted the bar +closed, and Walky has told all over town that you're 'due to stir +things up,' as he expresses it, about this dram selling." + +"Oh, dear!" groaned Janice, in no mock alarm. "My fatal reputation! +If my friends really loved me they would not talk about me so." + +"I'm afraid there is some consternation under Walky's talk," said +Bowman, seriously. "He likes a dram himself and would be sorry to see +the bar chased out of Polktown. I hope you can do it, Janice." + +"Me--_me_, Frank Bowman! You are just as bad as any of them. Putting +it all on my shoulders." + +"The time is ripe," went on the engineer, seriously. "You won't be +alone in this. Lots of people in the town see the evil flowing from +the bar. Mrs. Thread tells me her brother would never have lost his +job with Massey if it hadn't been for Lem Parraday's rum selling." + +"Do you mean Jack Besmith?" cried Janice, startled. + +"That's the chap. Mrs. Thread is a decent little woman, and poor Benny +is harmless enough. But she is worried to death about her brother." + +Janice, remembering the condition of the ex-drug clerk when he left +Polktown for the woods, said heartily: "I should think she would be +worried." + +"She tells me he tried to get back his job with Massey on Friday +night--the evening before he went off with Trimmins and Narnay. But I +expect he'd got Mr. Massey pretty well disgusted. At any rate, the +druggist turned him down, and turned him down hard." + +"Poor fellow!" sighed Janice. + +"I don't know. Oh, I suppose he's to be pitied," said Frank Bowman, +with some disgust. "Anyhow, Besmith got thoroughly desperate, went +down to the Inn after his interview with his former employer, and spent +all the money he had over Lem's bar. He didn't come home at all that +night----" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Janice, remembering suddenly where Jack Besmith had +probably slept off his debauch, for she had seen him asleep in her +uncle's sheepfold on that particular Saturday morning. + +"He's a pretty poor specimen, I suppose," said the engineer, eyeing +Janice rather curiously. "He's one of the weak ones. But there are +others!" + +Janice was silent for a moment. Indeed, she was not following closely +Bowman's remarks. She was thinking of Jack Besmith. Mr. Massey had +evidently been much annoyed by his discharged clerk. + +When she and Frank Bowman, with Hopewell Drugg, had gone to the +druggist's back door that eventful Saturday night, Massey had thought +it was Jack Besmith summoning him to the door. Massey had spoken +Besmith's name when he first opened the door and peered out into the +mist. + +"Now, Janice," she suddenly heard Frank Bowman say, "what shall we do?" + +She awoke to the subject under discussion with a start. "Goodness! do +you really expect me to tell you?" + +"Why--why, you see, Janice, you've got ideas. You always do have," +said the civil engineer, humbly. "I've talked to such of my men as +have come back to work this morning. Of course, they have been off +before, on pay day; but this is the worst. They had a big time down +there at the Inn Saturday night and Sunday morning." + +"Poor Mrs. Parraday!" sighed Janice. + +"You're right. I'm sorry for Marm Parraday. She's the salt of the +earth. But there are more than Marm Parraday suffering through Lem's +selling whiskey. But about my boys," added the engineer. "They tell +me if the stuff wasn't so handy they would finish the job without going +on these sprees. And I believe they would." + +"Well! I'll think about it," Janice rejoined, preparing to start her +car. "I suppose if I don't go ahead in the matter, the railroad will +never get its branch road built into Polktown?" and she laughed. + +"That's about the size of it!" cried Bowman, as the wheels began to +roll. + +But it was of Jack Besmith, the ex-drug clerk, that Janice Day thought +as she sped on toward the seminary and not of the opening of the +campaign against the liquor traffic in Polktown, which she felt had +really been organized on this morning. + +In some way the ne'er-do-well was connected in her mind with another +train of thought that, until now, had had "the right of way" in her +inner consciousness. What had Jack Besmith to do with Nelson Haley's +troubles? + +Janice Day was puzzled. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +HOPEWELL SELLS HIS VIOLIN + +Janice Day had no intention of avoiding what seemed, finally, to be a +duty laid upon her. If everybody else in Polktown opposed to the sale +of liquor, merely complained about it--and in a hopeless, helpless +way--it was not in her disposition to do so. She was Broxton Day's own +daughter and she absolutely had to _do something_! She was imbued with +her father's spirit of helpfulness, and she believed thoroughly in his +axiom: If a thing is wrong, go at it and make it right. + +Of course, Janice knew very well that a young girl like herself could +do little in reality about this awful thing that had stalked into +Polktown. She could do nothing of her own strength to put down the +liquor traffic. But she believed she might set forces in motion which, +in the end, would bring about the much-desired reformation. + +She had done it before. Her inspiration had touched all of Polktown +and had awakened and rejuvenated the old place. She had learned that +all that the majority of people needed to rank them on the active side +of right, was to be made to think. She determined that Polktown should +be made to think upon this subject of liquor selling. + +After school she drove around by the Upper Road and branched off into a +woods path that she had not dared venture into the week before. The +Spring winds had done much to dry this woodroad and there were not many +mud-holes to drive around before she came in sight of the squatters' +cabin occupied by the family of Mr. Trimmins. + +This transplanted family of Georgia "crackers" had been a good deal of +a misfit in the Vermont community until Janice had found and interested +herself in them. Virginia, a black-haired sprite of eleven or twelve, +was the leader of the family in all things, although there were several +older children. But "Jinny" was born to be a commander. + +Having made a friend of the little witch of a girl, and of Buddy, who +had been the baby the year before, but whose place had been usurped +because of the advent of another tow-head into the family, the others +of "them Trimminses," as they were spoken of in Polktown, had become +Janice Day's staunch friends. Virginia and two of her sisters came +regularly to the meetings of the Girls' Guild which Janice had founded; +but it was a long walk to the Union Church and Janice really wondered +how they ever got over the road in stormy weather. + +It always puzzled Janice where so many children managed to sleep when +bedtime came, unless they followed the sea law of "watch and watch." +Now all the children who were at home poured out of the cabin to greet +the driver of the Kremlin car. The whole family, as now arrayed before +her, she had not seen since Christmas. + +She had not forgotten to bring a great bag of "store cakes," of which +these poor little Trimminses were inordinately fond; so most of them +soon drifted away, each with a share of the goodies, leaving Janice to +talk with Mrs. Trimmins and Jinny and play with Buddy and the baby. + +"It's a right pretty evening, Miss Janice," said Mrs. Trimmins. "I +shell be glad enough when the settled weather comes to stay. I kin git +some o' these young'uns out from under foot all day long, then. + +"Trimmins has got a gang wo'kin' for him over th' mountain a piece----" + +"Here comes dad now," said the sharp-eyed Virginia. "And the elder's +with him." + +"Why--ya-as," drawled her mother, "so 'tis. It's one of Concannon's +timber lots Trimmins is a-wo'kin' at." + +The elder, vigorous and bewhiskered, came tramping into the clearing +like a much younger man. Trimmins slouched along by his side, chewing +a twig of black birch. + +"No, Trimmins," the elder was saying decisively. "We'll stick to the +letter of the contract. I furnish the team and feed them. I went a +step further and furnished supplies for three men instead of two. But +not one penny do you nor they handle till the job is finished." + +"That's all right, Elder," drawled the Georgian. "That's 'cordin' to +contrac', I know. I don't keer for myself. But Narnay and that other +feller are mighty hongree for a li'le change." + +"Powerful thirsty, ye mean!" snorted the elder. + +"Wa-al--mebbe so! mebbe so!" agreed Trimmins, with a weak grin. + +"They knew the agreement before they started in with you on the job, +didn't they?" + +"Oh, ya-as. They knowed about the contrac'." + +"'Nuff said, then," grunted the elder. "Oh! is that you, Janice Day? +I'll ride back with you," added the elder, who had quite overcome his +dislike for what he had formerly termed "devil wagons," since one very +dramatic occasion when he himself had discovered the necessity for +traveling much "faster than the law allowed." + +"You are very welcome, Elder Concannon," Janice said, smiling at him. + +She kissed the two babies and Virginia, shook hands with Mrs. Trimmins, +and then waved a gloved hand to the rest of the family as she settled +herself behind the steering wheel. The elder got into the seat beside +her. + +"I declare for't, Janice!" the elder said, as the started, the words +being fairly jerked ouf of his mouth, "I dunno but I'd like to own one +of these contraptions myself. You can git around lively in 'em--and +that's a fac'." + +"They are a whole lot better than 'shanks' mare,' Elder," said the +young girl, laughing. + +"I--should--say! And handy, too, when the teams are all busy. Now I +had to walk clean over the mountain to-day to that piece where Trimmins +and them men are working. Warn't a hoss fit to use." + +"Has Mr. Trimmins a big gang at work?" + +The elder chuckled. "He calls it a gang--him, and Jim Narnay, and a +boy. They've all got a sleight with the axe, I do allow; and the boy +handles the team right well." + +"Is he Jack Besmith?" questioned Janice. + +"That's his name, I believe," said the elder. "Likely boy, I guess. +But if I let 'em have any money before the job is done--as Trimmins +wants me to--none of 'em would do much till the money was spent--boy +and all." + +"It is too bad about young Besmith," Janice said, shaking her head. +"He is only a boy." + +"Yep. But a month or so in the woods without drink will do him a heap +of good." + +That very evening, however, Janice saw Jack Besmith in town. From +Marty she learned that he did not stay long. + +"He came in for booze--that's what he come for," said her cousin, in +disgust. "He started right back for the woods with a two-gallon +demi-john." + +"And I thought they had no money up there," Janice reflected. "Can it +be that Lem Parraday or his barkeeper would trust them for drink?" + +Marty was nursing a lump on his jaw and a cut lip. The morning's +battle, had not gone all his way, although he said to Janice with his +usual impish grin when she commented upon his battered appearance: +"You'd orter see the other feller! If Nelson Haley hadn't got in +betwixt us I'd ha' whopped Sim Howell good and proper. I was some +excited, I allow. If I hadn't been I needn't never run ag'inst Sim's +fist a-_tall_. He's a clumsy kid, if ever there was one--and I reckon +he's got enough of me for a spell. Anyway, he won't get fresh with Mr. +Haley again--nor none of the rest of 'em." + +"Dear me, Marty! it seems too bad that any of the boys should feel so +unkindly toward Mr. Haley, after all he's done for them." + +"They're a poor lot--fellers like Sim Howell. Hang around the tavern +hoss sheds all the time. Can't git 'em to come up to the Readin' Room +with the decent fellers," Marty said belligerently. + +Marty had forgotten that--not so long before--he had been a frequenter +of the tavern "hoss sheds" himself. That was before Janice had started +the Public Library Association and the boys' club. + +Janice did not see Nelson that evening, and she wondered what he was +doing with his idle time. So the following afternoon she came home by +the Lower Road, meaning to call on the schoolmaster. She stopped her +car before Hopewell Drugg's store and ran in there first. + +'Rill was behind the counter; but from the back room the wail of the +violin announced Hopewell's presence. The lively tunes which the +storekeeper had played so much through the Winter just past--such as +"Jingle Bells" and "Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party"--seemed now forgotten. +Nor was Hopewell in a sentimental mood and his old favorite, "Silver +Threads Among the Gold," could not express his feelings. + +"Old Hundred" was the strain he played, and he drew it lingeringly out +of the strings until it fairly rasped the nerves. No son of Israel, +weeping against the wall in old Jerusalem, ever expressed sorrow more +deeply than did Hopewell's fiddle at the present juncture. + +"Oh, dear, Janice! that's the way he is all day long," whispered the +bride, the tears sparkling in her eyes. "He says Lottie _must_ go to +Boston, and I guess he's right. The poor little thing doesn't see +anywhere near as good as she did." + +"Oh, my dear!" cried Janice, under her breath. "I wish I could help +pay for her trip." + +"No. You've done your part, Janice. You paid for the treatment +before----" + +"I only helped," interrupted Janice. + +"It was a great, big help. Hopewell can never repay you," said the +wife. "And he can accept no more from you, dear." + +"But I haven't got it to offer!" almost wailed Janice. "Daddy's mine +is shut down again. I--I could almost wish to sell my car--only it was +a particular present from daddy----" + +"No, indeed! There is going to be something else sold, I expect," +'Rill said gravely. "Here! let us go back. I don't like even to see +this fellow come in here. Hopewell must wait on him." + +Janice turned to see Joe Bodley, the fat, smirking bartender from the +Lake View Inn, now entering the store. + +"Afternoon, Mrs. Drugg!" he called after the storekeeper's retreating +wife. "I won't bite ye." + +"Mr. Drugg will be right in," said 'Rill, beckoning Janice away. + +Hopewell entered, violin in hand. He greeted Janice in his quiet way +and then spoke to Bodley. + +"You wanted to see me, Mr. Bodley?" + +"Now, how about that fiddle, Hopewell? D'ye really want to sell it?" +asked the bartender, lightly. + +"I--I must sell it, Mr. Bodley. I feel that I _must_," said Hopewell, +in his gentle way. + +"It's as good as sold, then, old feller," said the barkeeper. "I've +got a customer for it." + +"Ah! but I must have my price. Otherwise it will do me no good to sell +the violin which I prize so highly--and which my father played before +me." + +"That's Yankee talk," laughed Bodley. "How much?" + +"I believe it is a valuable instrument--a very valuable instrument," +said poor Hopewell, evidently in fear of not making the sale, yet +determined to obtain what he considered a fair price for it. "At +least, I know 't is an _old_ violin." + +"One of the 'old masters,' eh?" chuckled Bodley. + +"Perhaps. I do not think you will care to pay my price, sir," said the +storekeeper, with dignity. + +"I've got a customer for it. He seen it down to the dance--and he +wants it. What's your price?" repeated Bodley. + +"I thought some of sending it to New York to be valued," Hopewell said +slowly. + +"My man will buy it--sight unseen, as ye might say--on my recommend. +He only saw it for a moment," said Bodley. + +"What will he give for it?" asked Hopewell. + +"How much do you want?" + +"One hundred dollars, Mr. Bodley," said the storekeeper, this time with +more firmness. + +"_What_? One hundred of your grandmother's grunts! Why, Hopewell, +there _ain't_ so much money--not in Polktown, at least--'nless it's hid +away in a broken teapot on the top shelf of a cupboard in Elder +Concannon's house. They say he's got the first dollar he ever earned, +and most all that he's gathered since that time." + +Janice heard all this as she stood in the back room with 'Rill. Then, +having excused herself to the storekeeper's wife, she ran out of the +side door to go across the street to Mrs. Beaseley's. + +In fact, she could not bear to stay there and hear Hopewell bargain for +the sale of his precious violin. It seemed too, too, bad! It had been +his comfort--his only consolation, indeed--for the many years that +circumstances had kept him and 'Rill Scattergood apart. And after all, +to be obliged to dispose of it---- + +Janice remembered how she had brought little Lottie home to the +storekeeper the very day she first met him, and how he had played +"Silver Threads Among the Gold" for her in the dark, musty back room of +the old store. Why! Hopewell Drugg would be utterly lost without the +old fiddle. + +She was glad Mrs. Beaseley was rather an unobservant person, for +Janice's eyes were tear-filled when she looked into the cottage +kitchen. Nelson, however, was not at home. He had gone for a long +tramp through the fields and had not yet returned. So, leaving word +for him to come over to the Day house that evening, Janice went slowly +back to her car. + +Before she could start it 'Rill came outside. Bodley had gone, and the +storekeeper's wife was frankly weeping. + +"Poor Hopewell! he's sold the fiddle," sobbed 'Rill. + +"To that awful bartender?" demanded Janice. + +"Just as good as. The fellow's paid a deposit on it. If he comes back +with the rest of the hundred dollars in a month, the fiddle is his. +Otherwise, Hopewell declares he will send it to New York and take what +he can get for it." + +"Oh, dear me!" murmured Janice, almost in tears, too. + +"It--it is all Hopewell can do," pursued 'Rill. "He has nothing else +on which he can raise the necessary money. Lottie must have her +chance." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE GOLD COIN + +The campaign against liquor selling in Polktown really had been opened +on that Monday morning when Janice and Frank Bowman conferred together +near the scene of the young engineer's activities for the railroad. + +The determination of two wide-awake young people to _do something_ was +the beginning of activities. + +Not only was the time ripe, but popular feeling was already stirred in +the matter. The thoughtful people of Polktown were becoming +dissatisfied with the experiment. Those who had considered it of small +moment in the beginning were learning differently. If Polktown was to +be "boomed" through such disgraceful means as the sale of intoxicants +at the only hotel, these people with suddenly awakened consciences +would rather see the town lie fallow for a while longer. + +The gossip regarding Hopewell Drugg's supposed fall from sobriety was +both untrue and unkind. That the open bar at Lem Parraday's was a real +and imminent peril to Polktown, however, was a fact now undisputed by +the better citizens. + +Janice had sounded Elder Concannon on that very Monday when she had +brought him home from the Trimmins place. The old gentleman, although +conservative to a fault where money was concerned--his money, or +anybody's--agreed that one or two men should not be allowed to benefit +at the moral expense of their fellow townsmen. + +That the liquor selling was causing a festering sore in the community +of Polktown could not be gainsaid. Sim Howell and two other boys in +their early teens had somehow obtained liquor, and had been picked up +in a frightful condition on the public street by Constable Poley Cantor. + +The boys were made very ill by the quantity of liquor they had drunk, +and although they denied that they had bought the stuff at the hotel, +it was soon learned that the supply of spirits the boys had got hold +of, came from Lem Parraday's bar. + +One of the town topers had purchased the half-gallon bottle and had hid +it in a barn, fearing to take it home. The boys had found it and dared +each other to taste the stuff. + +"It's purty bad stuff 'at Lem sells, I allow," observed Walky Dexter. +"No wonder it settled them boys. It's got a 'kick' to it wuss'n +Josephus had that time the swarm of bees lit on him." + +The town was ablaze with the story of the boys' escapade on Wednesday +afternoon when Janice came back from Middletown. She stopped at +Hopewell Drugg's store, which was a rendezvous for the male gossips of +the town, and Walky was holding forth upon the subject uppermost in the +public mind: + +"Them consarned lettle skeezicks--I'd ha' trounced the hull on 'em if +they'd been mine." + +"How would you have felt, Mr. Dexter, if they really were yours?" asked +Janice, who had been talking to 'Rill and Nelson Haley. "Suppose Sim +Howell were your boy? How would you feel to know that, at his age, he +had been intoxicated?" + +"Jefers-pelters!" grunted Walky. "I reckon I wouldn't git +pigeon-breasted with pride over it--nossir!" + +"Then don't make fun," admonished the girl, severely. "It is an +awful, _awful_ thing that the boys of Polktown can even get hold of +such stuff to make them so ill." + +"That is right, Miss Janice," Hopewell said, busy with a customer. +"What else, Mrs. Massey?" + +"That's all to-day, Hopewell. I hate to give you so big a bill, but +that's all I've got," said the druggist's wife, as she handed the +store-keeper a twenty-dollar gold certificate. + +"He, he!" chuckled Walky, "Guess Massey wants all the change in town in +his own till, heh?" + +"That is all right, Mrs. Massey," said Hopewell, in his gentle way. "I +can change it. Have to give you a gold piece--there." + +"What's going to be done about this liquor selling, anyway?" demanded +Nelson Haley, in a much more serious mood, it would seem, than usual. +"I think Janice has the right of it--although I did not think so at +first. 'Live and let live,' is a good motto; but it is foolish to let +a mad dog live in a community. Lem Parraday's bar is certainly doing a +lot of harm to innocent people." + +Janice clapped her hands softly, and her eyes shone. The school +teacher went on with increased warmth: + +"Polktown is really being vastly injured by the liquor selling. To +think of those boys becoming intoxicated--one of them of my school, +too----" + +The young man halted suddenly in this speech. In his earnestness he +had forgotten that it was his school no longer. + +"It is a disgraceful state of affairs," 'Rill hastened to say, kindly +covering Nelson's momentary confusion. + +But Janice beamed at the young man. "Oh, Nelson! I am delighted to +hear you speak so. We are going to hold a temperance meeting--Mr. +Middler and I have talked it over. And I have obtained Elder +Concannon's promise to be one of those on the platform. Polktown must +be waked up----" + +"What! _Again_? Haw! haw! haw!" burst out Walky. "Jefers-pelters, +Janice Day! You've abeout give Polktown insomnia already! I sh'd say +our eyes was purty well opened----" + +"_Yours_ are not, old fellow," said Nelson, good-naturedly, but with +marked earnestness, too. "You're patronizing the barroom side of the +hotel altogether more than is good for you, and if you don't know it +yourself, Walky, I feel myself enough your friend to tell you so." + +"Nonsense! nonsense!" returned the expressman, reddening a little, yet +man enough to accept personal criticism when he was so prone to +criticizing other people. "What leetle I drink ain't never goin' ter +hurt me." + +"Nor anybody else?" asked Janice, softly, for she liked Walky and was +sorry to see him go wrong. "How about your example, Walky?" + +"Shucks! Don't talk ter me abeout 'example.' That's allus the excuse +of the weak-headed. If my example was goin' ter hurt the boys, ev'ry +one o' them would wanter be th' town expressman! Haw! haw! haw! I +ain't never seen none o' them tumblin' over each other fer th' chance't +ter cut me out on my job. An' 'cause I chaw terbaccer, is ev'ry +white-headed kid in town goin' ter take up chawin' as a habit? + +"Jefers-pelters! I 'low if I had a boy o' m' own mebbe I'd be a lettle +keerful how I used either licker, or terbaccer. But I hain't. I got +only one child, an' she's a female. I reckon I ain't gotter worry +about little Matildy bein' inflooenced either by her daddy's chawin', +or his takin' a snifter of licker on a cold day--I snum!" + +"Unanswerable logic, Walky," said Nelson, with some scorn. "I've used +the same myself. And it serves all right if one is utterly selfish. I +thought _that_ out after Janice, here, opened my eyes." + +"You show me how my takin' a drink 'casionally hurts anybody or +anything else, an', jefers-pelters! I'll stop it mighty quick!" +exclaimed the expressman, with some heat. + +"I shall hold you to that, Walky," said Janice, quickly, interfering +before there should be any further sharp discussion. + +"And," muttered Nelson, "she's as good as got you, Walky--she has that!" + +At the moment the door opened with a bang, and Mr. Massey plunged in. +He was without a hat and wore the linen apron he always put on when he +was compounding prescriptions in the back room of his shop. In his +excitement his gray hair was ruffled up more like a cockatoo's topknot +than usual, and his eyes seemed fairly to spark. + +"Hopewell Drugg!" he exclaimed, spying the storekeeper. "Was my wife +just in here?" + +"Hul-_lo_!" ejaculated Walky Dexter. "Hopewell hasn't been sellin' her +Paris green for buckwheat flour, has he? That would kinder be in your +line, wouldn't it, Massey?" + +But the druggist paid the town humorist no attention. He hurried to +the counter and leaned across it, asking his question for a second time. + +"Why, yes, she was here, Mr. Massey," said Hopewell, puzzled. + +"She changed a bill with you, didn't she?" + +"Jefers-pelters! was it counterfeit?" put in Walky, drawing nearer. + +"A twenty dollar bill--yes, sir," said the storekeeper. + +"Did you give her a gold piece--a ten dollar gold piece--in the +change?" shot in Massey, his voice shaking. + +"Why--yes." + +"Is this it?" and the druggist slapped a gold coin down on the counter +between them. + +Hopewell picked up the coin, turned it over in his hand, holding it +close to his near-sighted eyes. Nothing could ever hurry Hopewell +Drugg in speech. + +"Why--yes," he said again. "I guess so." + +"But look at the date, man!" shouted Massey. "Don't you see the date +on it?" + +Amazed, Drugg repeated the date aloud, reading it carefully from the +coin. "Why, yes, that's the date, sir," said the storekeeper. + +"Don't ye know that's one of the rarest issues of ten dollar coins in +existence? Somethin' happened to the die: they only issued a few," +Massey stammered. "Where'd you git it, Hopewell?" + +"Why--why--Is it valuable?" asked Hopewell. "A rare coin, you say?" + +"Rare!" shouted Massey. "Yes, I tell ye! It's rare. There ain't but +a few in existence. Mr. Hobart told me when he brought them coins over +here that night. And he pointed one of them out to me in that +collection. Where did you get this one, Hopewell--where'd you get it, +I say?" + +And on completing the demand he turned sharply and stared with his +blinking, red eyes directly at Nelson Haley. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +SUSPICIONS + +"Why--why--why----" stammered Hopewell Drugg, and could say no more. + +The others had noted Massey's accusing glance at the schoolmaster; but +not even Walky Dexter commented upon it at the moment. + +"Come, Hopewell!" exclaimed the druggist; "where did you get it?" + +"Where--where did I get the gold piece?" repeated the storekeeper, +weakly. + +"Yes. Who paid it in to you? Hi, man! surely you don't think for a +moment I accuse you of having stolen the coin collection--or having +guilty knowledge of the theft?" + +"Oh, Mr. Massey! what are you saying?" cried the storekeeper's wife. + +"The coins?" whispered Hopewell. "Is that one of them?" + +"Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky, "Here's a purty mess." + +"Who gave it to you?" again demanded Mr. Massey. + +"Why, it would be hard to say offhand," the storekeeper had sufficient +wit to reply. + +"Oh, but Hopewell!" implored the druggist. "Don't ye see what I am +after? Stir yourself, man! Perhaps we are right on the trail of the +thief--this is maybe a clue," and he cast another glance at Nelson as +though he feared the schoolmaster might try to slip out of the store if +he did not watch him. + +Nelson came forward to the counter. At first he had grown very red; +now he was quite pale and the look of scorn and indignation he cast +upon the druggist might have withered that person at a time of less +excitement. + +"I ran 'way up here the minute my wife gave me that gold piece, +Hopewell," Massey continued. "Don't you remember how you came by it?" + +"He means, Mr. Drugg," broke in Nelson, "that he suspects you got it +from me. Now tell him, if you please: Have I passed a gold piece over +your counter since the robbery--that piece, or any other?" + +"Not--not to my knowledge, Mr. Haley," the storekeeper said, shaking +his head slowly. + +"Oh, Nelson!" gasped Janice, coming nearer and touching his arm lightly. + +The young man's hands were clenched. He had a temper and it nearly +mastered him now. But he had learned to control himself. Otherwise he +could never have been as successful as he was in handling his pupils. +His eyes darted lightning at the druggist; but the latter was too +excited to realize Nelson Haley's mood. + +"This fellow has been to the postmaster to try to discover if I bought +my money-order the other day with gold coin; but the postmaster obeyed +the rules of the Department and refused to answer. He and the other +committeemen are doing every underhanded thing possible to injure me. +Cross Moore even tried to get into my rooms to search my trunk--but +Mrs. Beaseley threatened him with a broom. + +"It doesn't surprise me that Mr. Massey should attempt in this way to +find what he calls 'a clue.' The only clue he and his friends are +looking for is something with which to connect me with the robbery." + +Janice's light touch on his arm again, stayed his wrathful words; but +the druggist's freckled face glowed--red under the young man's gaze. + +"Wal!" he grunted, shortly, "we're bound to look after our own +skins--not after yours, Mr. Haley." + +"I believe you!" exclaimed the schoolmaster in scorn, and turned away. + +"But, say, Hopewell, ye ain't answered me yet," went on Massey, again +addressing the storekeeper. + +"Well--I couldn't say offhand----" + +"Great goodness, Hopewell!" cried Massey, pounding his fist upon the +counter for emphasis, "you're the most exasperating critter. If +this--this---- If Mr. Haley didn't give you the coin, _who did_?" + +"Why--I--I----" + +Drugg was slow enough at best. Now he was indeed very irritating. He +was not the man to allow anything he said to injure another, if he +could help it. + +"Le's see," he continued; "I've had that gold piece sev'ral days. I am +sure, of course, that Mr. Haley did not give it to me. No. Come to +think of it----" + +"Well?" gasped Mr. Massey. + +"I _do_ remember the transaction, now. It--it was give me as an option +on my violin," said Hopewell Drugg, with growing confidence. "Yes. I +remember now all about it." + +"What's that? Yer fiddle, Hopewell?" put in Dexter. "Ye ain't goin' +ter sell yer fiddle?" + +"I must," Hopewell said simply. "I accepted that ten dollar gold piece +and two five dollar bills, as a payment upon it." + +"Who from?" demanded Massey, sticking to his text, and that only. + +"Young Joe Bodley, of the Lake View Inn." + +"Joe Bodley! Why, he was abed when them coins was stolen--I know +that," blurted out the druggist, very much disappointed. "Lem Parraday +'tends bar himself forenoons, for Joe's allus up till past midnight. +You know that, Walky." + +"Ya-as--f'r sure," agreed the expressman. "But one o' these here +magazine deteckatiffs might be able ter hook up Joe with them missin' +coins, jes' the same. Mebbe he's a sernamb'list," suggested, Walky, +with a sly grin. + +"A _what_?" demanded Massey, with a startled look. "He's an Odd +Feller, an' a Son o' Jethro. I don't know what other lodges he b'longs +to." + +"Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky, "who's talkin' about lodges? I +mean mebbe Joe walks in his sleep. He might ha' stole them coins when +he was sernamb'latin' about----" + +The druggist snorted. "That's some o' your funny business, I s'pose, +Walky Dexter. If you stood ter lose four hundred dollars you wouldn't +chuckle none about it, I'm bound." + +"Mebbe that's so," admitted Walky. "But I dunno's I'd go around +suspectin' everybody there was of stealin' that money. Caesar's +wife--er was it his darter?--wouldn't 'scape suspicion in your mind, +Mr. Massey." + +"By hickory!" exclaimed the exasperated druggist, "I'd suspect my own +grandmother!" + +"Sure ye would--ef ye thought by so doin' ye'd escape payin' out four +hundred dollars! Hay! haw! haw!" laughed the expressman. "Ye ac' +right fullish, Massey. All sorts of money is passed over that bar. I +seen a feller count out forty pennies there t'other day for a flask of +whiskey: an' I bet he'd either robbed his baby's bank, or the +missionary-fund box. Haw! haw! haw!" + +"You can laugh," began the druggist, looking sour enough, when Walky +broke in again: + +"Sure I can. It's lucky I can, too. If I couldn't laff at most of the +folks that live in this town, I'd be tempted ter commit +sooicide--that's right! And you air one of the most amusin' of the +lot, Massey. Them other committeemen run ye a clost second." + +"Oh! I can't stop here and fool with you all day, Walky Dexter," +snapped the druggist, pretty well worked up by now. "I tell ye this +gold piece is a clue----" + +"Mebbe," said Walky. "Mebbe 'tis a clue. But I reckon it's what them +magazine deteckatifs call a blind clue. Haw! haw! haw! An' afore ye +git anywhere with it, it'll proberbly go on crutches an' be deef an' +dumb inter the bargain!" + +Massey did not look as though he enjoyed these gibes much. "I'll go +down an' see Joe," he grunted. "Mebbe he'll know something about it." + +"I hope you do not expect to find that I spent that ten dollar gold +piece at the Inn bar," said Nelson, bitterly. + +"Well! I'll find out how it got into Joe's hands," growled Massey. + +"If Joe tells you," chuckled Walky. "An' do stop for yer hat, Massey. +You'll ketch yer death o' dampness." + +The druggist had opened a fruitful subject for speculation. Those he +left behind in the store were eagerly interested. Indeed, Janice and +Nelson could not fail to be excited by the occurrence, and the latter +rode home with Janice in the car to talk the matter over with Uncle +Jason. + +"Of course," the schoolmaster said, when the family was assembled in +the sitting room of the old Day house, "_that_ gold piece may not be +one of those stolen at all. There are plenty of ten dollar gold pieces +in circulation." + +"Not in Polktown!" exclaimed Uncle Jason. + +"And if we are to believe Mr. Massey," added Janice, "there are not +many ten dollar gold pieces of that particular date in existence." + +"We don't really know. Perhaps Massey is mistaken. We know he was +excited," said Nelson. + +"Hold hard, now," advised Uncle Jason, "It's a breach in their walls, +nevertheless." + +"How is that, Mr. Day?" asked the schoolmaster. + +"Why, don't you see?" said Uncle Jason, puffing on his pipe in some +excitement. "They have opened th' way for Doubt ter stalk in," and he +chuckled. "Them committeemen have been toller'ble sure--er they've +_said_ they was--it was you stole the money, Mr. Haley. If they can't +connect this coin with you at all, they'll sartain sure be up a stump. +And they air a-breakin' down their own case against ye. I guess I'm +lawyer enough ter see that." + +"Oh, goodness, Uncle Jason! So they will!" cried Janice. + +"But it does not seem reasonable that the person stealing the coins +would spend one of them in Polktown," Nelson said slowly. + +"I dunno," reflected Mr. Day. "I never did think that a thief had any +medals fer good sense--nossir! He most allus leaves some openin' so's +ter git caught." + +"And if he spent the money at the tavern--and for liquor--of course he +_couldn't_ have good sense." + +"I take off my hat to you on that point, Janice," laughed Nelson. "I +believe you are right." + +"Ya-as, ain't she?" Aunt Almira said proudly. "An' our Janice +has done suthin' this time that'll make Polktown put her on a +ped-ped-es-tri-an----" + +"'Pedestal,' Maw!" giggled Marty. + +"Wal, never mind," said the somewhat flurried Mrs. Day. "Mr. Middler +said it. Mr. Haley, ye'd oughter hear all 't Mr. Middler said about +her this arternoon at the meetin' of the Ladies' Aid." + +"Oh, Auntie!" murmured Janice, turning very red. + +"Go on, Maw, and tell us," said Marty. "What did he say?" and he +grinned delightedly at his cousin's rosy face. + +"Sing her praises, Mrs. Day--do," urged Nelson. "We know she deserves +to have them sung." + +"Wal! I should say she did," agreed Aunt 'Mira, proudly. "It's her, +the parson says, that's re'lly at the back of this temp'rance movement +that's goin' ter be inaugurated right here in Polktown. Nex' Sunday +he's goin' to give a sermon on temperance. He said 'at he was ashamed +to feel that he--like the rest of us--was content ter drift along and +_do nothin'_ 'cept ter talk against rum selling, until Janice began ter +_do somethin'_." + +"Now, Auntie!" complained the girl again. + +"Wal! You started it--ye know ye did, Janice. They was talkin' about +holdin' meetings, an' pledge-signin', and stirrin' up the men folks ter +vote nex' Fall ter make Polktown so everlastin'ly dry that all the old +topers, like Jim Narnay, an' Bruton Willis, an'--an' the rest of 'em, +will jest natcherly wither up an' blow away! I tell ye, the Ladies' +Aid is all worked up." + +"I wonder, now," said Uncle Jason, reflectively. + +"Ye wonder what, Jase Day?" demanded his spouse, with some warmth. + +"I wonder if it can be _did_?" returned Uncle Jason. "Lemme tell ye, +rum sellin' an' rum drinkin' is purty well rooted in Polktown. If +Janice is a-goin' ter stop th' sale of licker here, she's tackled purty +consider'ble of a job, lemme tell ye." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +WHAT WAS IN THE PAPER + +As the days passed it certainly looked as though Mr. Day was correct in +his surmise about the difficulties of "Janice's job," as he called it. +The girl was earnestly talking to everybody whom she knew, especially +to the influential men of Polktown, regarding the disgraceful things +that had happened in the lakeside hamlet since the bar had been opened +at the Inn. And it was among these influential men that she found the +most opposition to making Polktown "dry" instead of "wet." + +She had thrown down her gauntlet at Mr. Cross Moore's feet, so she +troubled no more about him. Janice realized that nobody was more +politically powerful in Polktown than Mr. Moore. But she believed she +could not possibly obtain him on the side of prohibition, so she did +not waste her strength or time in trying. + +Not that Mr. Cross Moore was a drinking man himself. He was never +known to touch either liquor or tobacco. He was just a hard-fisted, +hard-hearted, shrewd and successful country politician; and there +appeared to be no soft side to his character. Unless that side was +exposed to his invalid wife. And nobody outside ever caught Mr. Moore +displaying tenderness in particular to her, although he was known to +spend much time with her. + +He had fought his way up in politics and in wealth, from very poor and +small beginnings. From his birth in an ancient log cabin, with parents +who were as poor and miserable as the Trimminses or the Narnays to +being president of the Town Council and chairman of the School +Committee, was a long stride for Mr. Cross Moore--and nobody +appreciated the fact more clearly than himself. + +Money had been the best friend he had ever had. Without Elder +Concannon's streak of acquisitiveness in his character that made the +good old man almost miserly, Mr. Cross Moore possessed the +money-getting ability, and a faith in the creed that "Wealth is Power" +that nothing had yet shaken in his long experience. + +For a number of years Polktown had been free of any public +dram-selling, although the voters had not put themselves on record as +desiring prohibition. Occasionally a more or less secret place for the +selling of liquor had risen and was quickly put down. There had, in +the opinion of the majority of the citizens, been no call for a +drinking place, and there would probably have been no such local demand +had Lem Parraday--backed by Mr. Moore, who held the mortgage on the +Inn--not desired to increase the profits of that hostelry. The license +was taken out that visitors to Polktown might be satisfied. + +There had been no local demand for the sale of liquor, as has been +said. Those who made a practise of using it could obtain all they +wished at Middletown, or other places near by. But once having allowed +the traffic a foothold in the hamlet, it would be hard to dislodge it. + +John Barleycorn is fighting for his life. He has few real friends, +indeed, among his consumers. No man knows better the danger of alcohol +than the man who is addicted to its use--until he gets to that besotted +stage where his brain is so befuddled that his opinion would scarcely +be taken in a court of law on any subject. + +Janice Day was determined not to listen to these temporizers in +Polktown who professed themselves satisfied if the license was taken +away from the Lake View Inn. Something more drastic was needed than +that. + +"The business must be voted out of town. We all must take a stand upon +the question--on one side or the other," the girl had said earnestly, +in discussing this point with Elder Concannon. + +"If you only shut up this bar, another license, located at some other +point, will be asked for. Each time the fight will have to be begun +again. Vote the town _dry_--that is the only way." + +"Well, I reckon that's true enough, my girl," said the cautious elder. +"But I doubt if we can do it. They're too strong for us." + +"We can try," Janice urged. "You don't _know_ that the wets will win, +Elder." + +"And if we try the question in town meeting and get beaten, we'll be +worse off than we are now." + +"Why shall we?" Janice demanded. "And, besides, I do not believe the +wets can carry the day." + +"I'm afraid the idea of making the town dry isn't popular enough," +pursued the elder. + +"Why not?" + +"We are Vermonters," said Elder Concannon, as though that were +conclusive. "We're sons of the Green Mountain Boys, and liberty is +greater to us than to any other people in the world." + +"Including the liberty to get drunk--and the children to follow the +example of the grown men?" asked Janice, tartly. "Is _that_ liberty so +precious?" + +"That's a harsh saying, Janice," said the old man, wagging his head. + +"It's the truth, just the same," the girl declared, with doggedness. + +"You can't make the voters do what you want--not always," said Elder +Concannon. "I don't want to see liquor sold here; but I think we'll be +more successful if we oppose each license as it comes up." + +"What chance had you to oppose Lem Parraday's license?" demanded the +girl, sharply. + +"Well! I allow that was sprung on us sudden. But Cross Moore was +interested in it, too." + +"Somebody will always be particularly interested in the granting of the +license. I believe with Uncle Jason that it's foolish to give Old Nick +a fair show. He does not deserve the honors of war." + +More than Elder Concannon did not believe that Polktown could be +carried for prohibition in Town Meeting. But election day was months +ahead, and if "keeping everlastingly at it" would bring success, Janice +was determined that her idea should be adopted. + +Mr. Middler's first sermon on temperance was in no uncertain tone. +Indeed, that good man's discourses nowadays were very different from +those he had been wont to give the congregation of the Union Church +when Janice had first come to Polktown. In the old-fashioned phrase, +Mr. Middler had "found liberty." + +There was nothing sensational about his sermons. He was a drab man, +who still hesitated before uttering any very pronounced view upon any +subject; but he thought deeply, and even that super-critic, Elder +Concannon, had begun to praise the pastor of the Union Church. + +To start the movement for prohibition in the largest church in the +community was all very well; but Janice and the other earnest workers +realized that the movement must be broader than that. A general +meeting was arranged in the Town House, the biggest assembly room in +town, and speakers were secured who were really worth hearing. All +this went on quite satisfactorily. Indeed, the first temperance rally +was a pronounced success, and white ribbons became common in Polktown, +worn by both young and old. + +But Janice's and Nelson Haley's private affairs remained in a most +unsatisfactory state indeed. + +First of all, there was a long month to wait before Janice could expect +to see another letter from daddy. It puzzled her that he was forbidden +to write but once in thirty days, by an under lieutenant of the +Zapatist chief, Juan Dicampa, who was Mr. Day's friend--or supposed to +be, and yet the letters came to her readdressed in Juan Dicampa's hand. + +She watched the daily papers, too, for any word printed regarding the +chieftain, and perhaps never was a brigand's well-being so heartily +prayed for, as was Juan Dicampa's. Janice never forgot that her father +said Dicampa stood between him and almost certain death. + +Considering Nelson Haley's affairs, that young man was quite impatient +because they had come to no head. Nor did it seem that they were +likely to soon. + +Nelson had secretly objected when Uncle Jason had asked Judge Little to +put off for a full week the examination of Nelson in his court. The +unfortunate schoolmaster felt that he wanted the thing over and the +worst known immediately. + +But it seemed that he was neither to be acquitted at once of the crime +charged against him, nor was he to be found guilty and punished. + +Uncle Jason was right about the turning up of the ten dollar gold piece +being a blow to the accusation the School Committee had lodged against +Nelson. They could not connect the young schoolmaster with the gold +coin. + +By Uncle Jason's advice, too, Nelson had put off engaging a lawyer in +Middletown to come over to defend the young man in Judge Little's court. + +"And well he did wait, too," declared Mr. Day, very much pleased with +his own shrewdness. "_That_ would have meant a twenty dollar note. +Now it don't cost Mr. Haley a cent." + +"What do you mean, Jase Day?" demanded Aunt Almira, for her husband +announced the above at the supper table on Friday evening of that +eventful week. "They ain't goin' ter send Mr. Haley to jail without a +trial?" + +"Hear the woman, will ye?" apostrophized Uncle Jason, with disgust. +"Ain't thet jes' like ye, Almiry--goin' off at ha'f cock thet-a-way? +Who said anythin' about Mr. Haley goin' ter jail?" + +"Wal----" + +"He ain't goin' yet awhile, I reckon," and Mr. Day chuckled. "I told +ye them fule committeemen would overreach themselves. They've +withdrawn the charge." + +"_What_?" chorused the family, in joy and amazement. + +"Yessir! that's what they've done. Jedge Little sent word to me an' +give me back my bond. 'Course, we could ha' demanded a hearin' an' +tried ter git a clear discharge. And then ag'in--Wal! I advised Mr. +Haley ter let well enough alone." + +"Then they know who is the thief at last?" asked Janice, quaveringly. + +"No." + +"But they know Mr. Haley never stole them coins!" cried Aunt Almira. + +"Wal--ef they do, they don't admit of it," drawled Uncle Jason. + +"What in tarnation is it, then, Dad?" demanded Marty. + +"Why, they've made sech a to-do over findin' that gold piece in Hope +Drugg's possession, that they don't dare go on an' prosercute the +schoolmaster--nossir!" + +"Bully!" exclaimed the thoughtless Marty. "That's all right, then." + +"But--but," objected Janice, with trembling lip, "that doesn't clear +Nelson at all!" + +"It answers the puppose," proclaimed Uncle Jason. "He ain't under +arrest no more, and he don't hafter pay no lawyer's fee." + +"Ye-es," admitted his niece, slowly. "But what is poor Nelson to do? +He's still under a cloud, and he can't teach school." + +"And believe me!" growled Marty, "that greeny they got to teach in his +place don't scu'cely know beans when the bag's untied." + +It was true that the four committeemen had considered it wise to +withdraw their charge against Nelson Haley. Without any evidence but +that of a purely presumptive character, their lawyer had advised this +retreat. + +Really, it was a sharp trick. It left Nelson worse off, as far as +disproving their charge went, than he would have been had they taken +the case into court. The charge still lay against the young man in the +public mind. He had no opportunity of being legally cleared of +suspicion. + +The ancient legal supposition that a man is innocent until he is found +guilty, is never honored in a New England village. He is guilty unless +proved innocent. And how could Nelson prove his innocence? Only by +discovering the real thief and proving _him_ guilty. + +The shrewd attorney hired by the four committeemen knew very well that +he was not prejudicing his clients' case when he advised them to quash +the warrant. + +But as for the discovery of the rare coin in circulation--one known to +belong to the collection stolen from the schoolhouse--that injured the +committeemen's cause rather than helped it, it must be confessed. + +Joe Bodley frankly admitted having paid over the gold piece to Hopewell +Drugg, as a deposit on the fiddle. But he professed not to know how +the coin had come into the till at the tavern. + +Joe had full charge of the cash-drawer when Mr. Parraday was not +present, and he had helped himself to such money as he thought he would +need when he went up town to negotiate for the purchase of the fiddle. +He denied emphatically that the man who had engaged him to purchase the +fiddle had given him the ten dollar gold piece. Who the purchaser of +the fiddle was, however, the barkeeper declined to say. + +"That's my business," Joe had said, when questioned on this point. +"Ya-as. I expect to take the fiddle. Hopewell's agreed to sell it to +me, fair and square. If I can make a lettle spec on the side, who's +business is it but my own?" + +When Janice heard the report of this--through Walky Dexter, of +course--she was reminded of the black-haired, foreign looking man, who +had been so much interested in Hopewell's violin the night she and +Frank Bowman had taken the storekeeper home from the dance. + +"I wonder if he can be the customer that Joe Bodley speaks of? Oh, +dear me!" sighed Janice. "I'm so sorry Hopewell has to sell his +violin. And I'm sorry he is going to sell it this way. If that 'foxy +looking foreigner,' as Mr. Bowman called him, is the purchaser of the +instrument, perhaps it is worth much more than a hundred dollars. + +"Lottie _must_ go again and have her eyes examined. Hopewell will take +her himself next month--the poor, dear little thing! Oh! if daddy's +mine wasn't down there among those hateful Mexicans---- + +"And I wonder," added the young girl, suddenly, "what one of those real +old violins is worth." + +She chanced to be reflecting on this subject on a Saturday afternoon +near the end of the month Hopewell had allowed to Joe Bodley to find +the rest of the purchase price for the violin. She had been up to the +church vestry to attend a meeting of her Girls' Guild. As she passed +the Public Library this thought came to her: + +"I'll go in and look in the encyclopaedia. _That_ ought to tell about +old violins." + +She looked up Cremona and read about its wonderful violins made in the +sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries by the Amati family +and by Antonio Stradivari and Josef Guarnerius. It did not seem +possible that Hopewell's instrument could be one of these beautifully +wrought violins of the masters; yet---- + +"Who knows?" sighed Janice. "You read about such instruments coming to +light in such queer places. And Hopewell's fiddle _looks_ awfully old. +From all accounts his father must have been a musician of some +importance, despite the fact that he was thought little of in Polktown +by either his wife or other people. Mr. Drugg might have owned one of +these famous violins--not one of the most ancient, perhaps--and told +nobody here about it. Why! the ordinary Polktownite would think just +as much of a two-dollar-and-a-half fiddle as of a real Stradivarius or +an Amati." + +While she was at the task, Janice took some notes of what she read. +While she was about this, Walky Dexter, who brought the mail over from +Middletown, daily, came in with the usual bundle of papers for the +reading desk, and the girl in charge that afternoon hastened to put the +papers in the files. + +Major Price had presented the library with a year's subscription to a +New York daily. Janice or Marty always found time to scan each page of +that paper for Mexican news--especially for news of the brigand chief, +Juan Dicampa. + +She went to the reading desk after closing and returning the +encyclopaedia to its proper shelf, and spread the New York paper before +her. This day she had not to search for mention of her father's +friend, the Zapatist chief. Right in front of her eyes, at the top of +the very first column, were these headlines: + + + JUAN DICAMPA CAPTURED + + THE ZAPATIST CHIEFTAIN CAPTURED BY + FEDERALS WITH 500 OF HIS FORCE AND + IMMEDIATELY SHOT. MASSACRE + OF HIS FOLLOWERS. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DEEP WATERS + +The dispatch in the New York paper was dated from a Texan city on the +day before. It was brief, but seemed of enough importance to have the +place of honor on the front page of the great daily. + +There were all the details of a night advance, a bloody attack and a +fearful repulse in which General Juan Dicampa's force had been nearly +wiped out. + +The half thousand captured with the famous guerrilla chief were +reported to have been hacked to pieces when they cried for quarter, and +Juan Dicampa himself was given the usual short shrift connected in most +people's minds with Mexican justice. He had been shot three hours +after his capture. + +It was an awful thing--and awful to read about. The whole affair had +happened a long way from that part of Chihuahua in which daddy's mine +was situated; but Janice immediately realized that the "long arm" of +Dicampa could no longer keep Mr. Broxton Day from disaster, or punish +those who offended the American mining man. + +The very worst that could possibly happen to her father, Janice +thought, had perhaps already happened. + +That was a very sorrowful evening indeed at the old Day house on +Hillside Avenue. Although Mr. Jason Day and Janice's father were half +brothers only, the elder man had in his heart a deep and tender love +for Broxton, or "Brocky," as he called him. + +He remembered Brocky as a lad--always. He felt the superiority of his +years--and presumably his wisdom--over the younger man. Despite the +fact that Mr. Broxton Day had early gone away from Polktown, and had +been deemed very successful in point of wealth in the Middle West, +Uncle Jason considered him still a boy, and his ventures in business +and in mining as a species of "wild oat sowing," of which he could +scarcely approve. + +"No," he sighed. "If Brocky had been more settled he'd ha' been better +off--I snum he would! A piece o' land right here back o' Polktown--or +a venture in a store, if so be he must trade--would ha' been safer for +him than a slather o' mines down there among them Mexicaners." + +"Don't talk so--don't talk so, Jason!" sniffed Aunt Almira. + +"Wal--it's a fac'," her husband said vigorously. "There may be some +danger attached ter store keepin' in Polktown; it's likely ter make a +man a good deal of a hawg," added Uncle Jason. "But I guess the life +insurance rates ain't so high as they be on a feller that's determined +ter spend his time t'other side o' that Rio Grande River they tell +about." + +"I wonder," sighed Aunt Almira, quite unconscious that she spoke aloud, +"if I kin turn that old black alpaca gown I got when Sister Susie died, +Jason, an' fashion it after one o' the new models?" + +"Heh?" grunted the startled Mr. Day, glaring at her. + +"Of course, we'll hafter go inter black--it's only decent. But I did +fancy a plum-colored dress this Spring, with r'yal purple trimmins. I +seen a pattern in the fashion sheet of the Fireside Love Letter that +was re'l sweet." + +"What's eatin' on you, Maw?" demanded her son gruffly. "Whatcher +wanter talk that way for right in front of Janice? I reckon we won't +none of us put on crępe for Uncle Brocky yet awhile," he added, stoutly. + +On Monday arrived another letter from Mr. Broxton Day. Of course, it +was dated before the dreadful night attack which had caused the death +of General Juan Dicampa and the destruction of his forces; and it had +passed through that chieftain's hands and had been remailed. + +Janice put away the envelope, directed in the sloping, clerkly hand, +and sighed. Daddy was in perfect health when he had written this last +epistle and the situation had not changed. + +"But no knowing what has happened to poor daddy since he wrote," +thought Janice. "We can know nothing about it. And another whole +month to wait to learn if he is alive." + +The girl was quite well aware that she could expect no inquiry to be +made at Washington regarding Mr. Broxton Day's fate. The +administration had long since warned all American citizens to leave +Mexico and to refrain from interference in Mexican affairs. Mr. Day +had chosen to stay by his own, and his friends', property--and he had +done this at his peril. + +"Oh, I wish," thought the girl, "that somebody could go down there and +capture daddy, and just make him come back over the border! As Uncle +Jason says, what's money when his precious life is in danger?" + +In almost the same breath, however, she wished that daddy could send +her more money. For Lottie Drugg had gone to Boston. Her father had +given over the violin to Joe Bodley, and that young speculator paid the +storekeeper the remainder of the hundred dollars agreed upon. With +this hundred dollars Hopewell started for Boston with Lottie, leaving +his wife to take care of the store for the few days he expected to be +absent. Janice went over to stay with Mrs. Drugg at night during +Hopewell's absence. + +Perhaps it was just as well that Janice was not at home during these +few days, as it gave her somebody's troubles besides her own to think +about. And the Day household really, if not visibly, was in mourning +for Broxton Day. Uncle Jason's face was as "long as the moral law," +and Aunt 'Mira, lachrymose at best, was now continuously and deeply +gloomy. Marty was the only person in the Day household able to cheer +Janice in the least. + +'Rill and Hopewell were in deep waters, too. Had Lottie not been such +an expense, the little store on the side street would have made a very +comfortable living for the three of them. They lived right up to their +income, however; and so Hopewell was actually obliged to sell his +violin to get Lottie to Boston. + +Mrs. Scattergood was frequently in the store now that her son-in-law +was away. She was, of course, ready with her criticisms as to the +course of her daughter and her husband. + +"Good Land o' Goshen!" chirped the little old woman to Janice, "didn't +I allus say it was the fullishest thing ever heard of for them two to +marry? Amarilly had allus airned good money teachin' and had spent it +as she pleased. And Hope Drugg never did airn much more'n the salt in +his johnny-cake in this store." + +Meanwhile she was helping herself to sugar and tea and flour and butter +and other little "notions" for her own comfort. Hopewell always said +that "Mother Scattergood should have the run of the store, and take +what she pleased," now that he had married 'Rill; and, although the +woman was not above maligning her easy-going son-in-law, she did not +refuse to avail herself of his generosity. + +"An' there it is!" went on Mrs. Scattergood. "'Rill was fullish enough +to put the money she'd saved inter a mortgage that pays her only five +per cent. An' ter git th' int'rest is like pullin' eye-teeth, and I +tell her she never will see the principal ag'in." + +Mrs. Scattergood neglected to state that she had urged her daughter to +put her money in this mortgage. It was on her son's farm, across the +lake at "Skunk's Hollow," as the place was classically named; and the +money would never have been tied up in this way had her mother not +begged and pleaded and fairly "hounded" 'Rill into letting the +shiftless brother have her savings on very uncertain security. + +"Them two marryin'," went on Mrs. Scattergood, referring to 'Rill and +Hopewell, "was for all the worl' like Famine weddin' with Poverty. And +a very purty weddin' that allus is," she added with a sniff. "Neither +of 'em ain't got nothin', nor never will have--'ceptin' that Hopewell's +got an encumbrance in the shape of that ha'f silly child." + +Janice was tempted to tell the venomous old woman that she thought +Hopewell's only encumbrance was his mother-in-law. + +"And him fiddlin' and drinkin' and otherwise wastin' his substance," +croaked Mrs. Scattergood. + +At this Janice did utter an objection: + +"Now, that is not so, Mrs. Scattergood. You know very well that that +story about Hopewell being a drinking man is not true." + +"My! is that so? Didn't I see him myself? And you seen him, too, +Janice Day, comin' home that night, a wee-wawin' like a boat in a heavy +sea. I guess I see what I see. And as for his fiddlin'----" + +"You need not be troubled on that score, at least," sighed Janice. +"Poor Hopewell! He's sold his violin." + +Walky Dexter came into the store that same evening, chuckling over the +sale of the instrument. + +"I wouldn't go for ter say Hopewell is a sharper," he grinned; "but +mebbe he ain't so powerful innercent as he sometimes 'pears. If so, +I'm sartainly glad of it." + +"What do you mean, Mr. Dexter?" asked 'Rill, rather sharply. + +"Guess Joe Bodley feels like he'd like ter know whether Hopewell done +him or not. Joe's condition is suthin' like the snappin' turtle's when +he cotched a-holt of Peleg Swift's red nose as he was stoopin' ter git +a drink at the spring. He didn't durst ter let go while Peke was +runnin' an' yellin' 'Murder!' but he was mighty sorry ter git so fur +from home. Haw! haw! haw!" + +"What is the matter with Joe Bodley now, Walky?" asked Nelson, who was +present. "Didn't he make a good thing out of the violin transaction?" + +"Why--haw! haw!--he dunno yit. But I b'lieve he's beginnin' ter have +his doubts--like th' feller 't got holt of the black snake a-thinkin' +it was a heifer's tail," chuckled Walky, whose face was very red and +whose spicy breath--Joe Bodley always kept a saucer of cloves on the +end of the bar--was patent to all in the store. + +"Joe's a good sport; he ain't squealin' none," pursued Dexter; "but +there is the fiddle a-hangin' behint th' bar an' Joe's beginnin' ter +look mighty sour when ye mention it to him." + +"Why, Mr. Dexter!" 'Rill said, in surprise, "hasn't he turned it over +to the man he said he bought it for?" + +"Wal--not so's ye'd notice it," Walky replied, grinning fatuously. "I +dunno who the feller is, or how much money he gin Joe in the fust place +to help pay for the fiddle--some, of course. But if Joe paid Hopewell +a hundred dollars for the thing you kin jest bet he 'spected to git +ha'f as much ag'in for it. + +"But I reckon the feller's reneged or suthin'. Joe ain't happy about +it--he! he! Mebbe on clost examination the fiddle don't 'pear ter be +one o' them old masters they tell about! Haw! haw! haw!" + +Janice started to say something. "Why don't they look inside----" + +"Inside o' what?" demanded Walky, when the girl halted. + +"I am positive that Hopewell would never have sold it for a hundred +dollars if he hadn't felt he must," broke in the storekeeper's wife, +and Janice did not complete her impulsive observation. + +"Ye can't most allus sometimes tell!" drawled Walky. "Mebbe Hopewell +had suthin' up his sleeve 'sides his wrist. Haw! haw! haw! + +"Shucks! talk about a fiddle bein' wuth a hunderd dollars! +Jefers-pelters! I seen one a-hangin' in a shop winder at Bennington +once 't looked every whit as good as Hopewell's, and as old, an' 'twas +marked plain on a card, 'two dollars an' a ha'f.'" + +"I guess there are fiddles and _fiddles_," said 'Rill, a little tartly +for her. + +"No," laughed Nelson. "There are fiddles and _violins_. Like the word +'vase.' If it's a cheap one, plain 'vase' is well enough to indicate +it; but if it costs over twenty-five dollars they usually call it a +'vahze.' I have always believed Hopewell's instrument deserved the +dignity of 'violin.'" + +"Wal," declared Walky. "I guess ye kin have all the dignity, _and_ the +vi'lin, too, if you offer Joe what he paid for it. I don't b'lieve +he'll hang off much for a profit--er--haw! haw! haw!" + +"I wish I were wealthy enough to buy the violin back from that fellow," +whispered Janice to the schoolmaster. + +"Ah! I expect you do, Janice," he said softly, eyeing her with +admiration. "And I wish I could give you the money to do so. It would +give you more pleasure, I fancy, to hand Hopewell back his violin when +he returns from Boston than almost anything we could name. Wouldn't +it?" + +"Oh, dear me! yes, Nelson," she sighed. "I just wish I were rich." + +Just about this time there were a number of things Janice desired money +for. She had a little left in the bank at Middletown; but she dared +not use it for anything but actual necessities. No telling when daddy +could send her any more for her own private use. Perhaps, never. + +The papers gave little news of Mexican troubles just now. Of course, +Juan Dicampa being dead, there was no use watching the news columns for +_his_ name. + +And daddy was utterly buried from her! She had no means of informing +herself whether he were alive or dead. She wrote to him faithfully at +least once each week; but she did not know whether the letters reached +him or not. + +As previously advised, she addressed the outer envelope for her +father's letters in care of Juan Dicampa. But that seemed a hollow +mockery now. She was sending the letters to a dead man. + +Was it possible that her father received the missives? Could Juan +Dicampa's influence, now that he was dead, compass their safety? It +seemed rather a ridiculous thing to do, yet Janice continued to send +them in care of the guerrilla chieftain. + +Indeed, Janice Day was wading in deep waters. It was very difficult +for her to carry a cheerful face about during this time of severe trial. + +But she threw herself, whole-heartedly, into the temperance campaign, +and strove to keep her mind from dwelling upon her father's peril. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +JOSEPHUS COMES OUT FOR PROHIBITION + +It was while Janice was staying with Mrs. Hopewell Drugg during the +storekeeper's absence in Boston, that she met Sophie Narnay on the +street. + +The child looked somewhat better as to dress, for Janice had found her +some frocks weeks before, and Mrs. Narnay had utilized the gifts to the +very best advantage. But the poor little thing was quite as hungry +looking as ever. + +"Oh, Miss Janice!" she said, "I wish you'd come down to see our baby. +She's ever so much worse'n she was. I guess 'twas a good thing 'at we +never named her. 'Twould jest ha' been a name wasted." + +"Oh, dear, Sophie! is she as bad as all that?" cried Janice. + +"Yep," declared the child. + +"Can't the doctor help her?" + +"He's come a lot--an' he's been awful nice. Mom says she didn't know +there was such good folks in the whole worl' as him an' you. But +there's somethin' the matter with the baby that no doctor kin help, so +he says. An' I guess he's got the rights of it," concluded Sophie, in +her old-fashioned way. + +"I will certainly come down and see the poor little thing," promised +Janice. "And your mamma and Johnnie and Eddie. Is your father at home +now?" + +"Nop. He's up in Concannon's woods yet. They've took a new +contrac'--him and Mr. Trimmins. An' mebbe it'll last all Summer. Dear +me! I hope so. Then pop won't be home to drink up all the money mom +earns." + +"I will come down to-morrow," Janice promised, for she was busy just +then and could not accompany Sophie to Pine Cove. + +This was Saturday afternoon and Janice was on her way to the steamboat +dock to see if certain freight had arrived by the _Constance Colfax_ +for Hopewell Drugg's store. She was doing all she could to help 'Rill +conduct the business while the storekeeper was away. + +During the week she had scarcely been home to the Day house at all. +Marty had run the car over to the Drugg place in the morning in time +for her to start for Middletown; and in the afternoon her cousin had +come for the Kremlin and driven it across town to the garage again. + +This Saturday she would not use the car, for she wished to help 'Rill, +and Marty had taken a party of his boy friends out in the Kremlin. +Marty had become a very efficient chauffeur now and could be trusted, +so his father said, not to try to hurdle the stone walls along the way, +or to make the automobile climb the telegraph poles. + +"Marm" Parraday was sweeping the front porch and steps of the Lake View +Inn. Although the Inn had become very well patronized now, the +tavernkeeper's vigorous wife was not above doing much of her own work. + +"Oh, Janice Day! how be ye?" she called to the girl. "I don't see ye +often," and Mrs. Parraday smiled broadly upon her. + +As Janice came nearer she saw that Marm Parraday did not look as she +once did. Her hair had turned very gray, there were deeper lines in +her weather-beaten face, and a trembling of her lips and hands made +Janice's heart ache. + +If the Inn was doing well and Lem Parraday was prospering, his wife +seemed far from sharing in the good times that appeared to have come to +the Lake View Inn. + +The great, rambling house had been freshened with a coat of bright +paint; the steps and porch and porch railings were mended; the sod was +green; the flower gardens gay; the gravel of the walks and driveway +freshly raked; while the round boulders flanking the paths were +brilliant with whitewash. + +"Why!" said Janice honestly, "the old place never looked so nice +before, Mrs. Parraday. You have done wonders this Spring. I hope you +will have a prosperous season." + +Mrs. Parraday clutched the girl's arm tightly. Janice saw that her +eyes seemed quite wild in their expression as she pointed a trembling +finger at the gilt sign at the corner of the house, lettered with the +single word: "Bar." + +"With that sign a-swingin' there, Janice Day?" she whispered. "You air +wishin' us prosperity whilst Lem sells pizen to his feller men?" + +"Oh, Mrs. Parraday! I was not thinking of the liquor selling," said +Janice sympathetically. + +"Ye'd better think of it, then," pursued the tavernkeeper's wife. +"Ye'd better think of it, day and night. That's what _I_ do. I git on +my knees and pray 't Lem won't prosper as long as that bar room's open. +I do it 'fore Lem himself. He says I'm a-tryin' ter pray the +bread-and-butter right aout'n aour mouths. He's so mad at me he won't +sleep in the same room an' has gone off inter the west wing ter sleep +by hisself. But I don't keer," cried Mrs. Parraday wildly. "Woe ter +him that putteth the cup to his neighbor's lips! That's what _I_ tell +him. 'Wine is a mocker--strong drink is ragin'.' That's what the +Bible says. + +"An' Lem--a perfessin' member of Mr. Middler's church--an' me attendin' +the same for goin' on thutty-seven years----" + +"But surely, Mrs. Parraday, you are not to blame because your husband +sells liquor," put in Janice, sorry for the poor woman and trying to +comfort her. + +"Why ain't I?" sharply demanded the tavern-keeper's wife. "I've been +Lem's partner for endurin' all that time, too--thutty-seven years. +I've been hopin' all the time we'd git ahead an' have suthin' beside a +livin' here in Polktown. _I've been hungry for money_! + +"Like enough if I hadn't been so sharp after it, an' complained so +'cause we didn't git ahead, Lem an' Cross Moore wouldn't never got +their heads together an' 'greed ter try rum-selling to make the old Inn +pay a profit. + +"Oh, yes! I see my fault now. Oh, Lord! I see it," groaned Marm +Parraday, clasping her trembling hands. "But, believe me, Janice Day, +I never seen this that's come to us. We hev brought the curse of rum +inter this taown after it had been free from it for years. An' we +shell hafter suffer in the end--an' suffer more'n anybody else is +sufferin' through our fault." + +She broke off suddenly and, without looking again at Janice, mounted +the steps with her broom and disappeared inside the house. + +Janice, heartsick and almost in tears, was turning away when a figure +appeared from around the corner of the tavern--from the direction of +the bar-room, in fact. But Frank Bowman's smiling, ruddy face +displayed no sign of _his_ having sampled Lem Parraday's bar goods. + +"Hullo, Janice," he said cheerfully. "I've just been having a set-to +with Lem--and I don't know but he's got the best of me." + +"In what way?" asked the girl, brushing her eyes quickly that the young +man might not see her tears. + +"Why, this is pay day again, you know. My men take most of the +afternoon off on pay day. They are cleaning up now, in the camp house, +and will be over by and by to sample some of Lem's goods," and the +engineer sighed. + +"No, I can't keep them away from the place. I've tried. Some of them +won't come; but the majority will be in that pleasing condition known +as 'howling drunk' before morning." + +"Oh, Frank! I wish Lem would stop selling the stuff," cried Janice.' + +"Well, he won't. I've just been at him. I told him if he didn't close +his bar at twelve o'clock tonight, according to the law, I'd appear in +court against him myself. I mean to stand outside here with Constable +Cantor to-night and see that the barroom is dark at twelve o'clock, +anyway." + +"That will be a splendid move, Frank!" Janice said quickly, and with +enthusiasm. + +"Ye-es; as far as it goes. But Lem said to me: 'Don't forget this is a +hotel, Mr. Bowman, and I can serve my guests in the dining room or in +their own rooms, all night long, if I want to.' And that's true." + +"Oh, dear me! So he can," murmured Janice. + +"He's got me there," grumbled young Bowman. "I never thought Lem +Parraday any too sharp before; but he's learned a lot from Joe Bodley. +That young fellow is about as shrewd and foxy as they make 'em." + +"Yet they say he did not sell Hopewell's violin at a profit, as he +expected to," Janice observed. + +"That's right, too. And it's queer," the engineer said. "I've seen +that black-haired, foxy-looking chap around town more than once since +Joe bought the fiddle. Hullo! what's the matter with Dexter?" + +The engineer had got into step at once with Janice, and they had by +this time walked down High Street to the steamboat dock. The +freight-house door was open and Walky Dexter had loaded his wagon and +was ready to drive up town; but Josephus was headed down the dock. + +The expressman was climbing unsteadily to his seat, and in reply to +something said by the freight agent, he shouted: + +"Thas all right! thas all right! I kin turn Josephus 'round on this +dock. Jefers-pelters! he could _back_ clean up town with _this_ load, +I sh'd hope!" + +Janice had said nothing in reply to Frank Bowman's last query; but the +latter added, under his breath: "Goodness! Walky is pretty well +screwed-up, isn't he? I just saw him at the hotel taking what he calls +a 'snifter.'" + +"Poor Walky!" sighed Janice. + +"Poor Josephus, _I_ should say," rejoined Frank quickly. + +The expressman was turning the old horse on the empty dock. There was +plenty of room for this manoeuver; but Walky Dexter's eyesight was not +what it should be. Or, perhaps he was less patient than usual with +Josephus. + +"Git around there, Josephus!" the expressman shouted. "Back! Back! I +tell ye! Consarn yer hide!" + +He yanked on the bit and Josephus' heavy hoofs clattered on the +resounding planks. The wagon was heavily laden; and when it began to +run backward, with Walky jerking on the reins, it could not easily be +stopped. + +A rotten length of "string-piece" had been removed from one edge of the +dock, and a new timber had not yet replaced it. As bad fortune would +have it, Walky backed his wagon directly into this opening. + +"Hold on there! Where ye goin' to--ye crazy ol' critter?" bawled the +freight agent. + +"Hul-_lo_! Jefers-pelters!" gasped the suddenly awakened Walky, +casting an affrighted glance over his shoulder. "I'm a-backin' over +the dump, ain't I? Gid-_ap_, Josephus!" + +But when once Josephus made up his slow mind to back, he did it +thoroughly. He, too, expected to feel the rear wheels of the heavy +farm wagon bump against the string-piece. + +"Gid-_ap_, Josephus!" yelled Walky again, and rose up to smite the old +horse with the ends of the reins. He had no whip--nor would one have +helped matters, perhaps, at this juncture. + +The rear wheels went over the edge of the dock. The lake was high, +being swelled by the Spring floods. "Plump!" the back of the wagon +plunged into the water, and, the bulk of the load being over the rear +axle, the forward end shot up off the front truck. + +Wagon body and freight sunk into the lake. Walky, as though shot from +a catapult, described a parabola over his horse's head and landed with +a crash on all fours directly under Josephus' nose. + +Never was the old horse known to make an unnecessary motion. But the +sudden flight and unexpected landing on the dock of his driver, quite +excited Josephus. + +With a snort he scrambled backward, the front wheels went over the edge +of the dock and dragged Josephus with them. Harnessed as he was, and +still attached to the shafts, the old horse went into the lake with a +great splash. + +"Hey! Whoa! Whoa, Josephus! Jefers-pelters! ain't this a purty +to-do?" roared Walky, recovering his footing with more speed than grace. + +"Naow see that ol' critter! What's he think he's doin'--takin' a +swimmin' lesson?" + +For Josephus, with one mighty plunge, broke free from the shafts. He +struck out for the shore and reached shallow water almost immediately. +Walky ran off the dock and along the rocky shore to head the old horse +off and catch him. + +But Josephus had no intention of being so easily caught. Either he had +lost confidence in his owner, or some escapade of his colthood had come +to his memory. He splashed ashore, dodged the eager hand of Walky, and +with tail up, nostrils expanded, mane ruffled, and dripping water as he +ran, Josephus galloped up the hillside and into the open lots behind +Polktown. + +Walky Dexter, with very serious mien, came slowly back to the dock. +Janice and Frank Bowman, as well as the freight agent, had been held +spellbound by these exciting incidents. Frank and the agent were now +convulsed with laughter; but Janice sympathized with the woeful +expressman. + +The latter halted on the edge of the dock, gazing from the shafts of +his wagon sticking upright out of the lake to the snorting old horse up +on the hill. Then he scratched his bare, bald crown, sighed, and +muttered quite loud enough for Janice to hear: + +"Jefers-pelters! I reckon old Josephus hez come out for prohibition, +an' no mistake!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +ANOTHER GOLD PIECE + +Fortunately for Walky Dexter, the freight that he had backed into the +lake was not perishable. It could not be greatly injured by water. +With the help of neighbors and loiterers and a team of horses, the two +sections of the unhung wagon and the crates of agricultural tools were +hauled out of the lake. + +"There, Walky," said the freight agent, wiping his perspiring brow when +the work was completed--for this happened on a warm day in early June. +"I hope ter goodness you look where you air backin' to, nex' time." + +"Perhaps it will be just as well if he _backs_ where he's _looking_," +suggested the young engineer, having removed his coat and aided very +practically in the straightening out of Walky's affairs. This greatly +pleased Janice, who had remained to watch proceedings. + +"Come, naow, tell the truth, Walky Dexter," drawled another of the +expressman's helpers. "Was ye seein' double when ye did that trick?" + +There was a general laugh at this question. Walky Dexter, for once, +had no ready reply. Indeed, he had been particularly serious all +through the work of re-establishing his wagon on the dock. + +"Well, Walky, ye oughter stand treat on this, I vum!" said the freight +agent. "Suthin' long, an' cool, would go mighty nice." + +"Isuckles is aout o' season--he! he!" chuckled another, frankly +doubtful of Walky's generosity. + +"Lock up your freight house, Sam, and ye shall have it," declared +Walky, with sudden briskness. + +"That's the ticket!" exclaimed the Doubting Thomas, with a quick change +of tone. "Spoke like a soldier, Walky. I hope Joe's jest tapped a +fresh kaig." + +Walky halted and scratched his head as he looked from one to another of +the expectant group. "Why, ter tell the trewth," he jerked out, "I'm +feelin' more like some o' thet thar acid phosphate Massey sells out'n +his sody-fountain. Le's go up there." + +"Jest as yeou say, Walky. You're the doctor," said the freight agent, +though somewhat crestfallen, as were the others, at this suggestion. + +"Don't count me in, Walky--though I'm obliged to you," laughed Bowman, +who was getting into his coat. + +"Jest the same we'll paternize the drug store for this once," said the +expressman, stoutly, and with gravity he led the way up the hill. + +Later Walky went across into the fields and tried to catch Josephus; +but that wise old creature seemed suddenly to have lost confidence in +his master, and refused to be won by his tones, or even the shaking of +an empty oat-measure. So Walky was obliged to go home and bring down +Josephus' mate to draw the freight to its destination. + +Janice parted from the young engineer and walked up Hillside Avenue, +intending to take supper at home and afterward return to the Drugg +place to spend another night or two with the storekeeper's lonely wife. + +She was sitting with Aunt 'Mira on the side porch before supper, while +the "short bread" was baking and Uncle Jason and Marty were at the +chores, when Walky Dexter drew near with his now all but empty wagon, +and stopped in the lane to bring in a new cultivator Uncle Jason had +sent for. + +"Evenin', Miz' Day," observed Walky, eyeing Aunt 'Mira and her niece +askance. "Naow say it!" + +"Say what, Mr. Dexter?" asked Mrs. Day puzzled. + +"Why, I been gittin' of it all over taown," groaned the expressman. +"Sarves me right, I s'pose. I see the reedic'lous side o' most things +that happen ter other folks--an' they gotter right ter laff at me." + +"Why, what's happened ye?" asked Aunt 'Mira. + +"Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky. "Ain't Janice tol' ye?" + +"Nothin' about you," Mrs. Day assured him. + +"She'd be a good 'un ter tell secrets to, wouldn't she?" the expressman +said, with a queer twist of his face. "Ain't ye heard how I dumped m' +load--an' Josephus--inter the lake?" and he proceeded to recount the +accident with great relish and good humor. + +Marty and his father, bringing in the milk, stopped to listen and +laugh. At the conclusion of the story, as Marty was pumping a pail of +water for the kitchen shelf, Walky said: + +"Gimme a dipper o' that, boy. My mouth's so dry I can't speak the +trewth. That's it--thanky!" + +"Ye oughtn't to be dry, Walky--comin' right past Lem Parraday's +_ho_-tel," remarked Mr. Day, with a chuckle. + +"Wal, naow! that's what I was goin' ter speak abeout," said Walky, with +sudden vigor. "Janice, here, an' me hev been havin' an argyment right +along about that rum sellin' business----" + +"About the _drinking_, at any rate, Walky," interposed Janice, gently. + +"Wal--ahem!--ya-as. About the drinkin' of it, I s'pose. Yeou said, +Janice, that my takin' a snifter now and then was an injury to other +critters as well as to m'self." + +"And I repeat it," said the girl confidently. + +"D'ye know," jerked out Walky, with his head on one side and his eyes +screwed up, "that I b'lieve Josephus agrees with ye?" + +"Ho! ho!" laughed Marty. "Was you fresh from Lem Parraday's bar when +you backed the old feller over the dock?" + +"Wal, I'd had a snifter," drawled Walky, his eyes twinkling. "Anyhow, +I'm free ter confess that I don't see how I could ha' done sech a +fullish thing if I hadn't been drinkin'--it's a fac'! I never did +b'lieve what little I took would ever hurt anybody. But poor ol' +Josephus! He might ha' been drowned." + +"Oh, Walky!" cried Janice. "Do you see that?" + +"I see the light at last, Janice," solemnly said the expressman. "I +guess I'd better let the stuff alone. I dunno when I'd git a hoss as +good as Josephus----" + +"No nearer'n the boneyard," put in Marty, _sotto voce_. + +"Anyhow, I see my failin' sure enough. Never was so reckless b'fore in +all my life," pursued Walky. "Mebbe, if I kep' on drinkin' that stuff +they sell daown ter the _ho_-tel, I'd drown both m' hosses--havin' +drowned m' own brains--like twin kittens, in ha'f an inch o' alcohol! +Haw! haw! haw!" + +But despite his laughter Janice saw that Walky Dexter was much in +earnest. She said to Nelson that evening, in Hopewell Drugg's store: + +"I consider Walky's conversion is the best thing that's happened yet in +our campaign for prohibition." + +"A greater conquest than _mine_?" laughed the schoolmaster. + +"Why, Nelson," Janice said sweetly, "I know that you have only to think +carefully on any subject to come to the right conclusion. But poor +Walky isn't 'long' on thought, if he is on 'talk,'" and she laughed a +little. + +It was after Sunday School the following afternoon that Janice went +again to Pine Cove to see the Narnay baby. She had conversed with busy +Dr. Poole for a few moments and learned his opinion of the case. It +was not favorable. + +"Not much chance for the child," said the brusk doctor. "Never has +been much chance for it. One of those children that have no right to +be born." + +"Oh, Doctor!" murmured Janice. + +"A fact. It has never had enough nutrition and is going to die of +plain starvation." + +"Can nothing be done to save it? If it had plenty of nourishment +_now_?" + +"No use. Gone too far," growled the physician, shaking his grizzled +head. "If I knew how to save it, I would; that's my job. But the best +thing that can happen is its death. Ought to be a hangin' matter for +poor folks to have so many children, anyway," he concluded grimly. + +"That sounds _awful_ to me, Dr. Poole," Janice said. + +"There is something awful about Nature. Nature takes care of these +things, if we doctors are not allowed to." + +"Why! what do you mean?" + +"The law of the survival of the fittest is what keeps this old world of +ours from being overpopulated by weaklings." + +Janice Day was deeply impressed by the doctor's words, and thought over +them sadly as she walked down the hill toward Pine Cove. She went by +the old path past Mr. Cross Moore's and saw him in his garden, wheeling +his wife in her chair. + +Mrs. Moore was a frail woman, and because of long years of invalidism, +a most exacting person. She had great difficulty in keeping a maid +because of her unfortunate temper; and sometimes Mr. Moore was left +alone to keep house. Nobody could suit the invalid as successfully as +her husband. + +"Wheel me to the fence. I want to speak to that girl, Cross," +commanded the wife sharply, and the town selectman did so. + +"Janice Day!" called Mrs. Moore, "I wish to speak to you." + +Janice, smiling, ran across the street and shook hands with the sick +woman over the fence palings. But she barely nodded to Mr. Cross Moore. + +"I understand you're one o' these folks that's talking so foolish about +prohibition, and about shutting up the hotel. Is that so?" demanded +Mrs. Moore, her sunken, black eyes snapping. + +"I don't think it is foolish, Mrs. Moore," Janice said pleasantly. +"And we don't wish to close the Inn--only its bar." + +"Same thing," decided Mrs. Moore snappishly. "Takin' the bread and +butter out o' people's mouths! Ye better be in better business--all of +ye. And a young girl like you! I'd like to have my stren'th and have +the handling of you, Janice Day. I'd teach ye that children better be +seen than heard. Where you going to, Cross Moore?" for her husband had +turned the chair and was starting away from the fence. + +"Well--now--Mother! You've told the girl yer mind, ain't ye?" +suggested Mr. Moore. "That's what you wanted to do, wasn't it?" + +"I wish she was my young one," said Mrs. Moore, between her teeth, "and +I had the use o' my limbs. I'd make her behave herself!" + +"I wish she _was_ ours, Mother," Mr. Moore said kindly. "I guess we'd +be mighty proud of her." + +Janice did not hear his words. She had walked away from the fence with +flaming cheeks and tears in her eyes. She was sorry for Mrs. Moore's +misfortunes and had always tried to be kind to her; but this seemed +such an unprovoked attack. + +Janice Day craved approbation as much as any girl living. She +appreciated the smiles that met her as she walked the streets of +Polktown. The scowls hurt her tender heart, and the harsh words of +Mrs. Moore wounded her deeply. + +"I suppose that is the way they both feel toward me," she thought, with +a sigh. + +The wreck of the old fishing dock--a favorite haunt of little Lottie +Drugg--was at the foot of the hill, and Janice halted here a moment to +look out across it, and over the quiet cove, to the pine-covered point +that gave the shallow basin its name. + +Lottie had believed that in the pines her echo lived, and Janice could +almost hear now the childish wail of the little one as she shouted, +"He-a! he-a! he-a!" to the mysterious sprite that dwelt in the pines +and mocked her with its voice. Blind and very deaf, Lottie had been +wont to run fearlessly out upon the broken dock and "play with her +echo," as she called it. A wave of pity swept over Janice's mind and +heart. Suppose Lottie should again completely lose the boon of sight. +What would become of her as she grew into girlhood and womanhood? + +"Poor little dear! I almost fear for Hopewell to come home and tell us +what the doctors say," sighed Janice. + +Then, even more tender memories associated with the old wharf filled +Janice Day's thought. On it, in the afterglow of a certain sunset, +Nelson Haley had told her how the college at Millhampton had invited +him to join its faculty, and he had asked her if she approved of his +course in Polktown. + +It had been decided between them that Polktown was a better field for +his efforts in his chosen profession for the present--as the college +appointment would remain open to him--and Janice was proud to think +that meanwhile he had built the Polktown school up, and had succeeded +so well. This spot was the scene of their first really serious talk. + +She wondered now if her advice had been wise, after all. Suppose +Nelson had gone to Millhampton immediately when he was called there? +He would have escaped this awful accusation that had been brought +against him--that was sure. + +His situation now was most unfortunate. Having requested a vacation +from his school, he was receiving no pay all these weeks that he was +idle. And Janice knew the young man could ill afford this. He had +been of inestimable help to Mr. Middler and the other men who had +charge of the campaign for prohibition that was moving on so grandly in +Polktown. But that work could not be paid for. + +Janice believed Nelson was now nearly penniless. His situation +troubled her mind almost as much as that of her father in Mexico. + +She went on along the shore to the northward, toward the little group +of houses at the foot of the bluff, in one of which the Narnays lived. + +There were the children grouped together at one end of the rickety +front porch. Their mother sat on the stoop, rocking herself to and fro +with the sickly baby across her lean knees, her face hopeless, her +figure slouched forward and uncouth to look at. + +A more miserable looking party Janice Day had never before seen. And +the reason for it was quickly explained to her. At the far end of the +porch lay Narnay, on his back in the sun, his mouth open, the flies +buzzing around his red face, sleeping off--it was evident--the night's +debauch. + +"Oh, my dear!" moaned Janice, taking Mrs. Narnay's feebly offered hand +in both her own, and squeezing it tightly. "I--I wish I might help +you." + +"Ye can't, Miss. There ain't nothin' can be done for us--'nless the +good Lord would take us all," and there was utter hopelessness and +desperation in her voice. + +"Don't say that! It must be that there are better times in store for +you all," said Janice. + +"With _that_?" asked Mrs. Narnay, nodding her uncombed head toward the +sleeping drunkard. "Not much. Only for baby, here. There's a better +time comin' for her--thanks be!" + +"Oh!" + +"Doctor says she can't live out th' Summer. She's goin' ter miss +growin' up ter be what _I_ be--an' what Sophie'll proberbly be. It's a +mercy. But it's hard ter part 'ith the little thing. When she is +bright, she's that cunnin'!" + +As Janice came up the steps to sit down beside the poor woman and play +with the baby, that smiled at her so wanly, the sleeping man grunted, +rolled over toward them, half opened his eyes, and then rolled back +again. + +Something rattled on the boards of the porch. Janice looked and saw +several small coins that had rolled out of the man's trousers pocket. +Mrs. Narnay saw them too. + +"Git them, Sophie--quick!" she breathed peremptorily. + +"Cheese it, Mom!" gasped Sophie, running on tiptoe toward her sleeping +father. "He'll nigh erbout kill us when he wakes up." + +"I don't keer," said the woman, grabbing the coins when Sophie had +collected them. "He come out o' the woods last night and he had some +money an' I hadn't a cent. I sent him to git things from the store and +all he brought back--and that was at midnight when they turned him out +o' the hotel--was a bag of crackers and a pound of oatmeal. And he's +got money! He kin kill me if he wants. I'm goin' ter have some of +it--Oh, look! what's this?" + +Janice had almost cried out in amazement, too. One of the coins in the +woman's toil-creased palm was a gold piece. + +"Five dollars! Mebbe he had more," Mrs. Narnay said anxiously. "Mebbe +Concannon's paid 'em all some more money, and Jim's startin' in to +drink it up." + +"Better put that money back, Mom, he'll be mad," said Sophie, evidently +much alarmed. + +"He won't be ugly when the drink wears off and he ain't got no money to +git no more," her mother said. "Jim never is." + +"But he'll find out youse got that gold coin. He's foxy," said the +shrewd child. + +Janice drew forth her purse. "Let me have that five dollar gold +piece," she said to Mrs. Narnay. "I'll give you five one dollar bills +for it. You won't have to show but one of the bills at a time, that is +sure." + +"That's a good idea, Miss," said the woman hopefully. "And mebbe I can +make him start back for the woods again to-night. Oh, dear me! 'Tis +an awful thing! I don't want him 'round--an' yet when he's sober he's +the nicest man 'ith young'uns ye ever see. He jest dotes on this poor +little thing," and she looked down again into the weazened face of the +baby. + +"It is too bad," murmured Janice; but she scarcely gave her entire mind +to what the woman was saying. + +Here was a second gold piece turned up in Polktown. And, as Uncle +Jason had said, such coins were not often seen in the hamlet. Janice +had more than one reason for securing the gold piece, and she +determined to learn, if she could, if this one was from the collection +that had been stolen from the school-house weeks before. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IN DOUBT + +The first of all feminine prerogatives is the right to change one's +mind. Janice Day changed hers a dozen times about that five dollar +gold piece. + +It was at last decided, however, by the young girl that she would not +immediately take Nelson Haley into her confidence. Why excite hope in +his mind only, perhaps, to have it crushed again? Better learn all she +could about the gold coin that had rolled out of Jim Narnay's pocket, +before telling the young schoolmaster. + +In her heart Janice did not believe Narnay was the person who had +stolen the coin collection from the schoolhouse. He might have taken +part in such a robbery, at night, and while under the influence of +liquor; but he never would have had the courage to do such a thing by +daylight and alone. + +Narnay might be a companion of the real criminal; but more likely, +Janice believed, he was merely an accessory after the fact. + +This, of course, if the gold piece should prove to be one of those +belonging to the collection which Mr. Haley was accused of stealing. +The coin found in Hopewell Drugg's possession, and which had come to +him through Joe Bodley, might easily have been put into circulation by +the same person as this coin Narnay had dropped. The ten dollar coin +had gone into the tavern till, and this five dollar coin would probably +have gone there, too, had chance not put it in Janice Day's way. + +"First of all, I must discover if there was a coin like this one in +that collection," the girl told herself. And early on Monday morning, +on her way to the seminary, she drove around through High Street and +stopped before the drugstore. + +Fortunately Mr. Massey was not busy and she could speak to him without +delaying her trip to Middletown. + +"What's that?" he asked her, rumpling his topknot in his usual fashion +when he was puzzled or disturbed. "List of them coins? I should say I +did have 'em. The printed list Mr. Hobart left with 'em wasn't taken +by--by--well, by whoever took 'em. Here 'tis." + +"You speak," said Janice quickly, "as though you still believed Mr. +Haley to be the thief." + +"Well!" and again the druggist's hands went through his hair. "I dunno +what to think. If he done it, he's actin' mighty funny. There ain't +no warrant out for him now. He can leave town--go clean off if he +wants--and nobody will, or can, stop him. And ye'd think if he had all +that money he _would_ do so." + +"Oh, Mr. Massey!" + +"Well, I'm merely puttin' the case," said the druggist. "That would be +sensible. He's got fifteen hundred dollars or more--if he took the +coin collection. An' it ain't doin' him a 'tarnal bit of good, as I +can see. I told Cross Moore last night that I believe we'd been +barkin' up the wrong tree all this time." + +"What did he say?" cried Janice eagerly. + +"Well--he didn't _say_. Ye know how Cross is--as tight-mouthed as a +clam with the lockjaw. But it is certain sure that we committeemen +have our own troubles. Mr. Haley was a master good teacher. Ye got to +hand it to him on _that_. And this feller the Board sent us ain't got +no more idea of handling the school than I have of dancing the Spanish +fandango. + +"However, that ain't the p'int. What I was speakin' of is this: Nelse +Haley is either a blamed fool, or else he never stole that money," and +the druggist said it with desperation in his tone. "I hear he's took a +job at sixteen a month and board with Elder Concannon--and farmin' for +the elder ain't a job that no boy with money _and_ right good sense +would ever tackle." + +"Oh, Mr. Massey! Has he?" for this was news indeed to Janice. + +"Yep. That's what he's done. It looks like his runners was scrapin' +on bare ground when he'd do that. Course, I need a feller right in +this store--behind that sody-fountain. And a smart, nice appearin' one +like Nelse Haley would be just the ticket--'nough sight better than +Jack Besmith was. But I couldn't hire the schoolteacher, 'cause it +would create so much talk. But goin' to work on a farm--and for a +slave-driver like the elder--Well!" + +Janice understood very well why Nelson had said nothing to her about +this. He was very proud indeed and did not want the girl to suspect +how poor he had really become. Nelson had said he would stay in +Polktown until the mystery of the stolen coin collection was cleared +up--or, at least, until it was proved that he had nothing to do with it. + +"And the poor fellow has just about come to the end of his rope," +thought Janice commiseratingly. "Oh, dear, me! Even if I had plenty +of money, he wouldn't let me help him. Nelson wouldn't take money from +a girl--not even borrow it!" + +However, Janice stuck to her text with Massey and obtained the list of +the lost collection to look at. "Dunno what you want it for," said the +druggist. "You going sleuthing for the thief, Miss Janice?" + +"Maybe," she returned, with a serious smile. + +"I reckon that ten dollar gold piece that Joe Bodley took in at the +hotel was a false alarm." + +"If Joe Bodley had told you how he came by it, it would have helped +some, would it not, Mr. Massey?" + +"Sure--it might. But he couldn't remember who gave it to him," said +the man, wagging his head forlornly. + +"I wonder?" said Janice, using one of her uncle's favorite expressions, +and so made her way out of the store and into her car again. When she +had time that forenoon at the seminary she spread out the sheet on +which the description of the coins was printed, and looked for the note +relating to the five dollar gold piece in her possession. + +It was there. It was not a particularly old or a very rare coin, +however. There might be others of the same date and issue in +circulation. So, after all, the fact that Narnay had it proved +nothing--unless she could discover how he came by it--who had given it +to him. + +In the afternoon Janice drove home by the Upper Road and ran her car +into Elder Concannon's yard. It was the busy season for the elder, for +he conducted two big farms and had a number of men working for him +besides his regular farm hands. + +He was ever ready to talk with Janice Day, however, and he came out of +the paddock now, in his old dust coat and broad-brimmed hat, smiling +cordially at her. + +"Come in and have a pot of tea with me," he said. "Ye know I'm partial +to 'old maid's tipple' and Mrs. Grayson will have it ready about now, I +s'pose. Stop! I'll tell her to bring it out on the side porch. It's +shady there. You look like a cup would comfort you, Janice. What's +the matter?" + +"I've lots of troubles, Elder Concannon," she said, with a sigh. "But +you have your share, too, so I'll keep most of mine to myself," and she +hopped out from behind the wheel of the automobile. + +They went to the porch and the elder halloaed in at the screen door. +His housekeeper soon bustled out with the tray. She remained to take +one cup of tea herself. Then, when she had gone about her duties, +Janice opened the subject upon which she had come to confer. + +"How are those men getting on in your wood lot, Elder?" + +"What men--and what lot?" he asked smiling. + +"I don't know what lot it is; but I mean Mr. Trimmins and those others." + +"Oh! Trimmins and Jim Narnay and that Besmith boy?" + +"Yes." + +"Why, they are moving on slowly. This is their third job with me since +Winter. Once or twice they've kicked over the traces and gone on a +spree----" + +"That was when you paid them?" + +"That was when I _had_ to pay them," said the elder. "They work pretty +well when they haven't any money." + +"Have you paid them lately, Sir?" asked Janice. "I am asking for a +very good reason--not out of curiosity." + +"I have not. It's a month and more since they saw the color of my +money. Hold on! that's not quite true," he added suddenly. "I gave +Jim Narnay a dollar Saturday afternoon." + +"Oh!" + +"He came by here on his way to town. Said he was going down to see his +sick baby. She _is_ sick, isn't she?" + +"Oh, yes," murmured Janice. "Poor little thing!" + +"Well, he begged for some money, and I let him have a dollar. He said +he didn't want to go down home without a cent in his pocket. So I gave +it to him." + +"Only a dollar?" repeated the girl thoughtfully. + +The old man's face flushed a little, and he said tartly: "I reckon +_that_ did him no good. By the looks of his face when he went through +here Sunday night he'd proberbly spent it all in liquor, I sh'd say." + +"Oh, no! I didn't mean to criticize your generosity," Janice said +quickly. "I believe you gave him more than was good for him. I know +that Mrs. Narnay and the children had little benefit of it." + +"That's what I supposed," grunted the elder. + +Janice sipped her tea and, looking over the edge of her cup at him, +asked: + +"Having much trouble, Elder, with your new man?" + +"What new man?" snorted the old gentleman, his mouth screwed up very +tightly. + +"I hear you have the school teacher working for you," she said. + +"Well! So I have," he admitted, his face suddenly broadening. "Trust +you women folks for finding things out in a hurry. But he ain't +teaching school up here--believe me!" + +"No?" + +"He's helping clean up my hog lot. I dunno but maybe he thinks it +isn't any worse than managing Polktown boys," and the elder chuckled. + +But Janice was serious and she bent forward and laid a hand upon the +old man's arm. "Oh, Elder Concannon! don't be too hard on him, will +you?" she begged. + +He grinned at her. "I won't break him all up in business. We want to +use him down town in these meetings we're going to hold for temperance. +He's got a way of talking that convinces folks, Janice--I vow! +Remember how he talked for the new schoolhouse? I haven't forgotten +that, for he beat me that time. + +"Now; we can't afford to hire many of these outside speakers for +prohibition--it costs too much to get them here. But I have told Mr. +Haley to brush up his ideas, and by and by we'll have him make a speech +in Polktown. He can practise on the pigs for a while," added the elder +laughing; "and maybe after all they won't be so dif'rent from some of +them in town that I want should hear the young man when he does spout." + +So Janice was comforted, and ran down town to the Drugg place in a much +more cheerful frame of mind. Marty was waiting at the store for the +car. There was a special reason for his being so prompt. + +"Look-a-here!" he called. "What d'ye know about this?" and he waved +something over his head. + +"What is it, Marty Day?" Janice cried, looking at the small object in +wonder. + +"Another letter from Uncle Brockey! Hooray! he ain't dead yet!" +shouted the boy. + +His cousin seized the missive--fresh from the post-office--and gazed +anxiously at the envelope. It was postmarked in one of the border +towns many days after the report of Juan Dicampa's death; yet the +writing on the envelope was the handwriting of the guerrilla chief. + +"Goodness me!" gasped Janice, "what can this mean?" + +She broke the seal. As usual the envelope inside was addressed to her +by her father. And as she hastily scanned the letter she saw no +mention made of Juan Dicampa's death. Indeed, Mr. Broxton Day wrote +just as though his own situation, at least, had not changed. And he +seemed to have received most of her letters. + +What did it mean? If the guerrilla leader had been shot by the +Federals, how was it possible for her father's letters to still come +along, redirected in Juan Dicampa's hand? + +Doubt assailed her mind--many doubts, indeed. Although Mr. Broxton Day +seemed still in safety, the mystery surrounding his situation in Mexico +grew mightily in Janice's mind. + +That evening Hopewell Drugg returned from Boston and reported that +Lottie would have to remain under the doctors' care for a time. They, +too, were in doubt. Nobody could yet say whether the child would lose +her sight or not. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE TIDE TURNS + +These doubts, however, did not switch Janice Day's thought off the line +of the stolen gold coins. + +The five dollar gold piece found in the possession of Jim Narnay still +raised in the girl's mind a number of queries. It was a mystery, she +believed, that when solved might aid in clearing Nelson Haley of +suspicion. + +Of course, the coin she carried in her purse might not be one of those +lost with the collection. That was impossible to decide at the moment. +The case of the ten-dollar coin was different. That was an exceedingly +rare one and in all probability nobody but a person ignorant of its +value would have put it into circulation. + +Nevertheless, how did Jim Narnay get hold of a five dollar gold piece? + +Elder Concannon had not given it to him. Narnay had come to town on +that Saturday evening with only a dollar of the elder's money in his +pocket. Did he bring the coin with him, or did he obtain it after +reaching town? And who had given the gold piece to the man, in either +case? + +Janice would have been glad to take somebody into her confidence in +this matter; but who should it be? Not her uncle or her aunt. Neither +Hopewell nor 'Rill was to be thought of. And the minister, or Elder +Concannon, seemed too much apart from this business to be conferred +with. And Nelson---- + +She did go to Mrs. Beaseley's one evening, hoping that she might find +Nelson there, for she had not seen the young man or heard from him +since he had gone out of town to work for Elder Concannon. He was not +at the widow's, and she found that good but lachrymose woman in tears. + +"I'm a poor lone woman--loner and lorner than I've felt since my poor, +sainted Charles passed away. Oh, Janice! it seems a pitiful shame that +such a one as Mr. Haley should have to go to work on a farm when he can +do such a lot of other things--and better things." + +"I don't know about there being anything much better than farming--if +one has a taste for it," said Janice cheerfully. + +"But an educated man--a teacher!" groaned Mrs. Beaseley. "An' I felt +like he was my own son--'specially since Cross Moore and them others +been houndin' him about that money. Cross Moore come to me, an' says +he: 'Miz Beaseley, 'tis your duty to let me look through that young +man's things when he's out. We'll either clear him or clench it on +him.' + +"An' says I: 'Cross Moore, if you put your fut across my threshold I'll +sartain sure take the broom to you--an' ye'll find _that's_ clenched, +a'ready!'" + +"Oh, Mrs. Beaseley!" gasped Janice, yet inclined to laugh, too. + +"Oh, I'd ha' done it," threatened the widow, the tears still on her +cheeks. "Think o' them, houndin' poor Mr. Haley so! Why! if my poor +sainted Charles was alive, he'd run Cross Moore clean down to the +lake--an' inter it, I expect, like Walky Dexter's boss. + +"And if he warn't so proud----" + +"_Who_ is so proud, Mrs. Beaseley?" asked Janice, who had some +difficulty at times in following the good woman's line of talk. + +"Why--Mr. Nelson Haley. I did make him leave his books here, and +ev'rything he warn't goin' ter use out there at the elder's. And I'm +going to keep them two rooms jest as he had 'em, and he shell come back +here whenever he likes. Money! What d' I keer whether he pays me +money or not? My poor, sainted Charles left me enough to live on as +long as a poor, lorn, lone creeter like me wants ter live. Nelson +Haley is welcome ter stay here for the rest of his endurin' life, if he +wants to, an' never pay me a cent!" + +"I don't suppose he could take such great favors as you offer him, Mrs. +Beaseley," said Janice, kissing her. "But you are a _dear_! And I +know he must appreciate what you have already done for him." + +"Wish't 'twas more! Wish't 'twas more!" sobbed Mrs. Beaseley. "But +he'll come back ter me nex' Fall. I know! When he goes ter teachin' +ag'in, he _must_ come here to live." + +"Oh, Mrs. Beaseley! do you think they will _let_ Nelson teach again in +the Polktown school?" cried the girl. + +"My mercy me! D'yeou mean to tell me Cross Moore and Massey and them +other men air perfect fules?" cried the widow. "Here 'tis 'most time +for school to close, and they tell me the graduatin' class ain't +nowhere near where they ought to be in their books. The supervisor +come over himself, and he says he never seen sech ridiculous work as +this Mr. Adams has done here. He--he's a _baby_! And he ought to be +teachin' babies--not bein' principal of a graded school sech as Mr. +Haley built up here." + +There were plenty of other people in Polktown who spoke almost as +emphatically against the present state of the school and in Nelson's +favor. Three months or so of bad management had told greatly in the +discipline and in the work of the pupils. + +A few who would graduate from the upper grade were badly prepared, and +would have to make up some of their missed studies during the Summer if +they were to be accepted as pupils in their proper grade at the +Middletown Academy. + +Mr. Haley's record up to the very day he had withdrawn from his +position of teacher was as good as any teacher in the State. Indeed, +several teachers from surrounding districts had met with him in +Polktown once a month and had taken work and instructions from him. +The State Board of Education and the supervisors had appreciated +Nelson's work. Mr. Adams had been the only substitute they could give +Polktown at such short notice. He was supposed to have had the same +training, as Mr. Haley; but--"different men, different minds." + +"Ye'd oughter come over to our graduation exercises, Janice," said +Marty, with a grin. "We're goin' to do ourselves proud. Hi tunket! +that Adams is so green that I wonder Walky's old Josephus ain't bit him +yet, thinkin' he was a wisp of grass." + +"Now Marty!" said his mother, admonishingly. + +"Fact," said her son. "Adams wants me to speak a piece on that great +day. I told him I couldn't--m' lip's cracked!" and Marty giggled. +"But Sally Prentiss is going to recite 'A Psalm of Life,' and Peke +Ringgold is going to tell us all about 'Bozzar--Bozzar--is'--as though +we hadn't been made acquainted with him ever since Hector was a pup. +And Hector's a big dog now!" + +"You're one smart young feller, now, ain't ye?" said his father, for +this information was given out by Marty at the supper table one evening +just before the "great day," as he called the last session of school +for that year. + +"I b'lieve I'm smart enough to know when to go in and keep dry," +returned his son, flippantly. "But I've my doubts about Mr. Adams--for +a fac'." + +"Nev' mind," grunted his father. "There'll be a change before next +Fall." + +"There'd better be--or I don't go back for my last year at school. +Now, you can bet on that!" cried Marty, belligerently. "Hi tunket! +I'd jest as soon be taught by an old maid after all as Adams." + +Differently expressed, the whole town seemed of a mind regarding the +school and the failure of Mr. Adams. The committee got over that +ignominious graduation day as well as possible. Mr. Middler did all he +could to make it a success, and he made a very nice speech to the +pupils and their parents. + +The minister could not be held responsible in any particular for the +failure of the school. Of all the committee, he had had nothing to do +with Nelson Haley's resignation. As Walky Dexter said, Mr. Middler +"flocked by himself." He had little to do with the other four members +of the school committee. + +"And when it comes 'lection," said Walky, dogmatically, "there's a hull +lot on us will have jest abeout as much to do with Cross Moore and +Massey and old Crawford and Joe Pellett, as Mr. Middler does. +Jefers-pelters! If they don't put nobody else up for committeemen, +I'll vote for the taown pump!" + +"Ya-as, Walky," said Uncle Jason, slily. "That'd be likely, I reckon. +I hear ye air purty firmly seated on the water wagon." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE TEMPEST + +Mr. Cross Moore was not a man who easily or frequently recanted before +either public or private opinion. As political "boss" of the town he +had often found himself opposed to many of his neighbors' wishes. +Neither sharp tongue nor sharp look disturbed him--apparently, at least. + +Besides, Mr. Moore loved a fight "for the fight's sake," as the +expression is. He had backed Lem Parraday in applying for a liquor +license, to benefit his own pocket. It had to be a good reason indeed, +to change Mr. Moore's attitude on the liquor selling question. + +The hotel barroom held great attractions for many of Cross Moore's +supporters, although Mr. Moore himself seldom stepped into that part of +the hotel. The politician did not trust Lem Parraday to represent him, +for Lem was "no wiser than the law allows," to quote his neighbors. +But Joe Bodley, the young barkeeper, imported from the city, was just +the sort of fellow Cross Moore could use. + +And about this time Joe Bodley was in a position where his fingers +"itched for the feel of money." Not other people's money, but his own. +He had scraped together all he had saved, and drawn ahead on his wages, +to make up the hundred dollars paid Hopewell Drugg for the violin, +and---- + +"Seems ter me that old fiddle is what they call a sticker, ain't it, +'stead of a Straddlevarious?" chuckled Walky Dexter, referring to the +instrument hanging on the wall behind Joe's head. + +"Oh, I'll get my money back on it," Bodley replied, with studied +carelessness. "Maybe I'll raffle it off." + +"Not here in Polktown ye won't," said the expressman. "Yeou might as +well try ter raffle off a white elephant." + +"Pshaw! of course not. But a fine fiddle like that--a real +Cremona--will bring a pretty penny in the city. There, Walky, roll +that barrel right into this corner behind the bar. I'll have to put a +spigot in it soon. Might's well do it now. 'Tis the real Simon-pure +article, Walky. Have a snifter?" + +"On the haouse?" queried Walky, briskly. + +"Sure. It's a tin roof," laughed Bodley. + +"Much obleeged ter ye," said Walky. "As yer so pressin'--don't mind if +I do. A glass of sars'p'rilla'll do me." + +"What's the matter with you lately, Walky?" demanded the barkeeper, +pouring the non-alcoholic drink with no very good grace. "Lost your +taste for a man's drink?" + +"Sort o'," replied Walky, calmly. "Here's your health, Joe. I thought +you had that fiddle sold before you went to Hopewell arter it?" + +"To tell ye the truth, Walky----" + +"Don't do it if it hurts ye, Joe. Haw! haw!" + +The barkeeper made a wry face and continued: + +"That feller I got it for, only put up a part of the price. I thought +he was a square sport; but he ain't. When he got a squint at the old +fiddle while Hopewell was down here playing for the dance, he was just +crazy to buy it. Any old price, he said! After I got it," proceeded +Joe, ruefully, "he tries to tell me it ain't worth even what I paid for +it." + +"Wal--'tain't, is it?" said Walky, bluntly. + +"If it's worth a hundred it's worth a hundred and fifty," said the +barkeeper doggedly. + +"Ya-as--_if_," murmured the expressman. + +"However, nobody's going to get it for any less--believe me! Least of +all that Fontaine. I hate these Kanucks, anyway. I know _him_. He's +trying to jew me down," said Joe, angrily. + +"Wal, you take it to the city," advised Walky. "You kin make yer spec +on it there, ye say." + +There was a storm cloud drifting across Old Ti as the expressman +climbed to his wagon seat and drove away from the Inn. It had been a +very hot day and was now late afternoon--just the hour for a summer +tempest. + +The tiny waves lapped the loose shingle along the lake shore. There +was the hot smell of over-cured grass on the uplands. The flower beds +along the hilly street which Janice Day mounted after a visit to the +Narnays, were quite scorched now. + +This street brought Janice out by the Lake View Inn. She, too, saw the +threatening cloud and hastened her steps. Sharp lightnings flickered +along its lower edge, lacing it with pale blue and saffron. The mutter +of the thunder in the distance was like a heavy cannonade. + +"Maybe it sounded so years and years ago when the British and French +fought over there," Janice thought. "How these hills must have echoed +to the roll of the guns! And when Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain +Boys discharged the guns in a salvo of thanksgiving over Old Ti's +capture--Oh! is that you, Nelson? How you startled me." + +For the young schoolmaster had come up the hill behind her at a +breathless gait. "We've got to hurry," he said. "That's going to be +what Marty would call a 'humdinger' of a storm, Janice." + +"Dear me! I didn't know you were in town," she said happily. + +"We got the last of the hay in this morning," said the bronzed young +fellow, smiling. "I helped mow away and the elder was kind enough to +say that I had done well and could have the rest of the day to myself. +I fancy the shrewd old fellow knew it was about to rain," and he +laughed. + +"And how came you down this way?" Janice asked. + +"Followed your trail," laughed Nelson. I went in to Mrs. Beaseley's of +course. "And then at Drugg's I learned you had gone down to see Jim +Narnay's folks. But I didn't catch you there. Goodness, Janice, but +they are a miserable lot! I shouldn't think you could bear to go +there." + +"Oh, Nelson, the poor little baby--it is so sick and it cheers Mrs. +Narnay up a little if I call on her. Besides, Sophie and the little +boys are just as cunning as they can be. I can't help sympathizing +with them." + +"Do save some of your sympathy for other folks, Janice," said Nelson, +rather ruefully. "You ought to have seen the blisters I had on my +hands the first week or two I was a farmer." + +"Oh, Nelson! That's too bad," she cried, with solicitude. + +"Too late!" he returned, laughing. "They are callouses now--marks of +honest toil. Whew! see that dust-cloud!" + +The wind had ruffled the lake in a wide strip, right across to the +eastern shore. Whitecaps were dancing upon the surface and the waves +ran a long way up the beach. The wind, rushing ahead of the +rain-cloud, caught up the dust in the streets and advanced across the +town. + +Janice hid her face against the sleeve of her light frock. Nelson led +her by the hand as the choking cloud passed over. Then the rain, in +fitful gusts at first, pelted them so sharply that the girl cried out. + +"Oh, Nelson, it's like hail!" she gasped. + +A vivid flash of lightning cleaved the cloud; the thunder-peal drowned +the schoolmaster's reply. But Janice felt herself fairly caught up in +his arms and he mounted some steps quickly. A voice shouted: + +"Bring her right this way, school teacher! Right in here!" + +It was Lem Parraday's voice. They had mounted the side porch of the +Inn and when Janice opened her eyes she was in the barroom. The +proprietor of the Inn slammed to the door against the thunderous rush +of the breaking storm. The rain dashed in torrents against the house. +The blue flashes of electricity streaked the windows constantly, while +the roll and roar of the thunder almost deafened those in the darkened +barroom. + +Joe Bodley was behind the bar briskly serving customers. He nodded +familiarly to Janice, and said: + +"Bad storm, Miss. Glad to see you. You ain't entirely a stranger +here, eh?" + +"Shut up, Joe!" commanded Mr. Parraday, as Janice flushed and the +schoolmaster took a threatening step toward the bar. + +"Oh, all right, Boss," giggled the barkeeper. "What's yours, Mister?" +he asked Nelson Haley. + +A remarkable clap of thunder drowned Nelson's reply. Perhaps it was as +well. And as the heavy roll of the report died away, they heard a +series of shrieks somewhere in the upper part of the house. + +"What in good gracious is the matter now?" gasped Lem Parraday, +hastening out of the barroom. + +Again a blinding flash of light lit up the room for an instant. It +played upon the fat features of Joe Bodley--pallidly upon the faces of +his customers. Some of them had shrunk away from the bar; some were +ashamed to be seen there by Janice and the schoolmaster. + +The thunder discharged another rolling report, shaking the house in its +wrath. The rain beat down in torrents. Janice and Nelson could not +leave the place while the storm was at its height, and for the moment, +neither thought of going into the dining room. + +Again and again the lightning flashed and the thunder broke above the +tavern. It was almost as though the fury of the tempest was centered +at the Lake View Inn. Janice, frankly clinging to Nelson's hand, +cowered when the tempest rose to these extreme heights. + +Echoing another peal of thunder once again a scream from within the +house startled the girl. "Oh, Nelson! what's that?" + +"Gee! I believe Marm Parraday's on the rampage," exclaimed Joe Bodley, +with a silly smile on his face. + +The door from the hall flew open. In the dusky opening the woman's +lean and masculine form looked wondrous tall; her hollow eyes burned +with unnatural fire; her thin and trembling lips writhed pitifully. + +With her coming another awful flash and crash illumined the room and +shook the roof tree of the Inn. + +"It's come! it's come!" she said, advancing into the-room. Her face +shone in the pallid, flickering light of the intermittent flashes, and +the loafers at the bar shrank away from her advance. + +"I told ye how 'twould be, Lem Parraday!" cried the tavern keeper's +wife. "This is the end! This is the end!" + +Another stroke of thunder rocked the house. Marm Parraday fell on her +knees in the sawdust and raised her clasped hands wildly. The act +loosened her stringy gray hair and it fell down upon her shoulders. A +wilder looking creature Janice Day had never imagined. + +"Almighty Father!" burst from the quivering lips of the poor woman. +"Almighty Father, help us!" + +"She's prayin'!" gasped a trembling voice back in the shrinking crowd. + +"Help us and save us!" groaned the woman, her face and clasped hands +uplifted. "We hear Thy awful voice. We see the flash of Thy anger. +Ah!" + +The thunder rolled again--ominously, suddenly, while the casements +rattled from its vibrations. + +"_Forgive Lem and these other men for what they air doin', O Lord!_" +was the next phrase the startled spectators heard. "_They don't +deserve Thy forgiveness--but overlook 'em!_" + +The Voice in the heavens answered again and drowned her supplication. +One man screamed--a shrill, high neigh like that of a hurt horse. +Janice caught a momentary glimpse of the pallid face of Joe Bodley +shrinking below the edge of the counter. There was no leer upon his +fat face now; it expressed nothing but terror. + +Lem Parraday entered hastily. He caught his wife by her thin shoulders +just as she pitched forward. "Now, now, Marm! This ain't no way to +act," he said, soothingly. + +The thunder muttered in the distance. Suddenly the flickering +lightning seemed less threatening. As quickly as it had burst, the +tempest passed away. + +"My jimminy! She's fainted," Lem Parraday murmured, lifting the woman +in his strong arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE ENEMY RETREATS + +As the Summer advanced visitors flocked to Polktown. From the larger +and better known tourist resorts on the New York side of the lake, +small parties had ventured into Polktown during the two previous +seasons. Now news of the out-of-the-way, old-fashioned hamlet had +spread; and by the end of July the Lake View Inn was comfortably +filled, and most people who were willing to take "city folks" to board +had all the visitors they could take care of. + +"But I dunno's we're goin' to make much by havin' sech a crowd," Lem +Parraday complained. "With Marm sick nothin' seems ter go right. Sech +waste in the kitchen I never did see! An' if I say a word, or look +skew-jawed at them women, they threaten ter up an' leave me in a bunch." + +For Marm Parraday, by Dr. Poole's orders, had been taken out into the +country to her sister's, and told to stay there till cool weather came. + +"If you are bound to run a rum-hole, Lem," said the plain-spoken +doctor, "don't expect a woman in her condition to help you run it." + +Lem thought it hard--and he looked for sympathy among his neighbors. +He got what he was looking for, but of rather doubtful quality. + +"I cartainly do wish Marm'd git well--or sumpin'," he said one day in +Walky Dexter's hearing. "I don't see how a man's expected to run a +_ho_-tel without a woman to help him. It beats me!" + +"It'll be _sumpin'_ that happens ter ye, I reckon," observed Walky, +drily. "Sure as yeou air a fut high, Lem. In the Fall. Beware the +Ides o' September, as the feller says. Only mebbe I ain't got jest the +month right. Haw! haw! haw!" + +Town Meeting Day was in September. The call had already been issued, +and included in it was the amendment calling for no license in +Polktown--the new ordinance, if passed, to take immediate effect. + +The campaign for prohibition was continued despite the influx of Summer +visitors. Indeed, because of them the battle against liquor selling +grew hotter. Not so many "city folks" as the hotel-keeper and his +friends expected, desired to see a bar in the old-fashioned community. +Especially after the first pay day of the gang working on the branch of +the V. C. Road. When the night was made hideous and the main street of +Polktown dangerous for quiet people, by drink-inflamed fellows from the +railroad construction camp, a strong protest was addressed to the Town +Selectmen. + +There was a possibility of several well-to-do men building on the +heights above the town, another season. Uncle Jason had a chance to +sell his sheep-lot at such a price that his cupidity was fully aroused. +But the buyer did not care to close the bargain if the town went "wet" +in the Fall. Naturally Mr. Day's interest in prohibition increased +mightily. + +The visiting young people would have liked to hold dances in Lem +Parraday's big room at the Inn. But gently bred girls did not care to +go where liquor was sold; so the dancing parties of the better class +were held in the Odd Fellows Hall. + +The recurrent temperance meetings which had at first been held in the +Town House had to seek other quarters early in the campaign. Mr. Cross +Moore "lifted his finger" and the councilmen voted to allow the Town +Hall to be used for no such purpose. + +However, warm weather having come, in a week the Campaign Committee +obtained a big tent, set it up on the old circus grounds behind Major +Price's place, somewhat curtailing the boys' baseball field, and the +temperance meetings were held not only once a week, but thrice weekly. + +The tent meetings became vastly popular. When Nelson Haley, urged by +the elder, made his first speech in the campaign, Polktown awoke as +never before to the fact that their schoolmaster had a gift of oratory +not previously suspected. + +And, perhaps as much as anything, that speech raised public opinion to +a height which could be no longer ignored by the School Committee. +There was an unveiled demand in the Polktown column of the Middletown +Courier that Nelson Haley should be appointed teacher of the graded +school for the ensuing year. + +Even Mr. Cross Moore saw that the time had come for him and his +comrades on the committee to back down completely from their position. +It was the only thing that would save them from being voted out of +office at the coming election--and perhaps that would happen anyway! + +Before the Summer was over the request, signed by the five +committeemen, came to Nelson that he take up his duties from which he +had asked to be relieved in the Spring. + +"It's a victory!" cried Janice, happily. "Oh, Nelson! I'm _so_ glad." + +But there was an exceedingly bitter taste on Nelson Haley's lips. He +shook his head and could not smile. The accusation against his +character still stood. He had been accused of stealing the collection +of coins, and he had never been able to disprove the charge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE TRUTH AT LAST + +Daddy had not written for nearly two months. At least, no letter from +him had reached Janice. The Day family in Polktown had not gone into +mourning in the Spring and Aunt 'Mira gloried in a most astonishing +plum-colored silk with "r'yal purple" trimmings. Nevertheless, Janice +had now all but given up hope for her father's life. + +The uncertainty connected with his fate was very hard for the young +girl to bear. She had the thought with her all the time--a picture in +her mind of a man, blindfolded, his wrists fastened behind him, +standing with his back against a sunburnt wall and a file of ragged, +barefooted soldiers in front of him. + +In desperation she had written a letter addressed personally to +"General Juan Dicampa," sending it to the same place to which she +addressed her father's letters. She did this almost in fear of the +consequences. Who would read her letter now that the guerrilla chief +was dead? + +In the appeal Janice pleaded for her father's life and for news of him. +Days passed and there was no reply. But the letter, with her name and +address on the outside, was not returned to her. + +Broxton Day's fate was discussed no more before Janice at home. And +other people who knew of her trouble, save Nelson Haley, soon forgot +it. For the girl did not "wear her heart on her sleeve." + +As for the Druggs--Hopewell and his wife--they were so worried about +little Lottie's case that they had thought for nobody's troubles but +their own. + +The doctors would not let the child return to Polktown at present. +They kept her all through the Summer, watching her case. And Lottie, +at a Summer school in Boston, was enjoying herself hugely. She was not +yet at an age to worry much about the future. + +These months of Lottie's absence were weary ones indeed for her father. +Sometimes he wandered about the store quite distraught. 'Rill was +worried about him. He missed the solace of his violin and refused to +purchase a cheap instrument to take the place of the one he had been +obliged to sacrifice. + +"No, Miss Janice," he told the girl once, when she spoke of this. "I +could not play another instrument. I am no musician. I was never +trained. It was just a natural talent that I developed, because I +found in my heart a love for the old violin my father had played so +many years. + +"Through its vibrant strings I expressed deeper feelings than I could +ever express in any other way--or upon any other instrument. My lips +would never have dared tell my love for 'Rill," and he smiled in his +gentle way, "half so boldly as my violin told it! Ask her. She will +tell you that my violin courted her--not Hopewell Drugg." + +"Oh, it is too, too bad!" cried Janice. "And that fellow down at Lem +Parraday's hotel has never succeeded in disposing of the fiddle. I +wish he would sell it back to you." + +"I could not buy it at the price he gave me for it," said Hopewell, +sadly shaking his head. "No use to think of it." + +But Janice thought of it--and thought of it often. If daddy were +only--only _successful_ again! That is the way she put it in her mind. +If he could only send her some more money! There was many a thing +Janice Day needed, or wanted. But she thought that she would deny +herself much for the sake of recovering the violin for Hopewell Drugg. + +Meanwhile nothing further had come to light regarding the missing +collection of gold coins. No third coin had been put into +circulation--in Polktown, at least. The four school committeemen who +were responsible for the collection had long since paid the owner out +of their own pockets rather than be put to further expense in law. + +Jim Narnay's baby was growing weaker and weaker. The little thing had +been upon the verge of passing on so many times, that her parents had +grown skeptical of the doctor's prophecy--that she could not live out +the Summer. + +It seemed to Janice, however, that the little body was frailer, the +little face wanner, the tiny smile more pitiful, each time she went to +Pine Cove to see the baby. Nelson, who had come back to town and again +taken up his abode with the overjoyed Mrs. Beaseley while he prepared +for the opening of the school, urged Janice not to go so often to the +Narnay cottage. + +"You've enough on your heart and mind, dear girl," he said to her. +"Why burden yourself with other people's troubles?" + +"Why--do you know, Nelson," she told him, thoughtfully, "that is one of +the things I have learned of late." + +"What is one of the things you have learned?" + +"I have been learning, Nelson, that the more we share other people's +burdens the less weight our own assume. It's wonderful! When I am +thinking of the poor little Narnay baby, I am not thinking of daddy +away down there in Mexico. And when I am worrying about little Lottie +Drugg--or even about Hopewell's lost violin--I am not thinking about +those awful gold coins and _who_ could have taken them----" + +"Here! here, young woman!" exclaimed the schoolmaster, stopping short, +and shaking his head at her. "_That's_ certainly not your personal +trouble." + +"Oh, but, Nelson," she said shyly. "Whatever troubles _you_ must +trouble _me_ quite as though it were my really, truly own!" + +What Nelson might have said, right there on Hillside Avenue, too--even +what he might have _done_!--will never be known; for here Marty +suddenly appeared running wildly and shrieking at the top of his lungs +for them to stop. + +"Hi! hi! what's the matter wi' you folks?" he yelled, his face red, and +his breath fairly gasping in his throat. "I been yellin' after ye all +down High Street. Look what I found!" + +"Looks like a newspaper, Marty," said Nelson, calmly. + +"_But what is in it?_" cried Janice, turning pale. + +Nelson seized the paper and held it open. He read rapidly: + + +"'Great battle fought southwest of Chihuahua. Federal forces +thoroughly whipped. Rebels led by the redoubtable General Juan +Dicampa, whose reported death last Spring was only a ruse to blind the +eyes of the Federals to his movements. At the head of a large force of +regular troops and Yaqui Indians, Dicampa fell upon the headquarters of +General Cesta, capturing or killing his entire command, and becoming +possessed of quantities of munition and a great store of supplies. A +telling blow that may bring about the secure establishment of a _de +facto_ government in our ensanguined sister Republic." + + +"Goodness me, Janice! what do you think of that? There is a lot more +of it, too." + +"Then--if Juan Dicampa is not dead----" began the girl. + +"Sure, Uncle Brocky ain't dead!" finished Marty. + +"At least, dear girl," said Nelson, sympathetically, "there is every +reason to believe that what Marty says is true." + +"Oh, I can hope! I can hope again!" she murmured. "And, perhaps--who +knows, Nelson?--perhaps my own great trouble is going to melt away and +be no more, just like last Winter's snow! Perhaps daddy is safe, and +will come home." + +"I wish my difficulties promised as quick a solution, Janice," said +Nelson, shaking his head. "But I am glad for you, my dear." + +Marty ran ahead with the paper to spread the good news of Uncle +Brocky's probable safety. Janice and Nelson were not destined to be +left to their own devices for long, however. As they slowly mounted +the pleasant and shady street there was the rattle of wheels behind +them, and a masterful voice said: + +"Whoa! That you, Schoolmaster? How-do, Janice." + +"Dr. Poole!" they cried, as one. + +"Bad news for you, Janice," said the red-faced doctor, in his brusk +way. "Know you're interested in that Narnay youngster. I've just come +from there. I've got to go half way to Bristol to set a feller's leg. +They telephoned me. Before I could get there and back that Narnay baby +is going to be out of the reach of all my pills and powders." + +He did not say it harshly; it was Dr. Poole's way to be brusk. + +"Oh, Doctor! Will it surely die?" + +"Not two hours to live--positively," said the physician, gathering up +the reins. "I'm sorry for Jim. If the fellow is a drunkard, he is +mighty tender-hearted when it comes to kids--and he's sober," he added, +under his breath. + +"Is he there?" asked Janice, quickly. + +"No. Hasn't been in town for two weeks. Up in the woods somewhere. +It will break him all up in business, I expect. I told you, for I +didn't know but you'd want to go down and see the woman." + +"Thank you, Doctor," Janice said, as the chaise rattled away. But she +did not turn back down the hill. Instead, she quickened her steps in +the opposite direction. + +"Well! I am glad for once you are not going to wear yourself out with +other people's troubles," said Nelson, looking sideways at her. + +"Poor Mr. Narnay," said the girl. "I am going after him. He must see +the baby before she dies." + +"Janice!" + +"Yes. The car is all ready, I know. It will take only half an hour to +run up there where those men are at work. I took Elder Concannon over +there once. The road isn't bad at all at this time of year." + +"Do you mean you are going clear over the mountain after that drunken +Narnay?" demanded Nelson, with some heat. + +"I am going after the baby's father, Nelson," she replied softly. "You +may go, too, if you are real good," and she smiled up at him so +roguishly that his frown was dissipated and he had to smile in return. + +They reached the Day house shortly and Janice hurried in for her +dust-coat and goggles. Marty offered his own cap and "blinders," as he +called them, to the schoolmaster. + +"You'll sure need 'em, Mr. Haley, if you go with Janice, and she's +drivin'. I b'lieve she said she was in a hurry," and he grinned as he +opened the garage door and ran the Kremlin out upon the gravel. + +The automobile moved out of the yard and took the steep hill easily. +Once on the Upper Road, Janice urged the car on and they passed Elder +Concannon's in a cloud of dust. + +The camp where the baby's father was at work was easily found. Jim +Narnay seemed to know what the matter was, for he flung down the axe he +was using and was first of the three at the side of the car when Janice +stopped. Mr. Trimmins sauntered up, too, but the sullen Jack Besmith +seemed to shrink from approaching the visitors. + +"I will get you there if possible in time to see the baby once more, +Mr. Narnay, if you will come right along as you are," said Janice, +commiseratingly, after explaining briefly their errand. "Dr. Poole +told me the time was short." + +"Go ahead, Jim," said Trimmins, giving the man's hand a grip. "Miss +Day, you sartain sure are a good neighbor." + +Janice turned the car as soon as Narnay was in the tonneau. The man +sat clinging with one hand to the rail and with the other over his face +most of the way to town. + +Speed had to be reduced when they turned into High Street; but +Constable Poley Cantor turned his back on them as they swung around the +corner into the street leading directly down to Pine Cove. + +Janice left Nelson in the car at the door, and ran into the cottage +with the anxious father. Mrs. Narnay sat with the child on her lap, +rocking herself slowly to and fro, and weeping. The children--even +Sophie--made a scared little group in the corner. + +The woman looked up and saw her husband. "Oh, Jim!" she said. "Ain't +it too bad? She--she didn't know you was comin'. She--she's jest +died." + + +Janice was crying frankly when she came out of the house a few minutes +afterward. Nelson, seeing her tears, sprang out of the car and +hastened up the ragged walk to meet her. + +"Janice!" he exclaimed and put his arm around her shoulders, stooping a +little to see into her face. "Don't cry, child! Is--is it dead?" + +Janice nodded. Jim Narnay came to the door. His bloated, bearded face +was working with emotion. He saw the tenderness with which Nelson +Haley led the girl to the car. + +The heavy tread of the man sounded behind the young folk as Nelson +helped Janice into the car, preparing himself to drive her home. + +"I say--I say, Miss Janice," stammered Narnay. + +She wiped her eyes and turned quickly, in sympathy, to the broken man. + +"I will surely see Mr. Middler, Mr. Narnay. And tell your wife there +will be a few flowers sent down--and some other things. I--I know you +will remain and be--be helpful to her, Mr. Narnay?" + +"Yes, I will, Miss," said Narnay. His bleared eyes gazed first on the +young girl and then on Haley. "I beg your pardon, Miss," he added. + +"What is it, Mr. Narnay?" asked Janice. + +"Mebbe I'd better tell it ter schoolmaster," said the man, his lips +working. He drew the back of his hand across them to hide their +quivering. "I know something mebbe Mr. Haley would like to hear." + +"What is it, Narnay?" asked Nelson, kindly. + +"I--I----I hear folks says ye stole them gold coins out of the +schoolhouse." + +Nelson looked startled, but Janice almost sprang out of her seat. "Oh, +Jim Narnay!" she cried, "can you clear Mr. Haley? Do you know who did +it?" + +"I see you--you and schoolmaster air fond of each other," said the man. +"I never before went back on a pal; but you've been mighty good to me +an' mine, Miss Janice, and--and I'm goin' to tell." + +Nelson could not speak. Janice, however, wanted to cry aloud in her +delight. "I knew you could explain it all, Mr. Narnay, but I didn't +know that you _would_," she said. + +"You knowed I could tell it?" demanded the startled Narnay. + +"Ever since that five dollar gold piece rolled out of your +pocket--yes," she said, and no more to Narnay's amazement than to +Nelson's, for she had told the schoolmaster nothing about that incident. + +"My mercy, Miss! Did _you_ git that five dollar coin?" demanded Narnay. + +"Yes. Right here on your porch. The Sunday you were at home." + +"And I thought I'd lost it. I didn't take the whiskey back to the +boys, and Jack's been sayin' all the time I double-crossed him. Says I +must ha' spent the money for booze and drunk it meself. And mebbe I +would of--if I hadn't lost the five," admitted Narnay, wagging his head. + +"But I don't understand," broke in Nelson Haley. + +Janice touched his arm warningly. "But you didn't lose the ten dollar +coin he gave you before that to change at Lem Parraday's, Mr. Narnay?" +she said slyly. + +"I guess ye do know about it," said the man, eyeing Janice curiously. +"I can't tell you much, I guess. Only, you air wrong about me passin' +the first coin. Jack did that himself--and brought back to camp a two +gallon jug of liquor." + +"_Jack Besmith!_" gasped the school teacher, the light dawning in his +mind. + +"Yes," said Narnay. "Me and Trimmins has knowed it for a long time. +We wormed it out o' Jack when he was drunk. But he was putting up for +the stuff right along, so we didn't tell. He's got most of the money +hid away somewhere--we don't know where. + +"He told us he saw the stuff up at Massey's the night before he stole +it. He went there to try to get his job back, and seen Massey puttin' +the trays of coin into his safe. He knowed they was goin' down to the +schoolhouse in the mornin'. + +"He got drunk," pursued Narnay. "He didn't go home all night. Early +in the mornin' he woke up in a shed, and went back to town. It was so +early that little Benny Thread (that's Jack's brother-in-law) was just +goin' into the basement door of the schoolhouse to 'tend to his fire. + +"Jack says he slipped in behind him and hid upstairs in a clothes +closet. He thought he'd maybe break open the teacher's desk and see if +there wasn't some money in it, if he didn't git a chance at them coins. +But that was too easy. The committee left the coins right out open in +the committee room, and Jack grabbed up the trays, took 'em to the +clothes room, and emptied them into the linin' of his coat, and into +his pants' pockets. They was a load! + +"So, after the teacher come into the buildin' and went out again, Jack +put back the trays, slipped downstairs, dodged Benny and the four +others, and went out at the basement door. Benny's always swore that +door was locked; but it's only a spring lock and easy enough opened +from inside. + +"That--that's all, I guess," added Narnay, in a shamefaced way. "Jack +backed that load of gold coin clean out to our camp. And he hid 'em +all b'fore we ever suspected he had money. We don't know now where his +_cache_ is----" + +"Oh, Nelson!" burst out Janice, seizing both the schoolmaster's hands. +"The truth at last!" + +"Ye--ye've been so good to us, Miss Janice," blubbered Narnay, "I +couldn't bear to see the young man in trouble no longer--and you +thinkin' as much as you do of him----" + +"If I have done anything at all for you or yours, Mr. Narnay," sobbed +Janice, "you have more than repaid me--over and over again you have +repaid me! Do stay here with your wife and the children. I am going +to send Mr. Middler right down. Let's drive on, Nelson." + +The teacher started the car. "And to think," he said softly when the +Kremlin had climbed the hill and struck smoother going, "that I have +been opposed to your doing anything for these Narnays all the time, +Janice. Yet because _you_ were kind, _I_ am saved! It--it is +wonderful!" + +"Oh, no, Nelson. It is only what might have been expected," said +Janice, softly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +MARM PARRADAY DOES HER DUTY + +It was on the day following the burial of the Narnay baby that the +mystery surrounding Mr. Broxton Day's situation in Mexico was quite +cleared up, and much to his daughter's satisfaction. Quite a packet of +letters arrived for Janice--several delayed epistles, indeed, coming in +a single wrapper. + +With them was a letter in the exact script of Juan Dicampa--that +mysterious brigand chief who was Mr. Day's friend--and couched in much +the same flowery phraseology as the former note Janice had received. +It read: + + +"Seņorita:-- + +"I fain would beg thy pardon--and that most humbly--for my seeming +slight of thy appeal, which reached my headquarters when your humble +servant was busily engaged elsewhere. Thy father, the Senior B. Day, +is safe. He has never for a moment been in danger. The embargo is now +lifted and he may write to thee, sweet seņorita, as he may please. The +enemy has been driven from this fair section of my troubled land, and +the smile of peace rests upon us as it rests upon you, dear seņorita. +Adios. + +"Faithfully thine, + + "JUAN DICAMPA." + + +"Such a strangely boyish letter to come from a bloodthirsty bandit--for +such they say he is. And he is father's friend," sighed Janice, +showing the letter to Nelson Saley. "Oh, dear! I wish daddy would +leave that hateful old mine and come home." + +Nevertheless, daddy's return--or his abandonment of the mine--did not +appear imminent. Good news indeed was in Mr. Broxton Day's most recent +letters. The way to the border for ore trains was again open. For six +weeks he had had a large force of peons at work in the mine and a great +amount of ore had been shipped. + +There was in the letter a certificate of deposit for several hundred +dollars, and the promise of more in the near future. + +"You must be pretty short of feminine furbelows by this time. Be good +to yourself, Janice," wrote Mr. Day. + +But his daughter, though possessing her share of feminine vanity in +dress, saw first another use for a part of this unexpected windfall. +She said nothing to a soul but Walky Dexter, however. It was to be a +secret between them. + +There was so much going on in Polktown just then that Walky could keep +a secret, as he confessed himself, "without half trying." + +"Nelson Haley openin' aour school and takin' up the good work ag'in +where he laid it daown, is suthin' that oughter be noted a-plenty," +declared Mr. Dexter. "And I will say for 'em, that committee +reinstated him before anybody heard anythin' abeout Jack Besmith havin' +stole the gold coins. + +"Sure enough!" went on Walky, "that's another thing that kin honestly +be laid to Lem Parraday's openin' that bar at the Inn. That's where +Jack got the liquor that twisted his brain, that led him astray, that +made him a thief---- Jefers-pelters! sounds jest like 'The Haouse That +Jack Built,' don't it? But poor Jack Besmith has sartainly built him a +purty poor haouse. And there's steel bars at the winders of it--poor +feller!" + +However, it was Nelson Haley himself who used the story of Jack Besmith +most tellingly, and for the cause of temperance. As the young fellow +had owned to the crime when taxed with it, and had returned most of the +coins of the collection, he was recommended to the mercy of the court. +But all of Polktown knew of the lad's shame. + +Therefore, Nelson Haley felt free to take the incident--and nobody had +been more vitally interested in it than himself--for the text of a +speech that he made in the big tent only a week or so before Town +Meeting Day. + +Nelson stood up before the audience and told the story simply--told of +the robbery and of how he had felt when he was accused of it, sketching +his own agony and shame while for weeks and months he had not been +under suspicion. "I did not believe the bad influence of liquor +selling could touch _me_, because I had nothing to do with _it_," he +said. "But I have seen the folly of that opinion." + +He pointed out, too, the present remorse and punishment of young Jack +Besmith. Then he told them frankly that the blame for all--for Jack's +misdeed, his own suffering, and the criminal's final situation--lay +upon the consciences of the men who had made liquor selling in Polktown +possible. + +It was an arraignment that stung. Those deeply interested in the cause +of prohibition cheered Nelson to the echo. But one man who sat well +back in the audience, his hat pulled over his eyes, and apparently an +uninterested listener, slipped out after Nelson's talk and walked and +fought his conscience the greater part of that night. + +Somehow the school teacher's talk--or was it Janice Day's scorn?--had +touched Mr. Cross Moore in a vulnerable part. + +Had the Summer visitors to Polktown been voters, there would have been +little doubt of the Town Meeting voting the hamlet "dry." But there +seemed to be a large number of men determined not to have their +liberties, so-called, interfered with. + +Lem Parraday's bar had become a noisy place. Some fights had occurred +in the horse sheds, too. And on the nights the railroad construction +gang came over to spend their pay, the village had to have extra police +protection. + +Frank Bowman was doing his best with his men; but they were a rough set +and he had hard work to control them. The engineer was a never-failing +help in the temperance meetings, and nobody was more joyful over the +clearing up of Nelson Haley's affairs than he. + +"You have done some big things these past few months, Janice Day," he +said with emphasis. + +"Nonsense, Frank! No more than other people," she declared. + +"Well, I guess you have," he proclaimed, with twinkling eyes, "Just +think! You've brought out the truth about that lost coin collection; +you've saved Hopewell Drugg from becoming a regular reprobate--at +least, so says his mother-in-law; you've converted Walky Dexter from +his habit of taking a 'snifter'----" + +"Oh, no!" laughed Janice. "Josephus converted Walky." + +Save at times when he had to deliver freight or express to the hotel, +the village expressman had very little business to take him near Lem +Parraday's bar nowadays. However, because of that secret between +Janice and himself, Walky approached the Inn one evening with the +avowed purpose of speaking to Joe Bodley. + +Marm Parraday had returned home that very day--and she had returned a +different woman from what she was when she went away. The Inn was +already being conducted on a Winter basis, for most of the Summer +boarders had flitted. There were few patrons now save those who hung +around the bar. + +Walky, entering by the front door instead of the side entrance, came +upon Lem and his wife standing in the hall. Marm Parraday still had +her bonnet on. She was grimly in earnest as she talked to Lem--so much +in earnest, indeed, that she never noticed the expressman's greeting. + +"That's what I've come home for, Lem Parraday--and ye might's well know +it. I'm a-goin' ter do my duty--what I knowed I should have done in +the fust place. You an' me have worked hard here, I reckon. But you +ain't worked a mite harder nor me; and you ain't made the Inn what it +is no more than I have." + +"Not so much, Marm--not so much," admitted her husband evidently +anxious to placate her, for Marm Parraday was her old forceful self +again. + +"I'd never oughter let rum sellin' be begun here; an' now I'm a-goin' +ter end it!" + +"My mercy, Marm! 'Cordin' ter the way folks talk, it's goin' to be +ended, anyway, when they vote on Town Meeting Day," said Lem, +nervously. "I ain't dared renew my stock for fear the 'drys' might git +it----" + +"Lem Parraday--ye poor, miser'ble worm!" exclaimed his wife. "Be you +goin' ter wait till yer neighbors put ye out of a bad business, an' +then try ter take credit ter yerself that ye gin it up? Wal, _I_ +ain't!" cried the wife, with energy. + +"We're goin' aout o' business right now! I ain't in no prayin' mood +terday--though I thank the good Lord he's shown me my duty an' has give +me stren'th ter do it!" + +On the wall, in a "fire protection" frame, was coiled a length of hose, +with a red painted pail and an axe. Marm turned to this and snatched +down the axe from its hooks. + +"Why, Marm!" exploded Lem, trying to get in front of her. + +"Stand out o' my way, Lem Parraday!" She commanded, with firm voice and +unfaltering mien. + +"Yeou air crazy!" shrieked the tavern keeper, dancing between her and +the barroom door. + +"Not as crazy as I was," she returned grimly. + +She thrust him aside as though he were a child and strode into the +barroom. Her appearance offered quite as much excitement to the +loafers on this occasion as it had the day of the tempest. Only they +shrank from her with good reason now, as she flourished the axe. + +"Git aout of here, the hull on ye!" ordered the stern woman. "Ye have +had the last drink in this place as long as Lem Parraday and me keeps +it. Git aout!" + +She started around behind the bar. Joe Bodley, smiling cheerfully, +advanced to meet her. + +"Now, Marm! You know this ain't no way to act," he said soothingly. +"This ain't no place for ladies, anyway. Women's place is in the home. +This here----" + +"Scat! ye little rat!" snapped Marm, and made a swing at him--or so he +thought--that made Joe dance back in sudden fright. + +"Hey! take her off, Lem Parraday! _The woman's mad!_" + +"You bet I'm mad!" rejoined Marm Parraday, grimly, and _smash!_ the axe +went among the bottles on the shelf behind the bar. Every bottle +containing anything to drink was a target for the swinging axe. Joe +jumped the bar, yelling wildly. He was the first out of the barroom, +but most of the customers were close at his heels. + +"Marm! Yeou air ruinin' of us!" yelled Lem. + +"I'm a-savin' of us from the wrath to come!" returned the woman, +sternly, and swung her axe again. + +The spigot flew from the whiskey barrel in the corner and the next blow +of the axe knocked in the head of the barrel. The acrid smell of +liquor filled the place. + +Not a bottle of liquor was left. The barroom of the Lake View Inn +promised to be the driest place in town. + +Up went the axe again. Lem yelled loud enough to be heard a block: + +"Not that barrel, Marm! For the good Land o' Goshen! don't bust in +_that_ barrel." + +"Why not?" demanded his breathless wife, the axe poised for the stroke. + +"Cause it's merlasses! If ye bust thet in, ye will hev a mess here, +an' no mistake." + +"Jefers-pelters!" chuckled Walky Dexter, telling of it afterward, "I +come away then an' left 'em erlone. But you kin take it from me--Marm +Parraday is quite in her us'al form. Doc. Poole's a wonderful +doctor--ain't he? + +"But," pursued Walky, "I had a notion that old fiddle of Hopewell's +would be safer outside than it was in Marm Parraday's way, an' I tuk it +down 'fore I fled the scene of de-vas-ta-tion! Haw! haw! haw! + +"I run inter Joe Bodley on the outside. 'Joe,' says I, 'I reskered +part of your belongin's. It looks ter me as though yeou'll hev time +an' to spare to take this fiddle to the city an' raffle it off. But +'fore ye do that, what'll ye take for the fiddle--lowest cash price?' + +"'Jest what it cost me, Walky,' says Joe. 'One hundred dollars.' + +"'No, Joe; it didn't cost ye that,' says I. 'I mean what _yeou_ put +into it yerself. That other feller that backed out'n his bargain put +in some. How much?' + +"Wal," pursued the expressman, "he hummed and hawed, but fin'ly he +admitted that he was out only fifty dollars. 'Here's yer fifty, Joe,' +says I. 'Hopewell wants his fiddle back.' + +"I reckon Joe needed the money to git him out o' taown. He can take a +hint as quick as the next feller--when a ton of coal falls on him! +Haw! haw! haw! He seen his usefulness in Polktown was kind o' passed. +So he took the fifty, an' here's the vi'lin, Janice Day. I reckon ye +paid abeout forty-seven-fifty too much for it; but ye told me ter git +it at _any_ price." + +To Hopewell and 'Rill, Janice, when she presented the storekeeper with +his precious fiddle, revealed a secret that she had _not_ entrusted to +Walky Dexter. By throwing the strong ray of an electric torch into the +slot of the instrument she revealed to their wondering eyes a peculiar +mark stamped in the wood of the back of it. + +"That, Mr. Drugg," the girl told him, quietly, "is a mark to be found +only in violins manufactured by the Amati family. The date of the +manufacture of this instrument I do not know; but it is a genuine +Cremona, I believe. At least, I would not sell it again, if I were +you, without having it appraised first by an expert." + +"Oh, my dear girl!" cried 'Rill, with streaming eyes, "Hopewell won't +ever sell it again. I won't let him. And we've got the joyfulest +news, Janice! You have doubled our joy to-day. But already we have +had a letter from Boston which says that our little Lottie is in better +health than ever and that the peril of blindness is quite dissipated. +She is coming home to us again in a short time." + +"Joyful things," as Janice said, were happening in quick rotation +nowadays. With the permanent closing of the Lake View Inn bar, several +of the habitués of the barroom began to straighten up. Jim Narnay had +really been fighting his besetting sin since the baby's death. He had +found work in town and was taking his wages home to his wife. + +Trimmins was working steadily for Elder Concannon. And being so far +away from any place where liquor was dispensed, he was doing very well. + +Really, with the abrupt closing of the bar, the cause of the "wets" in +Polktown rather broke down. They had no rallying point, and, as Walky +said, "munitions of war was mighty scurce." + +"A feller can't re'lly have the heart ter _vote_ for whiskey 'nless +ther's whiskey in him," said Walky, at the close of the voting on Town +Meeting Day. "How about that, Cross Moore? We dry fellers have walked +over ye in great shape--ain't that so?" + +"I admit you have carried' the day, Walky," said the selectman, grimly. + +"He! he! I sh'd say we had! Purty near two ter one. Wal! I thought +ye said once that no man in Polktown could best ye--if ye put yer mind +to it?" + +Cross Moore chewed his straw reflectively. "I don't consider I have +been beaten by a man," he said. + +"No? Jefers-pelters! what d'ye call it?" blustered Walky. + +"I reckon I've been beaten by a girl--and an idea," said Mr. Cross +Moore. + + +"Wal," sighed Aunt 'Mira, comfortably, rocking creakingly on the front +porch of the old Day house in the glow of sunset, "Polktown does seem +rejoovenated, jest like Mr. Middler preached last Sunday, since rum +sellin' has gone out. And it was a sight for sore eyes ter see Marm +Parraday come ter church ag'in--an' that poor, miser'ble Lem taggin' +after her." + +Janice laughed, happily. "I know that there can be nobody in town as +glad that the vote went 'no license' as the Parradays." + +"Ya-as," agreed Aunt 'Mira, rather absently. "Did ye notice Marm's new +bonnet? It looked right smart to me. I'm a-goin' ter have Miz Lynch +make me one like it." + +"Say, Janice! want anything down town?" asked Marty coming out of the +house and starting through the yard. + +"It doesn't seem to me as though I really wanted but one thing in all +this big, beautiful world!" said his cousin, with longing in her voice. + +"What's that, child?" asked her aunt. + +"I want daddy to come home." + +Marty went off whistling. Aunt 'Mira rocked a while, "Ya-as," she +finally said, "if Broxton Day would only let them Mexicaners alone an' +come up here to Polktown----" + +Janice suddenly started from her chair; her cheeks flushed and her eyes +sparkled. "Oh! here he is!" she murmured. + +"Here _who_ is? Who d'ye mean, Janice Day? _Not yer father?_" gasped +Aunt 'Mira, staring with near-sighted eyes down the shadowy path. + +Janice smiled. "It's Nelson," she said softly, her gaze upon the manly +figure mounting the hill. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW JANICE DAY WON*** + + +******* This file should be named 23208-8.txt or 23208-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/2/0/23208 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/23208-8.zip b/23208-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..61d375e --- /dev/null +++ b/23208-8.zip diff --git a/23208.txt b/23208.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04b2635 --- /dev/null +++ b/23208.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8961 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, How Janice Day Won, by Helen Beecher Long + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: How Janice Day Won + + +Author: Helen Beecher Long + + + +Release Date: October 27, 2007 [eBook #23208] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW JANICE DAY WON*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Transcriber's note: + + The book's Frontispiece was missing. There were no other + illustrations. + + + + + +HOW JANICE DAY WON + +by + +HELEN BEECHER LONG + +Author of "Janice Day the Young Homemaker," + "The Testing of Janice Day," + "The Mission of Janice Day," Etc. + +Illustrated by Corinne Turner + + + + + + + +The Goldsmith Publishing Co. +Cleveland + +Copyright, 1917, by +Sully & Kleinteich + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. TROUBLE FROM NEAR AND FAR + II. "TALKY" DEXTER, INDEED + III. "THE SEVENTH ABOMINATION" + IV. A RIFT IN THE HONEYMOON + V. "THE BLUEBIRD--FOR HAPPINESS" + VI. THE TENTACLES OF THE MONSTER + VII. SWEPT ON BY THE CURRENT + VIII. REAL TROUBLE + IX. HOW NELSON TOOK IT + X. HOW POLKTOWN TOOK IT + XI. "MEN MUST WORK WHILE WOMEN MUST WEEP" + XII. AN UNEXPECTED EMERGENCY + XIII. INTO THE LION'S DEN + XIV. A DECLARATION OF WAR + XV. AND NOW IT IS DISTANT TROUBLE + XVI. ONE MATTER COMES TO A HEAD + XVII. THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN + XVIII. HOPEWELL SELLS HIS VIOLIN + XIX. THE GOLD COIN + XX. SUSPICIONS + XXI. WHAT WAS IN THE PAPER + XXII. DEEP WATERS + XXIII. JOSEPH US COMES OUT FOR PROHIBITION + XXIV. ANOTHER GOLD PIECE + XXV. IN DOUBT + XXVI. THE TIDE TURNS + XXVII. THE TEMPEST + XXVIII. THE ENEMY RETREATS + XXIX. THE TRUTH AT LAST + XXX. MARM PARRADAY DOES HER DUTY + + + + +HOW JANICE DAY WON + + +CHAPTER I + +TROUBLE FROM NEAR AND FAR + +At the corner of High Street, where the lane led back to the stables of +the Lake View Inn, Janice Day stopped suddenly, startled by an eruption +of sound from around an elbow of the lane--a volley of voices, +cat-calls, and ear-splitting whistles which shattered Polktown's usual +afternoon somnolence. + +One youthful imitator expelled a laugh like the bleating of a goat: + +"Na-ha-ha-ha! Ho! Jim Nar-ha-nay! There's a brick in your hat!" + +Another shout of laugher and a second boy exclaimed: + +"Look out, old feller! You'll spill it!" + +All the voices seemed those of boys; but this was an hour when most of +the town lads were supposed to be under the more or less eagle eye of +Mr. Nelson Haley, the principal of the Polktown school. Janice +attended the Middletown Seminary, and this chanced to be a holiday at +that institution. She stood anxiously on the corner now to see if her +cousin, Marty, was one of this crowd of noisy fellows. + +With stumbling feet, and with the half dozen laughing, mocking boys +tailing him, a bewhiskered, rough-looking, shabby man came into sight. +His appearance on the pleasant main thoroughfare of the little lakeside +town quite spoiled the prospect. + +Before, it had been a lovely scene. Young Spring, garbed only in the +tender greens of the quickened earth and the swelling buds of maple and +lilac, had accompanied Janice Day down Hillside Avenue into High Street +from the old Day house where she lived with her Uncle Jason, her Aunt +'Mira, and Marty. All the neighbors had seen Janice and had smiled at +her; and those whose eyes were anointed by Romance saw Spring dancing +by the young girl's side. + +Her eyes sparkled; there was a rose in either cheek; her trim figure in +the brown frock, well-built walking shoes of tan, and pretty toque, was +an effective bit of life in the picture, the background of which was +the sloping street to the steamboat dock and the beautiful, blue, +dancing waters of the lake beyond. + +An intoxicated man on the streets of Polktown during the three years of +Janice Day's sojourn here was almost unknown. There had been no demand +for the sale of liquor in the town until Lem Parraday, proprietor of +the Lake View Inn, applied to the Town Council for a bar license. + +The request had been granted without much opposition. Mr. Cross Moore, +President of the Council, held a large mortgage on the Parraday +premises, and it was whispered that this fact aided in putting the +license through in so quiet a way. + +It was agreed that Polktown was growing. The "boom" had started some +months before. Already the sparkling waters of the lake were plied by +a new _Constance Colfax_, and the C. V. Railroad was rapidly completing +its branch which was to connect Polktown with the Eastern seaboard. + +Whereas in the past a half dozen traveling men might visit the town in +a week and put up at the Inn, there had been through this Winter a +considerable stream of visitors. And it was expected that the Inn, as +well as every house that took boarders in the town, would be well +patronized during the coming Summer. + +To Janice Day the Winter had been lovely. She had been very busy. +Well had she fulfilled her own tenet of "Do Something." In service she +found continued joy. Janice loved Polktown, and almost everybody in +Polktown loved her. + +At least, everybody knew her, and when these young rascals trailing the +drunken man spied the accusing countenance of Janice they fell back in +confusion. She was thankful her cousin Marty was not one of them; yet +several, she knew, belonged to the boys' club, the establishment of +which had led to the opening of Polktown's library and free +reading-room. However, the boys pursued Tim Narnay no farther. They +slunk back into the lane, and finally, with shrill whoops and laughter, +disappeared. The besotted man stood wavering on the curbstone, +undecided, it seemed, upon his future course. + +Janice would have passed on. The appearance of the fellow merely +shocked and disgusted her. Her experience of drunkenness and with +drinking people, had been very slight indeed. Gossip's tongue was busy +with the fact that several weak or reckless men now hung about the Lake +View Inn more than was good for them; and Janice saw herself that some +boys had taken to loafing here. But nobody in whom she was vitally +interested seemed in danger of acquiring the habit of using liquor just +because Lem Parraday sold it. + +The ladies of the sewing society of the Union Church missed "Marm" +Parraday's brown face and vigorous tongue. It was said that she +strongly disapproved of the change at the Inn, but Lem had overruled +her for once. + +"And, poor woman!" thought Janice now, "if she has to see such sights +as this about the Inn, I don't wonder that she is ashamed." + +The train of her thought was broken at the moment, and her footsteps +stayed. Running across the street came a tiny girl, on whose bare head +the Spring sunshine set a crown of gold. Such a wealth of tangled, +golden hair Janice had never before seen, and the flowerlike face +beneath it would have been very winsome indeed had it been clean. + +She was a neglected-looking little creature; her patched clothing +needed repatching, her face and hands were begrimed, and---- + +"Goodness only knows when there was ever a comb in that hair!" sighed +Janice. "I would dearly love to clean her up and put something decent +to wear upon her, and----" + +She did not finish her wish because of an unexpected happening. The +little girl came so blithely across the street only to run directly +into the wavering figure of the intoxicated Jim Narnay. She screamed +as Narnay seized her by one thin arm. + +"What ye got there?" he demanded, hoarsely, trying to catch the other +tiny, clenched fist. + +"Oh! don't do it! don't do it!" begged the child, trying her best to +slip away from his rough grasp. + +"Ye got money, ye little sneak!" snarled the man, and he forced the +girl's hand open with a quick wrench and seized the dime she held. + +He flung her aside as though she had been a wisp of straw, and she +would have fallen had not Janice caught her. Indignantly the older +girl faced the drunken ruffian. + +"You wicked man! How can you? Give her back that money at once! Why, +you--you ought to be arrested!" + +"Aw, g'wan!" growled the fellow. "It's my money." + +He stumbled back into the lane again--without doubt making for the rear +door of the Inn barroom from which he had just come. The child was +sobbing. + +"Wait!" exclaimed Janice, both eager and angry now. "Don't cry. I'll +get your ten cents back. I'll go right in and tell Mr. Parraday and +he'll make him give it up. At any rate he won't give him a drink for +it." + +The child caught Janice's skirt with one grimy hand. "Don't--don't do +that, Miss," she said, soberly. + +"Why not?" + +"'Twon't do no good. Pop's all right when he's sober, and he'll be +sorry for this. I oughter kep' my eyes open. Ma told me to. I could +easy ha' dodged him if I'd been thinkin'. But--but that's all ma had +in the house and she needed the meal." + +"He--he is your father?" gasped Janice. + +"Oh, yes. I'm Sophie Narnay. That's pop. And he's all right when +he's sober," repeated the child. + +Janice Day's indignation evaporated. Now she could feel only sympathy +for the little creature that was forced to acknowledge such a man for a +parent. + +"Ma's goin' to be near 'bout distracted," Sophie pursued, shaking her +tangled head. "That's the only dime she had." + +"Never mind," gasped Janice, feeling the tears very near to the +surface. "I'll let you have the dime you need. Is--is your papa +always like that?" + +"Oh, no! Oh, no! He works in the woods sometimes. But since the +tavern's been open he's been drinkin' more. Ma says she hopes it'll +burn down," added Sophie, with perfect seriousness. + +Suddenly Janice felt that she could echo that desire herself. +Ethically two wrongs do not make a right; but it is human nature to see +the direct way to the end and wish for it, not always regarding ethical +considerations. Janice became at that moment converted to the cause of +making Polktown a dry spot again on the State map. + +"My dear!" she said, with her arm about the tangle-haired little +Sophie, "I am sorry for--for your father. Maybe we can all help him to +stop drinking. I--I hope he doesn't abuse you." + +"He's awful good when he's sober," repeated the little thing, +wistfully. "But he ain't been sober much lately." + +"How many are there of you, Sophie?" + +"There's ma and me and Johnny and Eddie and the baby. We ain't named +the baby. Ma says she ain't sure we'll raise her and 'twould be no use +namin' her if she ain't going to be raised, would it?" + +"No-o--perhaps not," admitted Janice, rather startled by this +philosophy. "Don't you have the doctor for her?" + +"Once. But it costs money. And ma's so busy she can't drag clean up +the hill to Doc Poole's office very often. And then--well, there ain't +been much money since pop come out of the woods this Spring." + +Her old-fashioned talk gave Janice a pretty clear insight into the +condition of affairs at the Narnay house. She asked the child where +she lived and learned the locality (down near the shore of Pine Cove) +and how to get to it. She made a mental note of this for a future +visit to the place. + +"Here's another dime, Sophie," she said, finding the cleanest spot on +the little girl's cheek to kiss. "Your father's out of sight now, and +you can run along to the store and get the meal." + +"You're a good 'un, Miss," declared Sophie, nodding. "Come and see the +baby. She's awful pretty, but ma says she's rickety. Good-bye." + +The little girl was away like the wind, her broken shoes clattering +over the flagstones. Janice looked after her and sighed. There seemed +a sudden weight pressing upon her mind. The sunshine was dimmed; the +sweet odors of Spring lost their spice in her nostrils. Instead of +strolling down to the dock as she had intended, she turned about and, +with lagging step, took her homeward way. + +The sight of this child's trouble, the thought of Narnay's weakness and +what it meant to his unfortunate family, brought to mind with crushing +force Janice's own trouble. And this personal trouble was from afar. + +Amid the kaleidoscopic changes in Mexican affairs, Janice's father had +been laboring for three years and more to hold together the mining +properties conceded to him and his fellow-stockholders by the +administration of Porfirio Diaz. In the battle-ridden State of +Chihuahua Mr. Broxton Day was held a virtual prisoner, by first one +warring faction and then another. + +At one time, being friendly with a certain chief of the belligerents, +Mr. Day had taken out ore and had had the mine in good running +condition. Some money had flowed into the coffers of the mining +company. Janice benefited in a way during this season of plenty. + +Now, of late, the Yaquis had swept down from the mountains, Mr. Day's +laborers had run away, and his own life was placed in peril again. He +wrote little about his troubles to his daughter, living so far away in +the Vermont village, but his bare mention of conditions was sufficient +to spur Janice's imagination. She was anxious in the extreme. + +"If Daddy would only come home on a visit as he had expected to this +Spring!" was the longing thought now in her mind. "Oh, dear me! What +matter if the season does change? It won't bring him back to me. +I'd--I'd sell my darling car and take the money and run away to him if +I dared!" + +This was a desperate thought indeed, for the Kremlin automobile her +father had bought Janice the year before remained the apple of her eye. +That very morning Marty had rolled it out of the garage he and his +father had built for it, and started to overhaul it for his cousin. +Marty had become something of a mechanic since the arrival of the +Kremlin at the Day place. + +The roads were fast drying up, and Marty promised that the car would +soon be in order. But the thought now served to inspire no +anticipation of pleasure in Janice's troubled mind. + +She passed Major Price just at the foot of Hillside Avenue. The major +was Polktown's moneyed man--really the magnate of the village. His was +the largest house on the hill--a broad, high-pillared colonial mansion +with a great, shaded, sloping lawn in front. An important looking +house was the major's and the major was important looking, too. + +But Janice noted more particularly than ever before that there were +many purple veins distinctly lined upon the major's nose and cheeks and +that his eyes were moist and wavering in their glance. He used a cane +with a flourish; but his legs had an unsteadiness that a cane could not +correct. + +"Good day! Good day, Miss Janice! Happy to see you! Fine Spring +weather--yes, yes," he said, with great cordiality, removing his silk +hat. "Charming weather, indeed. It has tempted me out for a +walk--yes, yes!" and he rolled by, swinging his cane and bobbing his +head. + +Janice knew that nowadays the major's walks always led him to the Lake +View Inn. Mrs. Price and Maggie did their best to hide the major's +missteps, but the children on the streets, seeing the local magnate +making heavy work of his journey back up the hill, would giggle and +follow on behind, an amused audience. This was another victim of the +change in Polktown's temperance situation. + +Poor Major Price---- + +"Hi, Janice! Did you notice the 'still' the major's got on?" called +the cheerful voice of Marty, her cousin. "He's got more than he can +carry comfortably already; Walky Dexter will be taking him home again. +He did the other night." + +"No, Marty! did he?" cried the troubled girl. + +"Sure," chuckled Marty. "Walky says he thinks some of giving up the +express business and buyin' himself a hack. Some of these old soaks +around town will be glad to ride home under cover after a session at +Lem Parraday's place. Think of Walky as a 'nighthawk'!" and Marty, who +was a short, freckled-faced boy several years his cousin's junior, went +off into a spasm of laughter. + +"Don't, Marty!" cried Janice, in horror. "Don't talk so lightly about +it! Why, it is dreadful!" + +"What's dreadful? Walky getting a hack?" + +"Be serious," commanded his cousin, who really had gained a great deal +of influence over the thoughtless Marty during the time she had lived +in Polktown. "Oh, Marty! I've just seen such a dreadful thing!" + +"Hullo! What's that?" he asked, eyeing her curiously and ceasing his +laughter. He knew now that she was in earnest. + +"That horrid old Jim Narnay--you know him?" + +"Sure," agreed Marty, beginning to grin faintly again. + +"He was intoxicated--really staggering drunk. And he came out of the +back door of the Inn, and some boys chased him out on to the street, +hooting after him. Perry Grimes and Sim Howell and some others. Old +enough to know better----" + +"He, he!" chuckled Marty, exploding with laughter again. "Old Narnay's +great fun. One of the fellows the other day told him there was a brick +in his hat, and he took the old thing off to look into it to see if it +was true. Then he stood there and lectured us about being truthful. +He, he!" + +"Oh, Marty!" ejaculated Janice, in horror. "You never! You don't! +You _can't_ be so mean!" + +"Hi tunket!" exploded the boy. "What's the matter with you? What d'ye +mean? 'I never, I don't, I can't'! What sort of talk is that?" + +"There's nothing funny about it," his cousin said sternly. "I want to +know if _you_ would mock at that poor man on the street?" + +"At Narnay?" + +"Yes." + +"Why not?" demanded Marty. "He's only an old drunk. And he is great +fun." + +"He--he is disgusting! He is horrid!" cried the girl earnestly. "He +is an awful, ruffianly creature, but he's nothing to laugh at. Listen, +Marty!" and vividly, with all the considerable descriptive powers that +she possessed, the girl repeated what had occurred when little Sophie +Narnay had run into her drunken parent on the street. + +Marty was a boy, and not a thoughtful boy at all; but, as he listened, +the grin disappeared from his face and he did not look like laughing. + +"Whew! The mean scamp!" was his comment. "Poor kid! Do you s'pose he +hurts her?" + +"He hurts her--and her mother--and the two little boys--and that +unnamed baby--whenever he takes money to spend for drink. It doesn't +particularly matter whether he beats her. I don't think he does that, +or the child would not love him and make excuses for him. But tell me, +Marty Day! Is there anything funny in a man like that?" + +"Whew!" admitted the boy. "It does look different when you think of it +that way. But some of these fellers that crook their elbows certainly +do funny stunts when they've had a few!" + +"Marty Day!" cried Janice, clasping her hands, "I didn't notice it +before. But you even _talk_ differently from the way you used to. +Since the bar at the Inn has been open I believe you boys have got hold +of an entirely new brand of slang." + +"Huh?" said Marty. + +"Why, it is awful! I had been thinking that Mr. Parraday's license +only made a difference to himself and poor Marm Parraday and his +customers. But that is not so. Everybody in Polktown is affected by +the change. I am going to talk to Mr. Meddlar about it, or to Elder +Concannon. Something ought to be done." + +"Hi tunket! There ye go!" chuckled Marty. "More _do something_ +business. You'd better begin with Walky." + +"Begin what with Walky?" + +"Your temperance campaign, if that's what you mean," said the boy, more +soberly. + +"Not Walky Dexter!" exclaimed Janice, amazed. "You don't mean the +liquor selling has done him harm?" + +"Well," Marty said slowly, "Walky takes a drink now and then. +Sometimes the drummers he hauls trunks and sample-cases for give him a +drink. As long as he couldn't get it in town, Walky never bothered +with the stuff much. But he was a little elevated Saturday +night--that's right." + +"Oh!" gasped Janice, for the town expressman was one of her oldest +friends in Polktown, and a man in whom she took a deep interest. + +A slow grin dawned again on Marty's freckled countenance. "Ye ought to +hear him when he's had a drink or two. You called him 'Talkworthy' +Dexter; and he sure is some talky when he's been imbibing." + +"Oh, Marty, that's dreadful!" and Janice sighed. "It's just wicked! +Polktown's been a sleepy place, but it's never been wicked before." + +Her cousin looked at her admiringly. "Hi jinks, Janice! I bet you got +it in your mind to stir things up again. I can see it in your eyes. +You give Polktown its first clean-up day, and you've shook up the dry +bones in general all over the shop. There's going to be _something +doing_, I reckon, that'll make 'em all set up and take notice." + +"You talk as though I were one of these awful female reformers the +funny papers tell about," Janice said, with a little laugh. "You see +nothing in my eyes, Marty, unless it's tears for poor little Sophie +Narnay." + +The cousins arrived at the old Day house and entered the grass-grown +yard. It was an old-fashioned, homely place, a rambling farmhouse up +to which the village had climbed. There was plenty of shade, lush +grass beneath the trees, with crocuses and other Spring flowers peeping +from the beds about the front porch, and sweet peas already breaking +the soil at the side porch and pump-bench. + +A smiling, cushiony woman met Janice at the door, while Marty went +whistling barnward, having the chores to do. Aunt 'Mira nowadays +usually had a smile for everybody, but for Janice always. + +"Your uncle's home, Janice," she said, "and he brought the mail." + +"Oh!" cried the girl, with a quick intake of breath. "A letter from +daddy?" + +"Wal--I dunno," said the fleshy woman. "I reckon it must be. Yet it +don't look just like Brocky Day's hand of write. See--here 'tis. It's +from Mexico, anyway." + +The girl seized the letter with a gasp. "It--it's the same stationery +he uses," she said, with a note of thankfulness. "I--I guess it's all +right. I'll run right up and read it." + +She flew upstairs to her little room--her room that looked out upon the +beautiful lake. She could never bring herself to read over a letter +from her father first in the presence of the rest of the family. She +sat down without removing her hat and gloves, pulled a tiny hairpin +from the wavy lock above her ear and slit the thin, rice-paper +envelope. Two enclosures were shaken out into her lap. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"TALKY" DEXTER, INDEED! + +The moments of suspense were hard to bear. There was always a +fluttering at Janice's heart when she received a letter from her +father. She always dreamed of him as a mariner skirting the coasts of +Uncertainty. There was no telling, as Aunt 'Mira often said, what was +going to happen to Broxton Day next. + +First of all, on this occasion, the young girl saw that the most +important enclosure was the usual fat letter addressed to her in +daddy's hand. With it was a thin, oblong card, on which, in minute and +very exact script, was written this flowery note: + + +"With respect I, whom you know not, venture to address you humbly, and +in view of the situation of your honorable father, the Senor B Day, beg +to make known to you that the military authorities now in power in this +district have refused him the privilege of sending or receiving mail. +Yet, fear not, sweet Senorita; while the undersigned retains the boon +of breath and the power of brain and arm, thy letters, if addressed in +my care, shall reach none but thy father's eye, and his to thee shall +be safely consigned to the government mails beyond the Rio Grande. + +"Faithfully thine, + + "JUAN DICAMPA." + + +Who the writer of this peculiar communication was, Janice had no means +of knowing. In the letter from her father which she immediately +opened, there was no mention of Juan Dicampa. + +Mr. Day did say, however, that he seemed to have incurred the +particular enmity of the Zapatist chief then at the head of the +district because he was not prepared to bribe him personally and engage +his ragged and barefoot soldiery to work in the mine. + +He did not say that his own situation was at all changed. Rather, he +joked about the half-breeds and the pure-blood Yaquis then in power +about the mine. Either Mr. Broxton Day had become careless because of +continued peril, or he really considered these Indians less to be +feared than the brigands who had previously overrun this part of +Chihuahua. + +However, it was good to hear from daddy and to know that--up to the +time the letter was written, at least--he was all right. She went down +to supper with some cheerfulness, and took the letter to read aloud, by +snatches, during the meal. + +A letter from Mexico was always an event in the Day household. Marty +was openly desirous of emulating "Uncle Brocky" and getting out of +Polktown--no matter where or how. Aunt 'Mira was inclined to wonder +how the ladies of Mexico dressed and deported themselves. Uncle Jason +observed: + +"I've allus maintained that Broxton Day is a stubborn and foolish +feller. Why! see the strain he's been under these years since he went +down to that forsaken country. An' what for?" + +"To make a fortune, Dad," interposed Marty. "Hi tunket! Wisht I was +in his shoes." + +"Money ain't ev'rything," said Uncle Jason, succinctly. + +"Well, it's a hull lot," proclaimed the son. + +"I reckon that's so, Jason," Aunt Almira agreed. "It's his money +makin' that leaves Janice so comfterble here. And her automobile----" + +"Oh, shucks! Is money wuth life?" demanded Mr. Day. "What good will +money be to him if he's stood up against one o' them dough walls and +shot at by a lot of slantindicular-eyed heathen?" + +"Hoo!" shouted Marty. "The Mexicans ain't slant-eyed like Chinamen and +Japs." + +"And they ain't heathen," added Aunt Almira. "They don't bow down to +figgers of wood and stone." + +"Besides, Uncle," put in Janice, softly, and with a smile, "it is +_adobe_ not _dough_ they build their houses of." + +"Huh!" snorted Uncle Jason. "Don't keer a continental. He's one +foolish man. He'd better throw up the whole business, come back here +to Polktown, and I'll let him have a piece of the old farm to till." + +"Oh! that would be lovely, Uncle Jason!" cried Janice, clasping her +hands. "If he only _could_ retire to dear Polktown for the rest of his +life and we could live together in peace." + +"Hi tunket!" exclaimed Marty, pushing back his chair from the supper +table just as the outer door opened. "He kin have _my_ share of the +old farm," for Marty had taken a mighty dislike to farming and had long +before this stated his desire to be a civil engineer. + +"At it ag'in, air ye, Marty?" drawled a voice from the doorway. "If +repetition of what ye want makes detarmination, Mart, then you air the +most detarmined man since Lot's wife--and she was a woman, er-haw! haw! +haw!" + +"Come in, Walky," said Uncle Jason, greeting the broad and ruddy face +of his neighbor with a brisk nod. + +"Set up and have a bite," was Aunt 'Mira's hospitable addition. + +"No, no! I had a snack down to the tavern, Marthy's gone to see her +folks terday and I didn't 'spect no supper to hum. I'm what ye call a +grass-widderer. Haw! haw! haw!" explained the local expressman. + +Walky's voice seemed louder than usual, his face was more beaming, and +he was more prone to laugh at his own jokes. Janice and Marty +exchanged glances as the expressman came in and took a chair that +creaked under his weight. The girl, remembering what her cousin had +said about the visitor, wondered if it were possible that Walky had +been drinking and now showed the effects of it. + +It was true, as Janice had once said--the expressman should have been +named "Talkworthy" rather than "Walkworthy" Dexter. To-night he seemed +much more talkative than usual. + +"What were all you younkers out o' school so early for, Marty?" he +asked. "Ain't been an eperdemic o' smallpox broke out, has there?" + +"Teachers' meeting," said Marty. "The Superintendent of Schools came +over and they say we're going to have fortnightly lectures on Friday +afternoons--mebbe illustrated ones. Crackey! it don't matter what they +have," declared this careless boy, "as long as 'tain't lessons." + +"Lectures?" repeated Walky. "Do tell! What sort of lectures?" + +"I heard Mr. Haley say the first one would proberbly be illustrated by +a collection of rare coins some rich feller's lent the State School +Board. He says the coins are worth thousands of dollars." + +"Lectures on coins?" cackled Walky. "I could give ye a lecture on +ev'ry dollar me and Josephus ever airned! Haw! haw! haw!" + +Walky rolled in his chair in delight at his own wit. Uncle Jason was +watching him with some curiosity as he filled and lit his pipe. + +"Walky," he drawled, "what was the very hardest dollar you ever airned? +It strikes me that you allus have picked the softest jobs, arter all." + +"Me? Soft jobs?" demanded Walkworthy, with some indignation. "Ye +oughter try liftin' some o' them drummers' sample-cases that I hatter +wrastle with. Wal!" Then his face began to broaden and his eyes to +twinkle. "Arter all, it was a soft job that I airned my hardest dollar +by, for a fac'." + +"Let's have it, Walky," urged Marty. "Get it out of your system. +You'll feel better for it." + +"Why, ter tell the truth," grinned Walky, "it was a soft job, for I +carried five pounds of feathers in a bolster twelve miles to old Miz' +Kittridge one Winter day when I was a boy. I got a dollar for it and +come as nigh bein' froze ter death as ever a boy did and save his +bacon." + +"Do tell us about it, Walky," said Janice, who was wiping the supper +dishes for her aunt. + +"I should say it was a soft job--five pounds of feathers!" burst out +Marty. + +"How fur did you haf to travel, Walky?" asked Aunt 'Mira. + +"Twelve mile over the snow and ice, me without snowshoes and it thirty +below zero. Yes, sir!" went on Walky, beginning to stuff the tobacco +into his own pipe from Mr. Day's proffered sack. "That was some job! +Miz Bob Kittridge, the old lady's darter-in-law, give me the dollar +_and_ the job; and I done it. + +"The old lady lived over behind this here very mountain, all alone on +the Kittridge farm. The tracks was jest natcherly blowed over and hid +under more snow than ye ever see in a Winter nowadays. I believe there +was five foot on a level in the woods. + +"There'd been a rain; then she'd froze up ag'in," pursued Walky. "It +put a crust on the snow, but I had no idee it had made the ice rotten. +And with Mr. Mercury creepin' down to thirty below--jefers-pelters! +I'd no idee Mink Creek had open air-holes in it. I ain't never +understood it to this day. + +"Wal, sir! ye know where Mink Creek crosses the road to Kittridge's, +Jason?" + +Mr. Day nodded. "I know the place, Walky," he agreed. + +"That's where it happened," said Walky Dexter, nodding his head many +times. "I was crossin' the stream, thinkin' nothin' could happen, and +'twas jest at sunup. I'd come six mile, and was jest ha'f way to the +farm. I kerried that piller-case over my shoulder, and slung from the +other shoulder was a gun, and I had a hatchet in my belt. + +"Jefers-pelters! All of a suddint I slumped down, right through the +snow-crust, and douced up ter my middle inter the coldest water I ever +felt I did, for a fac'! + +"I sprung out o' that right pert, ye kin believe; and then the next +step I went down ker-chug! ag'in--this time up ter my armpits." + +"Crackey!" exclaimed Marty. "That was some slip. What did you do?" + +"I got out o' that hole purty careful, now I tell ye; but I left my cap +floatin' on the open pool o' water," the expressman said. "Why, I was +a cake of ice in two minutes--and six miles from anywhere, whichever +way I turned." + +"Oh, Walky!" ejaculated Janice, interested. "What ever did you do?" + +"Wal, I had either to keep on or go back. Didn't much matter which. +And in them days I hated ter gin up when I'd started a thing. But I +had ter git that cap first of all. I couldn't afford ter lose it +nohow. And another thing, I'd a froze my ears if I hadn't got it. + +"So I goes back to the bank of the crick and cut me a pole. Then I +fished out the cap, wrung it out as good as I could, and clapped it on +my head. Before I'd clumb the crick bank ag'in that cap was as stiff +as one o' them tin helmets ye read about them knights wearin' in the +middle ages--er-haw! haw! haw! + +"I had ter laig it then, believe me!" pursued the expressman. "Was +cased in ice right from my head ter my heels. Could git erlong jest +erbout as graceful as one of these here cigar-store Injuns--er-haw! +haw! haw! + +"I dunno how I made it ter Ma'am Kittridge's--but I done it! The old +lady seen the plight I was in, and she made me sit down by the kitchen +fire just like I was. Wouldn't let me take off a thing. + +"She het up some kinder hot tea--like ter burnt all the skin off my +tongue and throat, I swow!" pursued Walky. "Must ha' drunk two quarts +of it, an' gradually it begun ter thaw me out from the inside. That's +how I saved my feet--sure's you air born! + +"When I come inter her kitchen I clumped in with feet's big as an +elephant's an' no more feelin' in them than as though they'd been boxes +and not feet. If I'd peeled off that ice and them boots, the feet +would ha' come with 'em. But the old lady knowed what ter do, for a +fac'. + +"Hardest dollar ever I airned," repeated Walky, shaking his head, "and +jest carryin' a mess of goose feathers---- + +"Hullo! who's this here comin' aboard?" + +Janice had run to answer a knock at the side door. Aunt 'Mira came +more slowly with the sitting room lamp which she had lighted. + +"Well, Janice Day! Air ye all deef here?" exclaimed a high and rather +querulous voice. + +"Do come in, Mrs. Scattergood," cried the girl. + +"I declare, Miz Scattergood," said Aunt 'Mira, with interest, "you here +at this time o' night? I am glad to see ye." + +"Guess ye air some surprised," said the snappy, birdlike old woman whom +Janice ushered into the sitting room. "I only got back from Skunk's +Holler, where I been visitin', this very day. And what d'ye s'pose I +found when I went into Hopewell Drugg's?" + +"Goodness!" said Aunt 'Mira. "They ain't none o' them sick, be they?" + +"Sick enough, I guess," exclaimed Mrs. Scattergood, nodding her head +vigorously: "Leastways, 'Rill oughter be. I told her so! I was +faithful in season, and outer season, warnin' her what would happen if +she married that Drugg." + +"Oh, Mrs. Scattergood! What has happened?" cried Janice, earnestly. + +"What's happened to Hopewell?" added Aunt 'Mira. + +"Enough, I should say! He's out carousin' with that fiddle of +his'n--down ter Lem Parraday's tavern this very night with some wild +gang of fellers, and my 'Rill hum with that child o' his'n. And what +d'ye think?" demanded Mrs. Scattergood, still excitedly. "What d'ye +think's happened ter that Lottie Drugg?" + +"Oh, my, Mrs. Scattergood! What _has_ happened to poor little Lottie?" +Janice cried. + +"Why," said 'Rill Drugg's mother, lowering her voice a little and +moderating her asperity. "The poor little thing's goin' blind again, I +do believe!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +"THE SEVENTH ABOMINATION" + +Sorrowful as Janice Day was because of the report upon little Lottie +Drugg's affliction, she was equally troubled regarding the storekeeper +himself. Janice had a deep interest in both Mr. Drugg and 'Rill +Scattergood--"that was," to use a provincialism. The girl really felt +as though she had helped more than a little to bring the storekeeper +and the old-maid school-teacher together after so many years of +misunderstanding. + +It goes without saying that Mrs. Scattergood had given no aid in making +the match. Indeed, as could be gathered from what she said now, the +birdlike woman had heartily disapproved of her daughter's marrying the +widowed storekeeper. + +"Yes," she repeated; "there I found poor, foolish 'Rill--her own eyes +as red as a lizard's--bathing that child's eyes. I never did believe +them Boston doctors could cure her. Yeou jest wasted your money, +Janice Day, when you put up fer the operation, and I knowed it at the +time." + +"Oh, I hope not, Mrs. Scattergood!" Janice replied. "Not that I care +about the money; but I do, _do_ hope that little Lottie will keep her +sight. The poor, dear little thing!" + +"What's the matter with Lottie Drugg?" demanded Marty, from the +doorway. Walky Dexter had started homeward, and Marty and Mr. Day +joined the women folk in the sitting room. + +"Oh, Marty!" Janice exclaimed, "Mrs. Scattergood says there is danger +of the poor child's losing her sight again." + +"And that ain't the wust of it," went on Mrs. Scattergood, bridling. +"My darter is an unfortunate woman. I knowed how 'twould be when she +married that no-account Drugg. He sartainly was one 'drug on the +market,' if ever there was one! Always a-dreamin' an' never +accomplishin' anything. + +"Now Lem Parraday's opened that bar of his'n--an' he'd oughter be +tarred an' feathered for doin' of it--I 'spect Hopewell will be hangin' +about there most of his time like the rest o' the ne'er-do-well male +critters of this town, an' a-lettin' of what little business he's got +go to pot." + +"Oh, Miz Scattergood," said Aunt 'Mira comfortably, "I wouldn't give +way ter sech forebodin's. Hopewell is rather better than the ordinary +run of men, I allow." + +Uncle Jason chuckled. "It never struck me," he said, "that Hopewell +was one o' the carousin' kind. I'd about as soon expec' Mr. Middler to +cut up sech didoes as Hope Drugg." + +Mrs. Scattergood flushed and her eyes snapped. If she was birdlike, +she could peck like a bird, and her bill was sharp. + +"I reckon there ain't none of you men any too good," she said; +"minister, an' all of ye. Oh! I know enough about _men_, I sh'd hope! +I hearn a lady speak at the Skunk's Holler schoolhouse when I was there +at my darter-in-law's last week. She was one o' them suffragettes ye +hear about, and she knowed all about men and their doin's. + +"I wouldn't trust none o' ye farther than I could sling an elephant by +his tail! As for Hopewell Drugg--he never was no good, and he never +will be wuth ha'f as much again!" + +"Well, well, well," chuckled Uncle Jason, easily. "How did this here +sufferin-yet l'arn so much about the tribes o' men? I 'spect she was a +spinster lady?" + +"She was a Miss Pogannis," was the tart reply. + +"Ya-as," drawled Mr. Day. "It's them that's never summered and +wintered a man that 'pears ter know the most about 'em. Ev'ry old maid +in the world knows more about bringin' up children than the wimmen +that's had a dozen." + +"Oh, yeou needn't think she didn't know what she was talkin' abeout!" +cried Mrs. Scattergood, tossing her head. "She culled her examples +from hist'ry, as well as modern times. Look at Abraham, Isaac, and +Jacob! All them men kep' their wimmen in bondage. + +"D'yeou s'pose Sarah wanted to go trapesing all over the airth, ev'ry +time Abraham wanted ter change his habitation?" demanded the +argumentative suffragist. "Of course, he always said God told him to +move, not the landlord. But, my soul! a man will say anything. + +"An' see how Jacob treated Rachel----" + +"Great Scott!" ejaculated Uncle Jason, letting his pipe go out. "I +thought Jacob was a fav'rite hero of you wimmen folks. Didn't he +sarve--how many was it?--fourteen year, for Rachel?" + +"Bah!" exclaimed the old lady. "I 'spect she wished he'd sarved +fourteen year _more_, when she seen the big family she had to wash and +mend for. Don't talk to me! Wimmen's never had their rights in this +world yet, but they're goin' to get 'em now." + +Here Aunt 'Mira broke in to change the topic of conversation to one +less perilous: "I never did hear tell that Hopewell Drugg drank a drop. +It's a pity if he's took it up so late in life--and him jest married." + +"Wal! I jest tell ye what I know. There's my 'Rill cryin' her eyes +out an' she confessed that Drugg had gone down to the tavern to fiddle, +and that he'd been there before. She has to wait on store evenin's, as +well as take care of that young one, while he's out carousin'." + +"Carousin'! Gosh!" exploded Marty, suddenly. "I know what it is. +There's a bunch of fellers from Middletown way comin' over to-night +with their girls to hold a dance. I heard about it. Hopewell's goin' +to play the fiddle for them to dance by. Tell you, the Inn's gettin' +to be a gay place." + +"It's disgustin whatever it is!" cried Mrs. Scattergood, rather taken +aback by Marty's information, yet still clinging to her own opinion. +It was not Mrs. Scattergood's nature to scatter good--quite the +opposite. "An' no married man should attend sech didoes. Like enough +he _will_ drink with the rest of 'em. Oh, 'Rill will be sick enough of +her job before she's through with it, yeou mark my words." + +"Oh, Mrs. Scattergood," Janice said pleadingly, "I hope you are wrong. +I would not want to see Miss 'Rill unhappy." + +"She's made her bed--let her lie in it," said the disapproving mother, +gloomily. "I warned her." + +Later, both Janice and Marty went with Mrs. Scattergood to see her +safely home. She lived in the half of a tiny cottage on High Street +above the side street on which Hopewell Drugg had his store. Had it +not been so late, Janice would have insisted upon going around to see +"Miss 'Rill," as all her friends still called, the ex-school teacher, +though she was married. + +As they were bidding their caller good night at her gate, a figure +coming up the hill staggered into the radiance of the street light on +the corner. Janice gasped. Mrs. Scattergood ejaculated: + +"What did I tell ye?" + +Marty emitted a shrill whistle of surprise. + +"What d'ye know about _that_?" he added, in a low voice. + +There was no mistaking the figure which turned the corner toward +Hopewell Drugg's store. It was the proprietor of the store himself, +with his fiddle in its green baize bag tightly tucked under his arm; +but his feet certainly were unsteady, and his head hung upon his breast. + +They saw him disappear into the darkness of the side street. Janice +Day put her hand to her throat; it seemed to her as though the pulse +beating there would choke her. + +"What did I tell ye? What did I tell ye?" cried the shrill voice of +Mrs. Scattergood. "_Now_ ye'll believe what I say, I hope! The +disgraceful critter! My poor, poor 'Rill! I knew how 'twould be if +she married that man." + +It chanced that Janice Day's Bible opened that night to the sixth of +Proverbs and she read before going to bed these verses: + + +"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination +unto him. + +"A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. + +"An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in +running to mischief. + +"A false witness that speaketh lies, _and he that soweth discord among +brethren_." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A RIFT IN THE HONEYMOON + +Janice could not call at the little grocery on the side street until +Friday afternoon when she returned from Middletown for over Sunday. +While the roads were so bad that she could not use her car in which to +run back and forth to the seminary she boarded during the school days +near the seminary. + +But 'Rill Drugg and little Lottie were continually in her mind. From +Walky Dexter, with whom she rode home to Polktown on Friday, she gained +some information that she would have been glad not to hear. + +"Talk abeout the 'woman with the sarpint tongue,'" chuckled Walky. "We +sartain sure have our share of she in Polktown." + +"What is the matter now, Walky?" asked Janice, gaily, not suspecting +what was coming. "Has somebody got ahead of you in circulating a +particularly juicy bit of gossip?" + +"Huh!" snorted the expressman. "I gotter take a back seat, _I_ have. +Did ye hear 'bout Hopewell Drugg gittin' drunk, an' beatin' his wife, +an' I dunno but they say by this time that it's his fault lettle +Lottie's goin' blind again----" + +"Oh, Walky! it can't be true!" gasped the girl, horrified. + +"What can't? That them old hens is sayin' sech things?" demanded the +driver. + +"That Lottie is truly going blind?" + +"Dunno. She's in a bad way. Hopewell wants to send her back to Boston +as quick's he can. I know that. And them sayin' that he's turned +inter a reg'lar old drunk, an' sich." + +"What do you mean, Walky?" asked Janice, seriously. "You cannot be in +earnest. Surely people do not say such dreadful things about Mr. +Drugg?" + +"Fact. They got poor old Hopewell on the dissectin' table, and the way +them wimmen cut him up is a caution to cats!" + +"What women, Walky?" + +"His blessed mother-in-law, for one. And most of the Ladies Aid is +a-follerin' of her example. They air sayin' he's nex' door to a ditch +drunkard." + +"Why, Walky Dexter! nobody would really believe such talk about Mr. +Drugg," Janice declared. + +"Ye wouldn't think so, would ye? We've all knowed Hopewell Drugg for +years an' years, and he's allus seemed the mildest-mannered pirate that +ever cut off a yard of turkey-red. But now--Jefers-pelters! ye oughter +hear 'em! He gits drunk, beats 'Rill Scattergood, _that was_, and +otherwise behaves himself like a hardened old villain." + +"Oh, Walky! I would not believe such things about Mr. Drugg--not if he +told them to me himself!" exclaimed Janice. + +"An' I reckon nobody would ha' dreamed sech things about him if Marm +Scattergood hadn't got home from Skunk's Holler. I expect she stirred +up things over there abeout as much as her son and his wife'd stand, +and they shipped her back to Polktown. And Polktown--includin' +Hopewell--will hafter stand it." + +"It is a shame!" cried Janice, with indignation. Then she added, +doubtfully, remembering the unfortunate incident she and Marty and Mrs. +Scattergood had viewed so recently: "Of course, there isn't a word of +truth in it?" + +"That Hopewell's become a toper and beats his wife?" chuckled Walky. +"Wal--I reckon not! Maybe Hopewell takes a glass now and then--I +dunno. I never seen him. But they _do_ say he went home airly from +the dance at Lem Parraday's t'other night in a slightly elevated +condition. Haw! haw! haw!" + +"It is nothing to laugh at," Janice said severely. + +"Nor nothin' ter cry over," promptly returned Walkworthy Dexter. +"What's a drink or two? It ain't never hurt _me_. Why should it +Hopewell?" + +"Don't argue with me, Walky Dexter!" Janice exclaimed, much +exasperated. "I--I _hate_ it all--this drinking. I never thought of +it much before. Polktown has been free of that curse until lately. It +is a shame the bar was ever opened at the Lake View Inn. _And +something ought to be done about it!_" + +Walky had pulled in his team for her to jump down before Hopewell +Drugg's store. "Jefers-pelters!" murmured the driver, scratching his +head. "If that gal detarmines to put Lem Parraday out o' the licker +business, mebbe--mebbe I'd better go down an' buy me another drink +'fore she does it. Haw! haw! haw!" + +Hopewell Drugg's store was a very different looking shop now from its +appearance that day when Janice had led little blind Lottie up from the +wharf at Pine Cove and delivered her to her father for safe keeping. + +Then the goods had been dusty and fly-specked, and the interior of the +store dark and musty. Now the shelves and showcases were neatly +arranged, everything was scrupulously clean, and it was plain that the +reign of woman had succeeded the pandemonium of man. + +There was nobody in the store at the moment; but from the rear the +sobbing tones of a violin took up the strains of "Silver Threads Among +the Gold." Janice listened. There seemed, to her ear, a sadder strain +than ever in Hopewell's playing of the old ballad. For a time this +favorite had been discarded for lighter and brighter melodies, for the +little family here on the by-street had been wonderfully happy. + +They all three welcomed Janice Day joyfully now. The storekeeper, much +sprucer in dress than heretofore, smiled and nodded to her over the +bridge of his violin. His wife, in a pretty print house dress, ran out +from her sitting room where she was sewing, to take Janice in her arms. +As for little Lottie, she danced about the visitor in glee. + +"Oh, Janice Day! Oh, Janice Day! Looker me!" she crowed. "See my new +dress? Isn't it pretty? And Mamma 'Rill made it for me--all of it! +She makes me lots and lots of nice things. Isn't she just the bestest +Mamma 'Rill that ever was?" + +"She certainly is," admitted Janice, laughing and kissing the pretty +child. But she looked anxiously into the beautiful blue eyes, too. +Nothing there betrayed growing visual trouble. Yet, when Lottie Drugg +was stone-blind, the expression of her eyes had been lovely. + +"Weren't you and your papa lucky to get such a mamma?" continued Janice +with a swift glance over her shoulder at Hopewell. + +The storekeeper was drawing the bow across the strings softly and just +a murmur came from them as he listened. His eyes, Janice saw, were +fixed in pride and satisfaction upon his wife's trim figure. + +On her part, Mrs. Drugg seemed her usual brisk, kind self. Yet there +was a cheerful note lacking here. The honeymoon for such a loving +couple could not yet have waned; but there was a rift in it. + +'Rill wanted to talk. Janice could see that. The young girl had been +the school teacher's only confidant previous to her marriage to +Hopewell Drugg, and she still looked upon Janice as her dearest friend. +They left Lottie playing in the back room of the store and listening to +her father's fiddle, while 'Rill closed the door between that room and +the dwelling. + +"Oh, my dear!" Janice hastened to ask, first of all, "is it true?" + +'Rill flushed and there was a spark in her eye--Janice thought of +indignation. Indeed, her voice was rather sharp as she asked: + +"Is what true?" + +"About Lottie. Her eyes--you know." + +"Oh, the poor little thing!" and instantly the step-mother's +countenance changed. "Janice, we don't know. Poor Hopewell is 'most +worried to death. Sometimes it seems as though there was a blur over +the child's eyes. And she has never got over her old habit of shutting +her eyes and seeing with her fingers, as she calls it." + +"Ah! I know," the girl said. "But that does not necessarily mean that +she has difficulty with her vision." + +"That is true. And the doctor in Boston wrote that, at times, there +might arise some slight clouding of the vision if she used her eyes too +much, if she suffered other physical ills, even if she were frightened +or unhappy." + +"The last two possibilities may certainly be set aside," said Janice, +with confidence. "And she is as rosy and healthy looking as she could +be." + +"Yes," said 'Rill. + +"Then what can it be that has caused the trouble?" + +"We cannot imagine," with a sigh. "It--it is worrying Hopewell, night +and day." + +"Poor man!" + +"He--he is changed a great deal, Janice," whispered the bride. + +Janice was silent, but held 'Rill's hand in her own comforting clasp. + +"Don't think he isn't good to me. He is! He is! He is the sweetest +tempered man that ever lived! You know that, yourself. And I thought +I was going to make him--oh!--so happy." + +"Hush! hush, dear!" murmured Janice, for Mrs. Drugg's eyes had run over +and she sobbed aloud. "He loves you just the same. I can see it in +the way he looks at you. And why should he not love you?" + +"But he has lost his cheerfulness. He worries about Lottie, I know. +There--there is another thing----" + +She stopped. She pursued this thread of thought no further. Janice +wondered then--and she wondered afterward--if this unexplained anxiety +connected Hopewell Drugg with the dances at the Lake View Inn. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"THE BLUEBIRD--FOR HAPPINESS" + +Could it be possible that Janice Day had alighted from Walky Dexter's +old carryall at the little grocery store for still another purpose? It +was waning afternoon, yet she did not immediately make her way homeward. + +Mrs. Beaseley lived almost across the street from Hopewell Drugg's +store, and Nelson Haley, the principal of Polktown's graded school, +boarded with the widow. Janice ran in to see her "just for a moment." +Therefore, it could scarcely be counted strange that the young school +principal should have caught the girl in Mrs. Beaseley's bright kitchen +when he came home with his satchel of books and papers. + +"There! I do declare for't!" ejaculated the widow, who was a rather +lugubrious woman living in what she believed to be the remembrance of +"her sainted Charles." + +"There! I do declare for't! I git to talkin' and I forgit how the +time flies. That's what my poor Charles uster say--he had _that_ fault +to find with me, poor soul. I couldn't never seem to git the vittles +on the table on time when I was young. + +"I was mindin' to make you a shortcake for your supper to-night, Mr. +Haley, out o' some o' them peaches I canned last Fall! But it's so +late----" + +"You needn't hurry supper on my account, Mrs. Beaseley," said Nelson, +cheerily, and without removing his gloves. "I find I've to go downtown +again on an errand. I'll not be back for an hour." + +Janice was smiling merrily at him from the doorway. + +Mrs. Beaseley began to bustle about. "That'll give me just time to +toss up the shortcake," she proclaimed. "Good-bye, Janice. Come +again. Mr. Haley'll like to walk along with you, I know." + +Mrs. Beaseley was blind to what most people, in Polktown knew--that +Janice and the schoolteacher were the very closest of friends. Only +their years--at least, only Janice's youth--precluded an announced +engagement between them. + +"Wait until I can come home and get a square look at this phenomenal +young man whom you have found in Polktown," Daddy had written, and +Janice would not dream of going against her father's expressed wish. + +Besides, Nelson Haley was a poor young man, with his own way to make in +the world. His work in the Polktown school had attracted the attention +of the faculty of a college not far away, and he had already been +invited to join the teaching staff of that institution. + +Janice had been the young man's inspiration when he had first come to +Polktown, a raw college graduate, bent only on "teaching for a living" +and on earning his salary as easily as possible. Awakened by his +desire to stand well in the estimation of the serious-minded +girl--eager to "make good" with her--Nelson Haley had put his shoulder +to the wheel, and the result was Polktown's fine new graded school, +with the young man himself at the head of it. + +Nelson was good looking--extremely good looking, indeed. He was light, +not dark like Janice, and he was muscular and sturdy without being at +all fleshy. The girl was proud of him--he was always so well-dressed, +so gentlemanly, and carried himself with such an assured air. Daddy +was bound to be pleased with a young man like Nelson Haley, once he +should see the schoolteacher! + +In his companionship now, Janice rather lost sight of the troubles that +had come upon her of late. Nelson told her of his school plans as they +strolled down High Street. + +"And I fancy these lectures and readings the School Committee are +arranging will be a good thing," the young man said. "We'll slip a +little extra information to the boys and girls of Polktown without +their suspecting it." + +"Sugar-coated pills?" laughed Janice. + +"Yes. The old system of pounding knowledge into the infant cranium +isn't in vogue any more." + +"Poor things!" murmured Janice Day, from the lofty rung of the +scholastic ladder she had attained. "Poor things! I don't blame them +for wondering: 'What's the use?' Marty wonders now, old as he is. +There is such a lot to learn in the world!" + +They talked of other things, too, and it was the appearance of Jim +Narnay weaving a crooked trail across High Street toward the rear of +the Inn that brought back to the girl's mind the weight of new trouble +that had settled upon it. + +"Oh, dear! there's that poor creature," murmured Janice. "And I +haven't been to see how his family is." + +"Who--Jim Narnay's family?" asked Nelson. + +"Yes." + +"You'd better keep away from such people, Janice," the young man said +urgently. + +"Why?" + +"You don't want to mix with such folk, my dear," repeated the young +man, shaking his head. "What good can it do? The fellow is a drunken +rascal and not worth striving to do anything for." + +"But his family? The poor little children?" said Janice, softly. + +"If you give them money, Jim'll drink it up." + +"I believe that," admitted Janice. "So I won't give them money. But I +can buy things for them that they need. And the poor little baby is +sick. That cunning Sophie told me so." + +"Goodness, Janice!" laughed Nelson, yet with some small vexation. "I +see there's no use in opposing your charitable instincts. But I really +wish you would not get acquainted with every rag-tag and bob-tail in +town. First those Trimminses--and now these Narnays!" + +Janice laughed at this. "Why, they can't hurt me, Nelson. And perhaps +I might do them good." + +"You cannot handle charcoal without getting some of the smut on your +fingers," Nelson declared, dogmatically. + +"But they are not charcoal. They are just some of God's unfortunates," +added the young girl, gently. "It is not Sophie's fault that her +father drinks. And maybe it isn't altogether _his_ fault." + +"What arrant nonsense!" exclaimed Nelson, with some exasperation. "It +always irritates me when I hear these old topers excused. A man should +be able to take a glass of wine or beer or spirits--or let it alone." + +"Yes, indeed, Nelson," agreed Janice, demurely. "He _ought_ to." + +The young man glanced sharply into her rather serious countenance. He +suspected that she was not agreeing with him, after all, very strongly. +Finally he laughed, and the spark of mischief immediately danced in +Janice Day's hazel eyes. + +"That is just where the trouble lies, Nelson, with drinking +intoxicating things. People should be able to drink or not, as they +feel inclined. But alcohol is insidious. Why! you teach that in your +own classes, Nelson Haley!" + +"Got me there," admitted the young school principal, with a laugh. +Then he became sober again, and added: "But _I_ can take a drink or +leave it alone if I wish." + +"Oh, Nelson! You _don't_ use alcoholic beverages, do you?" cried +Janice, quite shocked. "Oh! you _don't_, do you?" + +"My, my! See what a little fire-cracker it is!" laughed Nelson. "Did +I say I was in the habit of going into Lem Parraday's bar and spending +my month's salary in fiery waters?" + +"Oh, but Nelson! You don't _approve_ of the use of liquor, do you?" + +"I'm not sure that I do," returned the young man, more gravely. "And +yet I believe in every person having perfect freedom in that as well as +other matters." + +"Anarchism!" cried Janice, yet rather seriously, too, although her lips +smiled. + +"I know the taste of all sorts of beverages," the young man said. "I +was in with rather a sporty bunch at college, for a while. But I knew +I could not afford to keep up that pace, so I cut it out." + +"Oh, Nelson!" Janice murmured. "It's too bad!" + +"Why, it never hurt me," answered the young schoolmaster. "It never +could hurt me. A gentleman eats temperately and drinks temperately. +Of course, I would not go into the Lake View Inn and call for a drink, +now that I am teaching school here. My example would be bad for the +boys. And I fancy the School Committee would have something to say +about it, too," and he laughed again, lightly. + +They had turned into Hillside Avenue and the way was deserted save for +themselves. The warm glow of sunset lingered about them. Lights +twinkling in the kitchens as they went along announced the preparation +of the evening meal. + +Janice clasped her hands over Nelson's arm confidingly and looked +earnestly up into his face. + +"Nelson!" she said softly, "don't even _think_ about drinking anything +intoxicating. I should be afraid for you. I should worry about the +hold it might get upon you----" + +"As it has on Jim Narnay?" interrupted the young man, laughing. + +"No," said Janice, still gravely. "You would never be like him, I am +sure------" + +"Nor will drink ever affect me in any way--no fear! I know what I am +about. I have a will of my own, I should hope. I can control my +appetites and desires. And I should certainly never allow such a +foolish habit as tippling to get a strangle hold on me." + +"Of course, I know you won't," agreed Janice. + +"I thank goodness I'm not a man of habit, in any case," continued +Nelson, proudly. "One of our college professors has said: 'There is +only one thing worse than a bad habit--and that's a good habit.' It is +true. No man can be a well-rounded and perfectly poised man, if he is +hampered by habits of any kind. Habits narrow the mind and contract +one's usefulness in the world----" + +"Oh, Nelson!" excitedly interrupted Janice. "See the bluebird! The +first I have seen this Spring. The dear, little, pretty thing!" + +"Good-_night_!" exploded the school teacher, with a burst of laughter. +"My little homily is put out of business. A bluebird, indeed!" + +"But the bluebird is so pretty--and so welcome in Spring. See! there +he goes." Then she added softly, still clinging to Nelson's arm: + +"'The bluebird--for happiness.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TENTACLES OF THE MONSTER + +The sweet south wind blew that night and helped warm to life the +Winter-chilled breast of Mother Earth. Her pulses leaped, rejuvenated; +the mellowing soil responded; bud and leaf put forth their effort to +reach the sun and air. + +At Janice Day's casement the odors of the freshly-turned earth and of +the growing things whispered of the newly begun season. The ruins of +the ancient fortress across the lake to the north still frowned in the +mists of night when Janice left her bed and peered from the open +window, looking westward. + +Behind the mountain-top which towered over Polktown it was already +broad day; but the sun would not appear, to gild the frowning fortress, +or to touch the waters of the lake with its magic wand, for yet several +minutes. + +As the first red rays of the sun graced the rugged prospect across the +lake, Janice went through the barnyard and climbed the uphill pasture +lane. She was bound for the great "Overlook" rock in the +second-growth, from which spot she never tired of looking out upon the +landscape--and upon life itself. + +Janice Day took many of her problems to the Overlook. There, alone +with the wild things of the wood, with nothing but the prospect to +tempt her thoughts, she was wont to decide those momentous questions +that come into every young girl's life. + +As she sped up the path past the sheep sheds on this morning, her feet +were suddenly stayed by a most unexpected incident. Janice usually had +the hillside to herself at this hour; but now she saw a dark figure +huddled under the shelter, the open side of which faced her. + +"A bear!" thought Janice. Yet there had not been such a creature seen +in the vicinity of Polktown for years, she knew. + +She hesitated. The "bear" rolled over, stretched himself, and yawned a +most prodigious yawn. + +"Goodness, mercy, me!" murmured Janice Day. "It's a man!" + +But it was not. It was a boy. Janice popped down behind a boulder and +watched, for at first she had no idea who he could be. Certainly he +must have been up here in the sheepfold all night; and a person who +would spend a night in the open, on the raw hillside at this time of +year, must have something the matter with him, to be sure. + +"Why--why, that's Jack Besmith! He worked for Mr. Massey all Winter. +What is he doing here?" murmured Janice. + +She did not rise and expose herself to the fellow's gaze. For one +thing, the ex-drug clerk looked very rough in both dress and person. + +His uncombed hair was littered with straw and bits of corn-blades from +the fodder on which he had lain. His clothing was stained. He wore no +linen and the shoes on his feet were broken. + +Never in her life had Janice Day seen a more desperate looking young +fellow and she was actually afraid of him. Yet she knew he came of a +respectable family, and that he had a decent lodging in town. What +business had he up here at her uncle's sheepfold? + +Janice continued her walk no farther. She remained in hiding until she +saw Jack Besmith stumble out of the sheep pasture and down the hill +behind the Day stables--taking a retired route toward the village. + +Coming down into the barnyard once more, Janice met Marty with a +foaming milk pail. + +"Hullo, early bird!" he sang out. "Did you catch the worm this +morning?" + +Janice shuddered a trifle. "I believe I did, Marty," she confessed. +"At least, I saw some such crawling thing." + +"Hi tunket! Not a snake so early in the year?" + +"I don't know," and his cousin smiled, yet with gravity. + +"Huh?" queried the boy, with curiosity, for he saw that something +unusual had occurred. + +Janice gravely told him whom she had seen in the sheepfold. "And, +Marty, I believe he must have been up there all night--sleeping +outdoors such weather as this. What for, do you suppose?" + +Marty professed inability to explain; but after he had taken the milk +in to his mother, he slipped away and ran up to the sheep pasture +himself. + +"I say, Janice," he said, grinning, when he came back. "I can solve +the mystery, I can." + +"What mystery?" asked his cousin, who was flushed now with helping her +aunt get breakfast. + +"The mystery of the 'early worm' that you saw this mornin'." He +brought his hand from behind him and displayed an empty, amber-colored +flask on which was a gaudy label announcing its contents to have been +whiskey and sold by "_L. Parraday, Polktown._" + +"Oh, dear! Is _that_ the trouble with the Besmith boy?" murmured +Janice. + +"That's how he came to lose his job with Massey." + +"Poor fellow! He looked dreadful!" + +"Oh, he's a bad egg," said her cousin, carelessly. + +Janice hurried through breakfast, for the car was to be brought forth +to-day. Marty had been fussing over it for almost a week. The wind +was drying up the roads and it was possible for Janice to take a spin +out into the open country. + +Marty's prospects of enjoying the outing, however, were nipped before +he could leave the table. + +"Throw the chain harness on the colts, Marty," said his father. "The +'tater-patch is dry enough to put the plow in. And I'll want ye to +help me." + +"Oh--Dad! I got to help Janice get her car out. This ain't no time to +plow for 'taters," declared Marty. + +"Your mouth'll be open wider'n anybody else's in the house for the +'taters when they're grown," said Uncle Jason, calmly. "You got to do +your share toward raisin' 'em." + +"Oh, Dad!" ejaculated the boy again. + +"Now, Marty, you stop talkin'!" cried his mother. + +"Huh! you wanter make a feller dumb around here, too. S'pose Janice +breaks down on the road?" he added, with reviving hope. + +"I guess she'll find somebody that knows fully as much about them +gasoline buggies as you do, Son," observed Uncle Jason, easily. "You +an' me'll tackle the 'tater field." + +When his father spoke so positively Marty knew there was no use trying +to change him. He frowned, and muttered, and kicked the table leg as +he got up, but to no avail. + +Janice, later, got into her car and started for a ride. She put the +Kremlin right at the hill and it climbed Hillside Avenue with wonderful +ease. The engine purred prettily and not a thing went wrong. + +"Poor Marty! It's too bad he couldn't go, too," she thought. "I'd +gladly share this with somebody." + +Nelson, she knew, was busy this forenoon. It took no little of his +out-of-school time to prepare the outline for the ensuing week's work. +Besides, on this Saturday morning, there was a special meeting of the +School Committee, as he had told her the afternoon before. Something +to do with the course of lectures before mentioned. And the young +principal of Polktown's graded school was very faithful to his duties. + +She thought of Mrs. Drugg and little Lottie; but there was trouble at +the Drugg home. Somehow, on this bright, sweet-smelling morning, +Janice shrank from touching anything unpleasant, or coming into +communication with anybody who was not in attune with the day. + +She was fated, however, to rub elbows with Trouble wherever she went +and whatever she did. She ran the Kremlin past the rear of Walky +Dexter's place and saw Walky himself currying Josephus and his mate on +the stable floor. The man waved his currycomb at her and grinned. But +his well-known grimace did not cheer Janice Day. + +"Dear me! Poor Walky is in danger, too," thought the young girl. +"Why! the whole of Polktown is changing. In some form or other that +liquor selling at the Inn touches all our lives. I wonder if other +people see it as plainly as I do." + +She ran up into the Upper Middletown Road, as far out as Elder +Concannon's. The old gentleman--once Janice Day's very stern critic, +but now her staunch friend--was in the yard when Janice approached in +her car. He waved a cordial hand at her and turned away from the man +he had been talking with. + +"Well, there ye have it, Trimmins," the girl heard the elder say, as +her engine stopped. "If you can find a man or two to help you, I'll +let you have a team and you can go in there and haul them logs. +There's a market for 'em, and the logs lie jest right for hauling. You +and your partner can make a profit, and so can I." + +Then he said to Janice: "Good morning, child! You're as fresh to look +at as a morning-glory." + +She had nodded and smiled at the patriarchal old gentleman; but her +eyes were now on the long and lanky looking woodsman who stood by. + +"Good day, Mr. Trimmins," she said, when she had returned Elder +Concannon's greeting. "Is Mrs. Trimmins well? And my little Virginia +and all the rest of them?" + +"The fambly's right pert, Miss," Trimmins said. + +Janice had a question or two to ask the elder regarding the use of the +church vestry for some exercises by the Girl's Guild of which she had +been the founder and was still the leading spirit. + +"Goodness, yes!" agreed the elder. "Do anything you like, Janice, if +you can keep those young ones interested in anything besides dancing +and parties. Still, what can ye expect of the young gals when their +mothers are given up to folly and dissipation? + +"There's Mrs. Marvin Petrie and Mrs. Major Price want to be +'patronesses,' I believe they call themselves, of an Assembly Ball, an' +want to hold the ball at Lem Parraday's hotel. It's bad enough to have +them dances; but to have 'em at a place where liquor is sold, is a sin +and a shame! I wish Lem Parraday had lost the hotel entirely, before +he got a liquor license." + +"Oh, Elder! It is dreadful that liquor should be sold in Polktown," +Janice said, from the seat of the automobile. "I'm just beginning to +see it." + +"That's what it is," said the elder, sturdily. + +"It's a shame Mr. Parraday was ever allowed to have a license at the +Lake View Inn." + +"Wal--it does seem too bad," the elder agreed, but with less confidence +in his tone. + +"I know they say the Inn scarcely paid him and his wife, and he might +have had to give it up this Spring," Janice said. + +"Ahem! That would have been unfortunate for the mortgagee," slowly +observed the old man. + +"Mr. Cross Moore?" Janice quickly rejoined. "Well! he could afford to +lose a little money if anybody could." + +"Tut, tut!" exclaimed the elder, who had a vast respect for money. +"Don't say that, child. Nobody can afford to lose money." + +Janice turned her car about soberly. She saw that the ramification of +this liquor selling business was far-reaching, indeed. Elder Concannon +spoke only too truly. + +Where self-interest was concerned most people would lean toward the +side of liquor selling. + +"The tentacles of the monster have insinuated themselves into our +social and business life, as well as into our homes," she thought. +"Why--why, what can _I_ do about it? Just _me_, a girl all alone." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SWEPT ON BY THE CURRENT + +Janice picked up Trimmins on the road to town. The lanky Southerner, +who lived as a squatter with his ever-increasing family back in the +woods, was a soft-spoken man with much innate politeness and a great +distaste for regular work. He said the elder had just offered him a +job in the woods that he was going to take if he could get a man to +help him. + +"I heard you talking about it, Mr. Trimmins," the young girl said, with +her eyes on the road ahead and her foot on the gas pedal. "I hope you +will make a good thing out of it." + +"Not likely. The elder's too close for that," responded the man, with +a twinkle in his eye. + +"Yes. I suppose that Elder Concannon considers a small profit +sufficient. He got his money that way--by 'littles and dribbles'--and +I fancy he thinks small pay is all right." + +"My glo-_ree_! You bet he does!" said Trimmins. "But the elder never +had but one--leastways, two--chillen to raise. He wouldn't ha' got +rich very fast with _my_ family--no, sir!" + +"Perhaps that is so," Janice admitted. + +"Tell ye what, Miss," the woodsman went on to say, "a man ought to git +paid accordin' to the mouths there is to home to feed. I was readin' +in a paper t'other day that it took ten dollars a week to take proper +care of a man and his wife, and there ought to be added to them ten +dollars two dollars a week ev'ry time they got a baby." + +"Why! wouldn't that be fine?" cried Janice, laughing. + +"It sure would be a help," said Trimmins, the twinkle in his eye again. +"I reckon both me an' Narnay would 'preciate it." + +"Oh! you mean Jim Narnay?" asked Janice, with sudden solemnity. + +"Yes ma'am. I'm goin' to see him now. He's a grand feller with the +axe and I want him to help me." + +Janice wondered how much work would really be done by the two men if +they were up in the woods together. Yet Mrs. Narnay and the children +might get along better without Jim. Janice had made some inquiries and +learned that Mrs. Narnay was an industrious woman, working steadily +over her washtub, and keeping the children in comparative comfort when +Jim was not at home to drink up a good share of her earnings. + +"Are you going down to the cove to see Narnay now, Mr. Trimmins?" +Janice asked, as she turned the automobile into the head of High Street. + +"Yes, ma'am. That is, if I don't find him at Lem Parraday's." + +"Oh, Mr. Trimmins!" exclaimed Janice, earnestly. "Look for him at the +house first. And don't you go near Lem Parraday's, either." + +"Wal!" drawled the man. "I s'pose you air right, Miss." + +"I'll drive you right down to the cove," Janice said. "I want to see +little Sophie, and--and her mother." + +"Whatever you say, Miss," agreed the woodsman. + +They followed a rather rough street coveward, but arrived safely at the +small collection of cottages, in one of which the Narnays lived. Jim +Narnay was evidently without money, for he sat on the front stoop, +sober and rather neater than Janice was used to seeing him. He was +whittling a toy of some kind for the little boys, both of whom were +hanging upon him. + +Their attitude, as well as what Sophie Narnay had told her, assured +Janice that the husband and father of the household was not a cruel man +when he was sober. The children still loved him, and he evidently +loved them. + +"Got a job, Jim?" asked Trimmins, after thanking Janice for the ride, +and getting out of the automobile. + +"Not a smitch of work since I come out of the woods," admitted the +bewhiskered man, rising quickly from the stoop to make way for Janice. + +"Come on, old feller," said Trimmins. "I want to talk to you. If you +are favorable inclined, I reckon I got jest the job you've been lookin' +for." + +The two went off behind the cottage. Janice did not know then that +there was a short cut to High Street and the Lake View Inn. + +Sophie came running to the door to welcome the visitor, her thin little +arms red and soapy from dish-water. + +"I knowed 'twas you," she said, smiling happily. "They told me you was +the only girl in town that owned one o' them cars. And I told mom that +you must be awful rich and kind. Course, you must be, or you couldn't +afford to give away ten cent pieces so easy." + +Mrs. Narnay came to the door, too, her arms right out of the washtub; +but Janice begged her not to inconvenience herself. "Keep right on +with your work and I'll come around to the back and sit on that stoop," +said the young girl. + +"And you must see the baby," Sophie urged. "I can bring out the baby +if I wrap her up good, can't I, Marm?" + +"Have a care with the poor child, Sophie," said Mrs. Narnay, wearily. +"Where's your pop gone?" + +"He's walked out with Mr. Trimmins," said the little girl. + +The woman sighed, and Janice, all through her visit, could see that she +was anxious about her absent husband. The baby was brought out--a +pitifully thin, but pretty child--and Sophie nursed her little sister +with much enjoyment. + +"I wisht she was twins," confessed the little girl. "It must be awful +jolly to have twins in the family." + +"My soul, child!" groaned Mrs. Narnay. "Don't talk so reckless. One +baby at a time is affliction enough--as ye'll find out for yourself +some day." + +Janice, leaving a little gift to be hidden from Jim Narnay and divided +among the children, went away finally, with the determination that Dr. +Poole should see the baby again and try to do something for the poor, +little, weakly thing. Trimmins and Jim Narnay had disappeared, and +Janice feared that, after all, they had drifted over to the Inn, there +to celebrate the discovery of the job they both professed to need so +badly. + +"That awful bar!" Janice told herself. "If it were not here in +Polktown those two ne'er-do-wells would have gone right about their +work without any celebration at all. I guess Mrs. Scattergood is +right--Mr. Lem Parraday ought to be tarred and feathered for ever +taking out that license! And how about the councilmen who voted to let +him have it?" + +As she wheeled into High Street once more a tall, well groomed young +man, with rosy cheeks and the bluest of blue eyes, hailed her from the +sidewalk. + +"Oh, Janice Day!" he cried. "How's the going?" + +"Mr. Bowman! I didn't know you had returned," Janice said, smiling and +stopping the car. "The going is pretty good." + +"Have you been around by the Lower Road where my gang is working?" + +"No," Janice replied. "But Marty says the turnout is being put in and +that the bridge over the creek is almost done." + +"Good! I'll get over there by and by to see for myself." He had set +down a heavy suitcase and still held a traveling bag. "Just now," he +added, "I am hunting a lodging." + +"Hunting a lodging? Why! I thought you were a fixture with Marm +Parraday," Janice said. + +"I thought so, too. But it's got too strong for me down there. +Besides, it is a rule of the Railroad Company that we shall find board, +if possible, where no liquor is sold. I had a room over the bar and it +is too noisy for me at night." + +"Marm Parraday will be sorry to lose you, Mr. Bowman," Janice said. +"Isn't it dreadful that they should have taken up the selling of liquor +there?" + +"Bad thing," the young civil engineer replied, promptly. "I'm sorry +for Marm Parraday. Lem ought to be kicked for ever getting the +license," he added vigorously. + +"Dear me, Mr. Bowman," sighed Janice. "I wish everybody thought as you +do. Polktown needs reforming." + +"What! Again?" cried the young man, laughing suddenly. Then he added: +"I expect, if that is so, you will have to start the reform, Miss +Janice. And--and you'd better start it with your friend, Hopewell +Drugg. Really, they are making a fool of him around the Inn--and he +doesn't even know it." + +"Oh, Mr. Bowman! what do you mean?" called Janice after him; but the +young man had picked up his bag and was marching away, so that he did +not hear her question. Before she could start her engine he had turned +into a side street. + +She ran back up Hillside Avenue in good season for dinner. The potato +patch was plowed and Marty had gone downtown on an errand. Janice +backed the car into the garage and went upstairs to her room to change +her dress for dinner. She was there when Marty came boisterously into +the kitchen. + +"My goodness! what's the matter with you, Marty Day?" asked his mother +shrilly. "What's happened?" + +"It's Nelson Haley," the boy said, and Janice heard him plainly, for +the door at the foot of the stairs was ajar. "It's awful! They are +going to arrest him!" + +"What do you mean, Marty Day? Be you crazy?" Mrs. Day demanded. + +"What's this? One o' your cheap jokes?" asked the boy's father, who +chanced to be in the kitchen, too. + +"Guess Nelson Haley don't think it's a joke," said the boy, his voice +still shaking. "I just heard all about it. There ain't many folks +know it yet----" + +"Stop that!" cried his mother. "You tell us plain what Mr. Haley's +done." + +"Ain't done nothin', of course. But they _say_ he has," Marty stoutly +maintained. + +"Then what do they accuse him of?" queried Mr. Day. + +"They accuse him of stealin'! Hi tunket! ain't that the meanest thing +ye ever heard?" cried the boy. "Nelson Haley, stealin'. It gets _me_ +for fair!" + +"Why--why I can't believe it!" Aunt 'Mira gasped, and she sat down with +a thud on one of the kitchen chairs. + +"I got it straight," Marty went on to say. "The School Committee's all +in a row over it. Ye see, they had the coins----" + +"_Who_ had _what_ coins?" cried his mother. + +"The School Committee. That collection of gold coins some rich feller +lent the State Board of Education for exhibition at the lecture next +Friday. They only come over from Middletown last night and Mr. Massey +locked them in his safe." + +"Wal!" murmured Uncle Jason. + +"Massey brought 'em to the school this morning where the committee held +a meeting. I hear the committee left the trays of coins in their room +while they went downstairs to see something the matter with the heater. +When they come up the trays had been skinned clean--'for a fac'!" +exclaimed the excited Marty. + +"What's that got to do with Mr. Haley?" demanded Uncle Jason, grimly. + +"Why--he'd been in the room. I believe he don't deny he was there. +Nobody else was in the buildin' 'cept the janitor, and he was with +Massey and the others in the basement. + +"Then coins jest disappeared--took wings and flewed away," declared +Marty with much earnestness. + +"What was they wuth?" asked his father, practically. + +"Dunno. A lot of money. Some says two thousand and some says five +thousand. Whichever it is, they'll put him under big bail if they +arrest him." + +"Why, they wouldn't dare!" gasped Mrs. Day. + +"Say! Massey and them others has got to save their own hides, ain't +they?" demanded the suspicious Marty. + +"Wal. 'Tain't common sense that any of the School Committee should +have stolen the coins," Uncle Jason said slowly. "Mr. Massey, and +Cross Moore, and Mr. Middler----" + +"Mr. Middler warn't there," said Marty, quickly. "He'd gone to +Middletown." + +"Joe Pellet and Crawford there?" asked Uncle Jason. + +"All the committee but the parson," his son admitted. + +"And all good men," Uncle Jason said reflectively. "Schoolhouse +locked?" + +"So they say," Marty declared. "That's what set them on Nelson. Only +him and the janitor carry keys to the building." + +"Who's the janitor?" asked Uncle Jason. + +"Benny Thread. You know, the little crooked-backed feller--lives on +Paige Street. And, anyway, there wasn't a chance for him to get at the +coins. He was with the committee all the time they was out of the +room." + +"And are they sure Mr. Haley was in there?" asked Aunt 'Mira. + +"He admits it," Marty said gloomily. "I don't know what's going to +come of it all----" + +"Hush!" said Uncle Jason suddenly. "Shut that door." + +But it was too late, Janice had heard all. She came down into the +kitchen, pale-faced and with eyes that blazed with indignation. She +had not removed her hat. + +"Come, Uncle Jason," she said, brokenly. "I want you to go downtown +with me. If Nelson is in trouble we must help him." + +"Drat that boy!" growled Uncle Jason, scowling at Marty. "He's a +reg'lar big mouth! He has to tell ev'rything he knows all over the +shop." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +REAL TROUBLE + +It seemed to Janice Day as though the drift of trouble, which had set +her way with the announcement by her father of his unfortunate +situation among the Yaqui Indians, had now risen to an overwhelming +height. + +'Rill's secret misgivings regarding Hopewell Drugg, little Lottie's +peril of blindness, the general tendency of Polktown as a whole to +suffer the bad effects of liquor selling at the tavern--all these +things had added to Janice's anxiety. + +Now, on the crest of the threatening wave, rode this happening to +Nelson Haley, an account of which Marty had brought home. + +"Come, Uncle Jason," she said again to Mr. Day. "You must come with +me. If Nelson is arrested and taken before Justice Little, the justice +will listen to _you_. You are a property owner. If they put Nelson +under bail----" + +"Hold your hosses," interrupted Uncle Jason, yet not unkindly. "Noah +didn't build the ark in a day. We'd best go slow about this." + +"Slow!" repeated Janice. + +"I guess you wouldn't talk about bein' slow, Jason Day, if _you_ was +arrested," Aunt 'Mira interjected. + +"Ma's right," said Marty. "Mebbe they'll put him in the cell under the +Town Hall 'fore you kin get downtown." + +"There ain't no sech haste as all that," stated Uncle Jason. "What's +the matter of you folks?" + +He spoke rather testily, and Janice looked at him in surprise. "Why, +Uncle!" she cried, "what do you mean? It's Nelson Haley who is in +trouble." + +"I mean to eat my dinner fust of all," said her uncle firmly. "And so +had you better, my gal. A man can't be expected to go right away to +court an' put up every dollar he's got in the world for bail, until +he's thought it over a little, and knows something more about the +trouble." + +"Why, Jason!" exploded Aunt 'Mira. "Of course Mr. Haley is innocent +and you will help him." + +"Hi tunket, Dad!" cried Marty. "You ain't goin' back on Nelson?" + +Janice was silent. Her uncle did not look at her, but drew his chair +to the table. "I ain't goin' back on nobody," he said steadily. "But +I can't do nothing to harm my own folks. If, as you say, Marty, them +coins is so vallible, his bail'll be consider'ble--for a fac'. If I +put up this here property that we got, an'--an' anything happens--not +that I say anythin' will happen--where'd we be?" + +"What ever do ye mean, Jason Day?" demanded his wife. "That Nelson +Haley would run away?" + +"Ahem! We don't know how strongly the young man's been tempted," said +Mr. Day doggedly. + +"Uncle!" cried Janice, aghast. + +"Dad!" exclaimed Marty. + +"Jase Day! For the land's sake!" concluded Aunt 'Mira. + +"Sit down and eat your dinner, Janice," said Uncle Jason a second time, +ignoring his wife and son. "Remember, I got a duty to perform to your +father as well as to you. What would Broxton Day do in this case?" + +"I--I don't know, Uncle Jason," Janice said faintly. + +"Fust of all, he wouldn't let you git mixed up in nothin' that would +make the neighbors talk about ye," Mr. Day said promptly. "Now, +whether Nelson Haley is innercent or guilty, there is bound ter be +slathers of talk about this thing and about ev'rybody connected with +it." + +"He is not guilty, Uncle," said Janice, quietly. + +"That's my opinion, too," said Mr. Day, bluntly. "But I want the +pertic'lars, jest the same. I want to know all about it. Where +there's so much smoke there must be some fire." + +"Not allus, Dad," growled Marty, in disgust. "Smoke comes from an +oak-ball, but there ain't no fire." + +"You air a smart young man," returned his father, coolly. "You'll grow +up to be the town smartie, like Walky Dexter, I shouldn't wonder. +Nelson must ha' done somethin' to put himself in bad in this thing, and +I want to know what it is he done." + +"He went into the schoolhouse," grumbled Marty. + +"Howsomever," pursued Mr. Day, "if they shut Nelson Haley up on this +charge and he ain't guilty, we who know him best will git together and +bail him out, if that seems best." + +"'If that seems best!'" repeated Aunt 'Mira. "Jason Day! I'm glad the +Lord didn't make me such a moderate critter as you be." + +"You're a great friend of Nelse Haley--I don't think!" muttered Marty. + +But Janice said nothing more. That Uncle Jason did not rush to +Nelson's relief as she would have done had it been in her power, was +not so strange. Janice was a singularly just girl. + +The hurt was there, nevertheless. She could not help feeling keenly +the fact that everybody in Polktown did not respond at once to Nelson's +need. + +That he should be accused of stealing the collection of coins was +preposterous indeed. Yet Janice was sensible enough to know that there +would be those in the village only too ready and willing to believe ill +of the young schoolmaster. + +Nelson Haley's character was not wishy-washy. He had made everybody +respect him. His position as principal of the school gave him almost +as much importance in the community as the minister. But not all the +Polktown folk loved Nelson Haley. He had made enemies as well as +friends since coming to the lakeside town. + +There were those who would seize upon this incident, no matter how +slightly the evidence might point to Nelson, and make "a mountain of a +molehill." Nelson was a poor young man. He had come to Polktown with +college debts to pay off out of his salary. To those who were not +intimately acquainted with the school-teacher's character, it would not +seem such an impossibility that he should yield to temptation where +money was concerned. + +But to Janice the thought was not only abhorrent, it was ridiculous. +She would have believed herself capable of stealing quite as soon as +she would have believed the accusation against Nelson. + +Yet she could not blame Uncle Jason for his calm attitude in this +event. It was his nature to be moderate and careful. She did not +scold like Aunt 'Mira, nor mutter and glare like Marty. She could not, +however, eat any dinner. + +It was nerve-racking to sit there, playing with her fork, awaiting +Uncle Jason's pleasure. Janice's eyes were tearless. She had learned +ere this, in the school of hard usage, to control her emotions. Not +many girls of her age could have set off finally with Mr. Day for the +town with so quiet a mien. For she insisted upon accompanying her +uncle on this quest. She felt that she could not remain quietly at +home and wait upon his leisurely report of the situation. + +First of all they learned that no attempt had been made as yet to +curtail the young schoolmaster's liberty; otherwise the situation was +quite as bad as Marty had so eagerly reported. + +The collection of gold coins, valued at fifteen hundred dollars, had +been left in the committee room next to the principal's office in the +new school building. It being Saturday, the outer doors of the +building were locked--or supposedly so. + +Benny Thread, the janitor, was with the four committeemen in the +basement for a little more than half an hour. During that half-hour +Nelson Haley had entered the school building, using his pass key, had +been to his office, and entered the committee room, and from thence +departed, all while the committee was below stairs. + +He had been seen both going in and coming out by the neighbors. He +carried his school bag in both instances. The collection of coins was +of some weight; but Nelson could have carried that weight easily. + +The committee, upon returning to the second floor and finding the trays +empty, had at once sent for Nelson and questioned him. In their first +excitement over the loss of the coins, they had been unwise enough to +state the trouble and their suspicions to more than one person. In an +hour the story, with many additions, had spread over Polktown. A fire +before a high wind could have traveled no faster. + +Uncle Jason listened, digested, and made up his mind. Although a +moderate man, he thought to some purpose. He was soon satisfied that +the four committeemen, having got over their first fright, would do +nothing rash. And Janice had much to thank her uncle for in this +emergency; for he was outspoken, once having formed an opinion in the +matter. + +Finding the four committeemen in the drugstore, Uncle Jason berated +them soundly: + +"I did think you four fellers was safe to be let toddle about alone. I +swan I did! But here ye ac' jest like ye was nuthin' but babies! + +"Jest because ye acted silly and left that money open for the fust +comer to pocket, ye hafter run about an' squeal, layin' it all to the +fust person that come that way. If Mr. Middler or Elder Concannon had +come inter that school buildin', I s'pose it'd ha' been jest the same. +You fellers would aimed ter put it on them--one or t'other. I'm +ashamed of ye." + +"Wal, Jase Day, you're so smart," drawled Cross Moore, "who d'ye reckon +could ha' took the coins?" + +"Most anybody _could_. Mr. Haley sartinly did _not_," Uncle Jason +returned, briskly. + +"How d'ye know so much?" demanded Massey, the druggist. + +"'Cause I know him," rejoined Mr. Day, quite as promptly as before. + +"Aw--that's only talk," said Joe Pellet, pulling his beard +reflectively. "Mr. Haley's a nice young man----" + +"I've knowed him since ever he come inter this town," Mr. Day +interrupted, with energy. "He's too smart ter do sech a thing, even if +he was so inclined. You fellers seem ter think he's an idiot. What! +steal them coins when he's the only person 'cept the janitor that's +knowed to have a key to the school building? + +"Huh!" pursued Uncle Jason, with vast disgust. "You fellers must have +a high opinion of your own judgment, when you choosed Mr. Haley to +teach this school. Did ye hire a nincompoop, I wanter know? Why! if +he'd wanted ever so much ter steal them coins, he'd hafter been a fule +ter done it in this way." + +"There's sense in what ye say, Jason," admitted Mr. Crawford. + +"I sh'd hope so! But there ain't sense in what you fellers have +done--for a fac! Lettin' sech a story as this git all over town. By +jiminy! if I was Mr. Haley, I'd sue ye!" + +"But what are we goin' ter do, Jason?" demanded Cross Moore. "Sit here +an' twiddle our thumbs, and let that feller 't owns the coins come down +on us for their value?" + +"You'll have to make good to him anyway," said Mr. Day, bluntly. "You +four air responserble." + +"Hi tunket!" exploded Joe Pellet. "And let the thief git away with +'em?" + +"Better git a detecertif, an' put him on the case," said Mr. Day. "Of +course, you air all satisfied that nobody could ha' got into the +schoolhouse but Mr. Haley?" + +"He an' Benny is all that has keys," said Massey. + +"Sure about this here janitor?" asked Uncle Jason, slowly. + +"Why, he was with us all the time," said Crawford, in disgust. + +"And he's a hardworkin' little feller, too," Massey added. "Not a +thing wrong with Benny but his back. That is crooked; but he's as +straight as a string." + +"How's his fambly?" asked Uncle Jason. + +"Ain't got none--but a wife. A decent, hard-working woman," proclaimed +the druggist. "No children. Her brother boards with 'em. That's all." + +"Well, sir!" said Uncle Jason, oracularly. "There air some things in +this worl' ye kin be sure of, besides death and taxes. There's a few +things connected with this case that ye kin pin down. F'r instance: +The janitor didn't do it. Nelse Haley didn't do it. None o' you four +fellers done it." + +"Say! you goin' to drag us under suspicion, Jase?" drawled Cross Moore. + +"If you keep on sputterin' about Nelse Haley--yes," snapped Mr. Day, +nodding vigorously. "Howsomever, there's still another party ter which +the finger of suspicion p'ints." + +"Who's that?" was the chorus from the school committee. + +"A party often heard of in similar cases," said Mr. Day, solemnly. +"His name is _Unknown_! Yes, sir! Some party unknown entered that +building while you fellers was down cellar, same as Nelson Haley did. +This party, Unknown, stole the coins." + +"Aw, shucks, Jase!" grunted Mr. Cross Moore. "You got to give us +something more satisfactory than that if you want to shunt us off'n +Nelson Haley's trail," and the other three members of the School +Committee nodded. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOW NELSON TOOK IT + +Something more than mere curiosity drew Janice Day's footsteps toward +the new school building. There were other people drawn in the same +direction; but their interest was not like hers. + +Somehow, this newest bit of gossip in Polktown could be better +discussed at the scene of the strange robbery itself. Icivilly Sprague +and Mabel Woods walked there, arm in arm, passing Janice by with side +glances and the tossing of heads. + +Icivilly and Mabel had attended Nelson's school the first term after +Miss 'Rill Scattergood gave up teaching; but finding the young +schoolmaster impervious to their charms, they had declared themselves +graduated. + +They were not alone among the older girls who found Nelson provokingly +adamant. He did not flirt. Of late it had become quite apparent that +the schoolmaster had eyes only for Janice Day. Of course, that fact +did not gain Nelson friends among girls like Icivilly and Mabel in this +time of trial. + +Janice knew that they were whispering about her as she passed; but her +real thought was given to more important matters. Uncle Jason had told +her just how the affair of the robbery stood. There was a mystery--a +deep, deep mystery about it. + +In the group about the front gate of the school premises were Jim +Narnay and Trimmins, the woodsmen. Both had been drinking and were +rather hilarious and talkative. At least, Trimmins was so. + +"Wish _we'd_ knowed there was all that cash so free and open up here in +the schoolhouse--heh, Jim?" Trimmins said, smiting his brother toper +between the shoulders. "We wouldn't be diggin' out for no swamp to +haul logs." + +"You're mighty right, Trimmins! You're mighty right!" agreed the +drunken Narnay. "Gotter leave m' fambly--hate ter do it!" and he +became very lachrymose. "Ter'ble thing, Trimmins, f'r a man ter be +sep'rated from his fambly jest so's ter airn his livin'." + +"Right ye air, old feller," agreed the Southerner. "Hullo! here's the +buddy we're waitin' for. How long d'ye s'pose he'll last, loggin?" + +Janice saw the ex-drug clerk, Jack Besmith, mounting the hill with a +pack on his back. Rough as the two lumbermen were, Besmith looked the +more dissolute character, despite his youth. + +The trio went away together, bound evidently for one of Elder +Concannon's pieces of woodland, over the mountain. + +Benny Thread came out of the school building and locked the door +importantly behind him. Several of the curious ones surrounded the +little man and tried to get him into conversation upon the subject of +the robbery. + +"No, I can't talk," he said, shaking his head. "I can't, really. The +gentlemen of the School Committee have forbidden me. Why--only think! +It was more by good luck than good management that I wasn't placed in a +position where I could be suspected of the robbery. Lucky I was with +the committeemen every moment of the time they were down cellar. No, I +am not suspected, thanks be! But I must not talk--I must not talk." + +It was evident that he wanted to talk and he could be over-urged to +talk if the right pressure was brought to bear. Janice came away, +leaving the eagerly curious pecking at him--the one white blackbird in +the flock. + +Uncle Jason had given her some blunt words of encouragement. Janice +felt that she must see Nelson personally and cheer him up, if that were +possible. At least, she must tell him how she--and, indeed, all his +friends--had every confidence in him. + +Some people whom she met as she went up High Street looked at her +curiously. Janice held her head at a prouder angle and marched up the +hill toward Mrs. Beaseley's. She ignored these curious glances. + +But there was no escaping Mrs. Scattergood. That lover of gossip must +have been sitting behind her blind, peering down High Street, and +waiting for Janice's appearance. + +She hurried out of the house, beckoning to the girl eagerly. Janice +could not very well refuse to approach, so she walked on up the hill +beyond the side street on which Mrs. Beaseley's cottage stood, and met +the birdlike little woman at her gate. + +"For the good land's sake, Janice Day!" exploded Mrs. Scattergood. "I +was wonderin' if you'd never git up here. Surely, you've heard abeout +this drefful thing, ain't you?" + +Janice knew there was no use in evasion with Mrs. Scattergood. She +boldly confessed. + +"Yes, Mrs. Scattergood, I have heard about it. And I think Mr. Cross +Moore and those others ought to be ashamed of themselves--letting +people think for a moment that Mr. Haley took those coins." + +"Who _did_ take 'em?" asked the woman, eagerly. "Have they found out?" + +"Why, nobody but the person who really is the thief knows who stole the +coins; but of course everybody who knows Nelson at all, is sure that it +was not Mr. Haley." + +"Wal--they gotter lay it to somebody," Mrs. Scattergood said, rather +doubtfully. "That's the best them useless men could do," she added, +with that birdlike toss of the head that was so familiar to Janice. + +"If there'd been a woman around, they'd laid it on to her. Oh! I know +'em all--the hull kit an' bilin' of 'em." + +Janice tried to smile at this; but the woman's beadlike eyes seemed to +be boring with their glance right through the girl and this made her +extremely uncomfortable. + +"I expect you feel pretty bad, Janice Day," went on Mrs. Scattergood. +"But it's allus the way. You'll find as you grow older that there +ain't much in this world for females, young or old, but trouble." + +"Why, Mrs. Scattergood!" cried the girl, and this time she did call up +a merry look. "What have you to trouble you? You have the nicest time +of any person I know--unless it is Mrs. Marvin Petrie. No family to +trouble you; enough to live on comfortably; nothing to do but go +visiting--or stay at home if you'd rather----" + +"Tut, tut, tut, child! All is not gold that glitters," was the quick +reply. "I ain't so happy as ye may think. I have my troubles. But, +thanks be! they ain't abeout men. But you've begun yours, I kin see." + +"Yes, I am troubled because Mr. Haley is falsely accused," admitted +Janice, stoutly. + +"Wal--yes. I expect you air. And if it ain't no worse than you +believe--Wal! I said you was a new-fashioned gal when I fust set eyes +on you that day comin' up from the Landing in the old _Constance +Colfax_; and you be." + +"How am I different from other girls?" asked Janice, curiously. + +"Wal! Most gals would wait till they was sure the young man wasn't +goin' to be arrested before they ran right off to see him. But mebbe +it's because you ain't got your own mother and father to tell ye +diff'rent." + +Janice flushed deeply at this and her eyes sparkled. + +"I am sure Aunt 'Mira and Uncle Jason would have told me not to call on +Nelson if they did not believe just as I do--that he is guiltless and +that all his friends should show him at once that they believe in him." + +"Hoity-toity! Mebbe so," said the woman, tartly. "Them Days never did +have right good sense--yer uncle an' aunt, I mean. When _I_ was a gal +we wouldn't have been allowed to have so much freedom where the young +fellers was consarned." + +Janice was quite used to Mrs. Scattergood's sharp tongue; but it was +hard to bear her strictures on this occasion. + +"I hope it is not wrong for me to show my friend that I trust and +believe in him," she said firmly, and nodding good-bye, turned abruptly +away. + +Of herself, or of what the neighbors thought of her conduct, Janice Day +thought but little. She went on to Mrs. Beaseley's cottage, solely +anxious on Nelson's account. + +She found the widow in tears, for selfishly immured as Mrs. Beaseley +was in her ten-year-old grief over the loss of her "sainted Charles," +she was a dear, soft-hearted woman and had come to look upon Nelson +Haley almost as her son. + +"Oh, Janice Day! what ever are we going to do for him?" was her +greeting, the moment the girl entered the kitchen. "If my poor, dear +Charles were alive I know he would be furiously angry with Mr. Cross +Moore and those other men. Oh! I cannot bear to think of how angry he +would be, for Charles had a very stern temper. + +"And Mr. Haley is such a pleasant young man. As I tell 'em all, a +nicer and quieter person never lived in any lone female's house. And +to think of their saying such dreadful things about him! I am sure _I_ +never thought of locking anything away from Mr. Haley in this +house--and there's the 'leven sterling silver teaspoons that belonged +to poor, dear Charles' mother, and the gold-lined sugar-basin that was +my Aunt Abby's, and the sugar tongs--although they're bent some. + +"Why! Mr. Haley is jest one of the nicest young gentlemen that ever +was. And here he comes home, pale as death, and won't eat no dinner. +Janice, think of it! I allus have said, and I stick to it, that if one +can eat they'll be all right. My sainted Charles," she added, stating +for the thousandth time an uncontrovertible fact, "would be alive to +this day if he had continued to eat his victuals!" + +"I'd like to speak to Mr. Haley," Janice said, finally "getting a word +in edgewise." + +"Of course. Maybe he'll let you in," said the widow. "He won't me, +but I think he favors you, Janice," she added innocently, shaking her +head with a continued mournful air. "He come right in and said: +'Mother Beaseley, I don't believe I can eat any dinner to-day,' and +then shut and locked his door. I didn't know what had happened till +'Rene Hopper, she that works for Mrs. Cross Moore, run in to borry my +heavy flat-iron, an' she tol' me about the stolen money. Ain't it +_awful_?" + +"I--I hope Nelson will let me speak to him, Mrs. Beaseley," stammered +Janice, finding it very difficult now to keep her tears back. + +"You go right along the hall and knock at his door," whispered Mrs. +Beaseley, hoarsely. "An' you tell him I've got his dinner down on the +stove-hearth, 'twixt plates, a-keepin' it hot for him." + +Janice did as she was bidden as far as knocking at the door of the +front room was concerned. There was no answer at first--not a sound +from within. She rapped a second time. + +"I am sorry, Mrs. Beaseley; I could not possibly eat any dinner +to-day," Nelson's voice finally replied. + +There was no tremor in the tone of it. Janice knew just how proud the +young man was, and no matter how bitterly he was hurt by this trouble +that had fallen upon him, he would not easily reveal his feelings. + +She put her lips close to the crack of the door. "Nelson!" she +whispered. "Nelson!" a little louder. + +She heard him spring to his feet and overturn the chair in which he had +been sitting. + +"Nelson! it's only me," Janice quavered, the pulse beating painfully in +her throat. "Let me in--do!" + +He came across the room slowly. She heard him fumble at the key and +knob. Then the door opened. + +"Oh, Nelson!" she repeated, when she saw him in the darkened parlor. + +The pallor of his face went to her heart. His hair was disheveled; his +eyes red from weeping. After all, he was just a big boy in trouble, +and with no mother to comfort him. + +All the maternal instincts of Janice Day's nature went out to the young +fellow. "Nelson! Nelson!" she cried, under her breath. "You poor, +poor boy! I'm so sorry for you." + +"Janice--you----" He stammered, and could not finish the phrase. + +She cried, emphatically: "Of course I believe in you, Nelson. We _all_ +do! You must not take it so to heart. You will not bear it all alone, +Nelson. Every friend you have in Polktown will help you." + +She had come close to him, her hands fluttering upon his breast and her +eyes, sparkling with teardrops, raised to his face. + +"Oh, Janice!" he groaned, and swept her into his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +HOW POLKTOWN TOOK IT + +That was a very serious Saturday night at the old Day house, as well as +at the Beaseley cottage. Aunt 'Mira had whispered to Janice before the +girl had set forth with her uncle in the afternoon: + +"Bring him home to supper with ye, child--the poor young man! We got +to cheer him up, betwixt us. I'm goin' to have raised biscuits and +honey. He does dote on light bread." + +But Nelson would not come. Janice had succeeded in encouraging him to +a degree; but the young schoolmaster was too seriously wounded, both in +his self-respect and at heart, to wish to mingle on this evening with +any of his fellow-townsmen--even those who were his declared friends +and supporters. + +"Don't look for me at church to-morrow, either, Janice," the young man +said. "It may seem cowardly; but I cannot face all these people and +ignore this disgrace." + +"It is _not_ disgrace, Nelson!" Janice cried hotly. + +"It is, my dear girl. One does not have to be guilty to be disgraced +by such an accusation. I may be a coward; I don't know. At least, I +feel it too keenly to march into church to-morrow and know that +everybody is whispering about me. Why, Janice, I might break down and +make a complete fool of myself." + +"Oh, no, Nelson!" + +"I might. Even the children will know all about it and will stare at +me. I have to face them on Monday morning, and by that time I may have +recovered sufficient self-possession to ignore their glances and +whispers." + +And with that decision Janice was obliged to leave him. + +"The poor, foolish boy!" Aunt 'Mira said. "Don't he know we all air +sufferin' with him?" + +But Uncle Jason seemed better to appreciate the schoolmaster's attitude. + +"I don't blame him none. He's jest like a dog with a hurt paw--wants +ter crawl inter his kennel and lick his wounds. It's a tough +propersition, for a fac'." + +"He needn't be afraid that the fellers will guy him," growled Marty. +"If they do, I'll lick 'em!" + +"Oh, Marty! All of them?" cried Janice, laughing at his vehemence, yet +tearful, too. + +"Well--all I _can_," declared her cousin. "And there ain't many I +can't, you bet." + +"If you was as fond of work as ye be of fightin', Marty," returned Mr. +Day, drily, "you sartin sure'd be a wonderful feller." + +"Ya-as," drawled his son but in a very low tone, "maw says I'm growin' +more'n more like you, every day." + +"Marty," Janice put in quickly, before the bickering could go any +further, "did you see little Lottie? It was so late when I came out of +Mrs. Beaseley's, I ran right home." + +"I seed her," her cousin said gloomily. + +"How air her poor eyes?" asked Aunt 'Mira. + +"They're not poor eyes. They're as good as anybody's eyes," Marty +cried, with exasperation. + +"Wal--they say she's' goin' blind again," said tactless Aunt 'Mira. + +"I say she ain't! She ain't!" ejaculated Marty. "All foolishness. I +don't believe a thing them doctors say. She's got just as nice eyes as +anybody'd want." + +"That is true, Marty," Janice said soothingly; but she sighed. + +The door was open, for the evening was mild. On the damp Spring breeze +the sound of a husky voice was wafted up the street and into the old +Day house. + +"Hello!" grunted Uncle Jason, "who's this singin' bird a-comin' up the +hill? Tain't never Walky a-singin' like that, is it?" + +"It's Walky; but it ain't him singin'," chuckled Marty. + +"Huh?" queried Uncle Jason. + +"It's Lem Parraday's whiskey that's doin' the singin'," explained the +boy. "Hi tunket! Listen to that ditty, will ye?" + + "'I wish't I was a rock + A-settin' on a hill, + A-doin' nothin' all day long + But jest a-settin' still,'" + +roared Walky, who was letting the patient Josephus take his own gait up +Hillside Avenue. + +"For the Good Land o' Goshen!" cried Aunt 'Mira. "What's the matter o' +that feller? Has he taken leave of his senses, a-makin' of the night +higeous in that-a-way? Who ever told Walky Dexter 't he could sing?" + +"It's what he's been drinking that's doing the singing, I tell ye," +said her son. + +"Poor Walky!" sighed Janice. + +The expressman's complaint of his hard lot continued to rise in song: + + "'I wouldn't eat, I wouldn't sleep, + I wouldn't even wash; + I'd jest set still a thousand years, + And rest myself, b'gosh!'" + + +"Whoa, Josephus!" + +He had pulled the willing Josephus (willing at all times to stop) into +the open gateway of the old Day place. Marty went out on the porch to +hail him. + + "'I wish I was a bump + A-settin' on a log, + Baitin' m' hook with a flannel shirt + For to ketch a frog! + + "And when I'd ketched m' frog, + I'd rescue of m' bait-- + An' what a mess of frog's hind laigs + I _wouldn't_ have ter ate!'" + + +"Come on in, Walky, and rest your voice." + +"You be gittin' to be a smart young chap, Marty," proclaimed Walky, +coming slowly up the steps with a package for Mrs. Day and his book to +be signed. + +The odor of spirits was wafted before him. Walky's face was as round +and red as an August full moon. + +"How-do, Janice," he said. "What d'yeou think of them fule +committeemen startin' this yarn abeout Nelson Haley?" + +"What do folks say about it, Walky?" cut in Mr. Day, to save his niece +the trouble of answering. + +"Jest erbeout what you'd think they would," the philosophical +expressman said, shaking his head. "Them that's got venom under their +tongues, must spit it aout if they open their lips at all. Polktown's +jest erbeout divided--the gossips in one camp and the kindly talkin' +people in t'other. One crowd says Mr. Haley would steal candy from a +blind baby, an' t'other says his overcoat fits him so tight across't +the shoulders 'cause his wings is sproutin'. Haw! haw! haw!" + +"And what d' ye say, Mr. Dexter?" asked Aunt 'Mira, bluntly. + +The expressman puckered his lips into a curious expression. "I tell ye +what," he said. "Knowin' Mr. Haley as I do, I'm right sure he's +innercent as the babe unborn. But, jefers-pelters! who _could_ ha' +done it?" + +"Why, Walky!" gasped Janice. + +"I know. It sounds awful, don't it?" said the expressman. "I don't +whisper a word of this to other folks. But considerin' that the +schoolhouse doors was locked and Mr. Haley had the only other key +besides the janitor, who air Massey and them others goin' to blame for +the robbery?" + +"They air detarmined to save their own hides if possible," Uncle Jason +grumbled. + +"Natcherly--natcherly," returned Walky. "We know well enough none o' +them four men of the School Committee took the coins, nor Benny Thread, +neither. They kin all swear alibi for each other and sartain sure they +didn't all conspire ter steal the money and split it up 'twixt 'em. +Haw! haw! haw! 'Twouldn't hardly been wuth dividin' into five parts," +he added, his red face all of a grin. + +"That sounds horrid, Mr. Dexter," said Aunt 'Mira. + +"Wal, it's practical sense," the expressman said, wagging his head. +"It's a problem for one o' them smart detecatifs ye read abeout in the +magazines--one o' them like they have in stories. I read abeout one of +'em in a story. Yeou leave him smell the puffumery on a gal's +handkerchief and he'll tell right away whether she was a blonde or a +brunette, an' what size glove she wore! Haw! haw! haw! + +"This ain't no laughing matter, Walky," Mr. Day said, with a side +glance at Janice. + +"Better laff than cry," declared Walky. "Howsomever, folks seed Mr. +Haley go into the schoolhouse and come out ag'in----" + +"He told the committee he had been there," Janice interrupted. + +"That's right, too. Mebbe not so many folks would ha' knowed they'd +seen him there if he hadn't up and said so. Proberbly there was ha'f a +dozen other folks hangin' abeout the schoolhouse, too, at jest the time +the coin collection was stole; but they ain't remembered 'cause they +didn't up and tell on themselves." + +"Oh, Walky!" gasped the girl, startled by the suggestion. + +"Wal," drawled the expressman, in continuation, "that ain't no good to +us, for nobody had a key to the door but him and Benny Thread." + +"I wonder----" murmured Janice; but said no more. + +"It's a scanderlous thing," Walky pursued, receiving his book back and +preparing to join Josephus at the gate. "Goin' ter split things wide +open in Polktown, I reckon. 'Twill be wuss'n a church row 'fore it +finishes. Already there's them that says we'd oughter have another +teacher in Mr. Haley's place." + +"Oh, my!" cried Aunt 'Mira. + +"Ain't willin' ter give the young feller a chance't at all, heh?" said +Mr. Day, puffing hard at his pipe. "Wall! we'll see abeout _that_." + +"We'd never have a better teacher, I tell 'em," Walky flung back over +his shoulder. "But Mr. Haley's drawin' a good salary and there's them +that think it oughter go ter somebody that belongs here in Polktown, +not to an outsider like him." + +"Hi tunket!" cried Marty, after Walky had gone. "There ye have it. +Miss Pearly Breeze, that used ter substi-_toot_ for 'Rill Scattergood, +has wanted the school ever since Mr. Haley come. She'd do fine tryin' +to be principal of a graded school--I don't think!" + +"Oh, don't talk so, I beg of you," Janice said. "Of course Nelson +won't lose his school. If he did, under these circumstances, he could +never go to Millhampton College to teach. Why! perhaps his career as a +teacher would be irrevocably ruined." + +"Now, don't ye take on so, Janice," cried Aunt 'Mira, with her arm +about the girl. "It won't be like that. It _can't_ be so bad--can it, +Jason?" + +"We mustn't let it go that fur," declared her spouse, fully aroused +now. "Consarn Walky Dexter, anyway! I guess, as Marty says, what he +puts in his mouth talks as well as sings for him. + +"I snum!" added the farmer, shaking his head. "I dunno which is the +biggest nuisance, an ill-natered gossip or a good-natered one. Walky +claims ter feel friendly to Mr. Haley, and then comes here with all the +unfriendly gossip he kin fetch. Huh! I ain't got a mite o' use fer +sech folks." + +Uncle Jason was up, pacing the kitchen back and forth in his stocking +feet. He was much stirred over Janice's grief. Aunt 'Mira was in +tears, too. Marty went out on the porch, ostensibly for a pail of +fresh water, but really to cover his emotion. + +None of them could comfortably bear the sight of Janice's tears. As +Marty started the pump a boy ran into the yard and up the steps. + +"Hullo, Jimmy Gallagher, what you want?" demanded Marty. + +"I'm after Janice Day. Got a note for her," said the urchin. + +"Hey, Janice!" called her cousin; but the young girl was already out on +the porch. + +"What is it, Jimmy? Has Nelson----" + +"Here's a note from Miz' Drugg. Said for me to give it to ye," said +the boy, as he clattered down the steps again. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"MEN MUST WORK WHILE WOMEN MUST WEEP" + +Janice brought the letter indoors to read by the light of the kitchen +lamp. Her heart fluttered, for she feared that it was something about +Nelson. The Drugg domicile was almost across the street from the +Beaseley cottage and the girl did not know but that 'Rill had been +delegated to tell her something of moment about the young schoolmaster. + +Marty, too, was eagerly curious. "Hey, Janice! what's the matter?" he +whispered, at her shoulder. + +"Mr. Drugg has to be away this evening and she is afraid to stay in the +house and store alone. She wants me to come over and spend the night +with her. May I, Auntie?" + +"Of course, child--go if you like," Aunt 'Mira said briskly. "You've +been before." + +Twice Mr. Drugg had been away buying goods and Janice had spent the +night with 'Rill and little Lottie. + +"Though what protection I could be to them if a burglar broke in, I'm +sure I don't know," Janice had said, laughingly, on a former occasion. + +She went upstairs to pack her handbag rather gravely. She was glad to +go to the Drugg place to remain through the night. She would be near +Nelson Haley! Somehow, she felt that being across the street from the +schoolmaster would be a comfort. + +When she came downstairs Marty had his hat and coat on. "I'll go +across town with ye--and carry the bag," he proposed. "Going to the +reading room, anyway." + +"That's nice of you, Marty," she said, trying to speak in her usual +cheery manner. + +Janice was rather glad it was a moonless evening as she walked side by +side with her cousin down Hillside Avenue. It was one of the first +warm evenings of the Spring and the neighbors were on their porches, or +gossiping at the gates and boundary fences. + +What about? Ah! too well did Janice Day know the general subject of +conversation this night in Polktown. + +"Come on, Janice," grumbled Marty. "Don't let any of those old cats +stop you. They've all got their claws sharpened up." + +"Hush, Marty!" she begged, yet feeling a warm thrill at her heart +because of the boy's loyalty. + +"There's that old Benny Thread!" exploded Marty, as they came out on +the High Street. "Oh! he's as important now as a Billy-goat on an +ash-heap. You'd think, to hear him, that he'd stole the coins +himself--only he didn't have no chance't. He and Jack Besmith wouldn't +ha' done a thing to that bunch of money--no, indeed!--if they'd got +hold of it." + +"Why, Marty!" put in Janice; "you shouldn't say that." Then, with +sudden curiosity, she added: "What has that drug clerk got to do with +the janitor of the school building?" + +"He's Benny's brother-in-law. But Jack's left town, I hear." + +"He's gone with Trimmins and Narnay into the woods," Janice said +thoughtfully. + +"So _he's_ out of it," grumbled Marty. "Jack went up to Massey's the +other night to try to get his old job back, and Massey turned him out +of the store. Told him his breath smothered the smell of iodoform in +the back shop," and Marty giggled. "That's how Jack come to get a pint +and wander up into our sheep fold to sleep it off." + +"Oh, dear, Marty," sighed Janice, "this drinking in Polktown is getting +to be a dreadful thing. See how Walky Dexter was to-night." + +"Yep." + +"Everything that's gone wrong lately is the fault of Lem Parraday's +bar." + +"Huh! I wonder?" questioned Marty. "Guess Nelse Haley won't lay _his_ +trouble to liquor drinking." + +"No? I wonder----" + +"Here's the library building, Janice," interrupted the boy. "Want me +to go any further with you?" + +"No, dear," she said, taking the bag from him. "Tell Aunt 'Mira I'll +be home in the morning in time enough to dress for church." + +"Aw-right." + +"And, Marty!" + +"Yep?" returned he, turning back. + +"I see there's a light in the basement of the library building. What's +going on?" + +"We fellers are holding a meeting," said Marty, importantly. "I called +it this afternoon. I don't mind telling you, Janice, that we're going +to pass resolutions backing up Mr. Haley--pass him a vote of +confidence. That's what they do in lodges and other societies. And if +any of the fellers renege tonight on this, I'll--I'll--Well, I'll show +'em somethin'!" finished Marty, very red in the face and threatening as +he dived down the basement steps. + +"Oh, well," thought Janice, encouraged after all. "Nelson has some +loyal friends." + +She came to the store on the side street without further incident. She +looked across timidly at Nelson's windows. A lamp burned dimly there, +so she knew he was at home. + +Indeed, where would he go--to whom turn in his trouble? Aside from an +old maiden aunt who had lent him enough of her savings to enable him to +finish his college course, Nelson had no relatives alive. He had no +close friend, either young or old, but herself, Janice knew. + +"Oh, if daddy were only home from Mexico!" was her unspoken thought, as +she lifted the latch of the store door. + +There were no customers at this hour; but it was Hopewell Drugg's +custom to keep the store open until nine o'clock every evening, and +Saturday night until a much later hour. Every neighborhood store must +do this to keep trade. + +"I'm so glad to see you, Janice," 'Rill proclaimed, without coming from +behind the counter. "You'll stay?" + +"Surely. Don't you see my bag?" returned Janice gaily. "Is Mr. Drugg +going to be away all night?" + +"He--he could not be sure. It's another dance," 'Rill said, rather +apologetically. "He feels he must play when he can. Every five +dollars counts, you know, and Hopewell is sure that Lottie will have to +go back to the school." + +"Where is the dance?" asked Janice gravely. "Down at the Inn?" + +"Yes," replied the wife, quite as seriously, and dropping her gaze. + +"Oh! I hear my Janice! I hear my Janice Day!" cried Lottie's sweet, +shrill voice from the rear apartment and she came running out into the +store to meet the visitor. + +"Have a care! have a care, dear!" warned 'Rill. "Look where you run." + +Janice, seeing more clearly from where she stood in front of the +counter, was aware that the child ran toward her with her hands +outstretched, and with her eyes tightly closed--just as she used to do +before her eyes were treated and she had been to the famous Boston +physician. + +"Oh, Lottie dear!" she exclaimed, taking the little one into her arms. +"You will run into something. You will hurt yourself. Why don't you +look where you are going?" + +"I _do_ look," Lottie responded pouting. Then she wriggled all her ten +fingers before Janice's face. "Don't you see my lookers? I can +see--oh! so nicely!--with my fingers. You know I always could, Janice +Day." + +'Rill shook her head and sighed. It was plain the bride was a very +lenient stepmother indeed--perhaps too lenient. She loved Hopewell +Drugg's child so dearly that she could not bear to correct her. Lottie +had always had her own way with her father; and matters had not +changed, Janice could see. + +"Mamma 'Rill," Lottie coaxed, patting her step-mother's pink cheek, +"you'll let me sit up longer, 'cause Janice is here--won't you?" + +Of course 'Rill could not refuse her. So the child sat there, blinking +at the store lights like a little owl, until finally she sank down in +the old cushioned armchair behind the stove and fell fast asleep. +Occasionally customers came in; but between whiles Janice and the +storekeeper's wife could talk. + +The racking "clump, clump, clump," of a big-footed farm horse sounded +without and a woman's nasal voice called a sharp: + +"Whoa! Whoa, there! Now, Emmy, you git aout and hitch him to that +there post. Ain't no ring to it? Wal! I don't see what Hope Drugg's +thinkin' of--havin' no rings to his hitchin' posts. He ain't had none +to that one long's I kin remember." + +"Here comes Mrs. Si Leggett," said 'Rill to Janice. "She's a +particular woman and I am sorry Hopewell isn't here himself. Usually +she comes in the afternoon. She is late with her Saturday's shopping +this time." + +"Take this basket of eggs--easy, now, Emmy!" shrilled the woman's +voice. "Handle 'em careful--handle 'em like they _was_ eggs!" + +A heavy step, and a lighter step, on the porch, and then the store door +opened. The woman was tall and raw-boned. She wore a sunbonnet of +fine green and white stripes. Emmy was a lanky child of fourteen or +so, with slack, flaxen hair and a perfectly colorless face. + +"Haow-do, Miz' Drugg," said the newcomer, putting a large basket of +eggs carefully on the counter. "What's Hopewell givin' for eggs +to-day?" + +"Just what everybody else is, Mrs. Leggett. Twenty-two cents. That's +the market price." + +"Wal--seems ter me I was hearin' that Mr. Sprague daowntown was +a-givin' twenty-three," said the customer slowly. + +"Perhaps he is, Mrs. Leggett. But Mr. Drugg cannot afford to give even +a penny above the market price. Of course, either cash or trade--just +as you please." + +"Wal, I want some things an' I wasn't kalkerlatin' to go 'way daowntown +ter-night--it's so late," said Mrs. Leggett. + +'Rill smiled and waited. + +"Twenty-two's the best you kin do?" queried the lanky woman querulously. + +"That is the market price." + +"Wal! lemme see some cheap gingham. It don't matter abeout the +pattern. It's only for Emmy here, and it don't matter what 'tis that +covers her bones' long's it does cover 'em. Will this fade?" + +"I don't think so," Mrs. Drugg said, opening the bolt of goods so that +the customer could get at it better. + +Janice watched, much amused. The woman pulled at the piece one way, +and then another, wetting it meantime and rubbing it with her fingers +to ascertain if the colors were fast. She was apparently unable to +satisfy herself regarding it. + +Finally she produced a small pair of scissors and snipped off a tiny +piece and handed it to Emmy. "Here, Emmy," she said, "you spit aout +that there gum an' chew on this here awhile ter see if it fades any." + +Janice dodged behind the post to hide the expression of amusement that +she could not control. She wondered how 'Rill could remain so placid +and unruffled. + +Emmy took the piece of goods, clapped it into her mouth with the most +serious expression imaginable, and went to work. Her mother said: + +"Ye might's well count the eggs, Miz' Drugg. I make 'em eight dozen +and ten. I waited late for the rest of the critters ter lay; but they +done fooled me ter-day--for a fac'!" + +Emmy having chewed on the gingham to her mother's complete +satisfaction, Mrs. Leggett finished making her purchases and they +departed. Then 'Rill and her guest could talk again. Naturally the +conversation almost at the beginning turned upon Nelson Haley's trouble. + +"It is terrible!" 'Rill said. "Mr. Moore and those others never could +have thought what they were doing when they accused Mr. Haley of +stealing." + +"They were afraid that they would have to make good for the coins, and +felt that they must blame somebody," Janice replied with a sigh. + +"Of course, Hopewell went right over to tell the schoolmaster what he +thought about it as soon as the story reached us. Hopewell thinks +highly of the young man, you know." + +"Until this thing happened, I thought almost everybody thought highly +of him," said Janice, with a sob. + +"Oh, my dear!" cried 'Rill, tearful herself, "there is such gossip in +Polktown. So many people are ready to make ill-natured and untruthful +remarks about one----" + +Janice knew to what secret trouble the storekeeper's wife referred. "I +know!" she exclaimed, wiping away her own tears. "They have talked +horridly about Mr. Drugg." + +"It is untruthful! It is unfair!" exclaimed Hopewell Drugg's wife, her +cheeks and eyes suddenly ablaze with indignation. To tell the truth, +she was like an angry kitten, and had the matter not been so serious, +Janice must have laughed at her. + +"They have told all over town that Hopewell came home intoxicated from +that last dance," continued the wife. "But it is a story--a wicked, +wicked story!" + +Janice was silent. She remembered what she and Marty and Mrs. +Scattergood had seen on the evening in question--how Hopewell Drugg had +looked as he staggered past the street lamp on the corner on his way +home with the fiddle under his arm. + +She looked away from 'Rill and waited. Janice feared that the poor +little bride would discover the expression of her doubt in her eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AN UNEXPECTED EMERGENCY + +'Rill seemed to understand what was in Janice's mind and heart. She +kept on with strained vehemence: + +"I know what they all say! And my mother is as bad as any of them. +They say Hopewell was intoxicated. He was sick, and the bartender +mixed him something to settle his stomach. I think maybe he put some +liquor in it unbeknown to Hopewell. Or something! + +"The poor, dear man was ill all night, Janice, and he never did +remember how he got home from the dance. Whatever he drank seemed to +befuddle his brain just as soon as he came out into the night air. +That should prove that he's not a drinking man." + +"I--I am sorry for you, dear," Janice said softly. "And I am sorry +anybody saw Mr. Drugg that evening on his way home." + +"Oh, I know you saw him, Janice--and Marty Day and my mother. Mother +can be as mean as mean can be! She has never liked Hopewell, as you +know." + +"Yes, I know," admitted Janice. + +"She keeps throwing such things up to me. And her tongue is never +still. It is true Hopewell's father was a drinking man." + +"Indeed?" said Janice, curiously. + +"Yes," sighed 'Rill Drugg. "He was rather shiftless. Perhaps it is +the nature of artists so to be," she added reflectively. "For he was +really a fine musician. Had Hopewell had a chance he might have been +his equal. I often think so," said the storekeeper's bride proudly. + +"I know that the elder Mr. Drugg taught the violin." + +"Yes. And he used to travel about over the country, giving lessons and +playing in orchestras. That used to make Mrs. Drugg awfully angry. +She wanted him to be a storekeeper. She made Hopewell be one. How she +ever came to marry such a man as Hopewell's father, I do not see." + +"She must have loved him," said Janice wistfully. + +"Of course!" cried the bride, quite as innocently. "She couldn't have +married him otherwise." + +"And was Hopewell their only child?" + +"Yes. He seldom saw his father, but he fairly worshiped him. His +father was a handsome man--and he used to play his violin for Hopewell. +It was this very instrument my husband prizes so greatly now. When Mr. +Drugg died the violin was hid away for years in the garret. + +"You've heard how Hopewell found it, and strung it himself, and used to +play on it slyly, and so taught himself to be a fiddler, before his +mother had any idea he knew one note from another. She was extremely +deaf at the last and could not hear him playing at odd times, up in the +attic." + +"My!" said Janice, "he must have really loved music." + +"It was his only comfort," said the wife softly. "When he was +twenty-one what little property his father had left came to him. But +his mother did not put the violin into the inventory; so Hopewell said: +'Give me the fiddle and you can have the rest.'" + +"He loved it so!" murmured Janice appreciatively: + +"Yes. I guess that was almost the only time in his life that Hopewell +really asserted himself. With his mother, at least. She was a very +stubborn woman, and very stern; more so than my own mother. But Mrs. +Drugg had to give in to him about the violin, for she needed Hopewell +to run the store for her. They had little other means. + +"But she made him marry 'Cinda Stone," added 'Rill. "Poor 'Cinda! she +was never happy. Not that Hopewell did not treat her well. You know, +Janice, he is the sweetest-tempered man that ever lived. + +"And that is what hurts me more than anything else," sobbed the bride, +dabbling her eyes with her handkerchief. "When they say Hopewell gets +intoxicated, and is cruel to me and to Lottie, it seems as though--as +though I could scratch their eyes out!" + +For a moment Hopewell's wife looked so spiteful, and her eyes snapped +so, that Janice wanted to laugh. Of course, she did not do so. But to +see the mild and sweet-tempered 'Rill display such venom was amusing. + +The store door opened with a bang. The girl and the woman both started +up, Lottie remaining asleep. + +"Hush! Never mind!" whispered Janice to 'Rill. "I'll wait on the +customer." + +When she went out into the front of the store, she saw that the figure +which had entered was in a glistening slicker. It had begun to rain. + +"Why, Frank Bowman! Is it you?" she asked, in surprise. + +"Oh! how-do, Janice! I didn't expect to find you here." + +"Nor I you. What are you doing away up here on the hill?" Janice asked. + +Frank Bowman did not look himself. The girl could not make out what +the trouble with him was, and she was puzzled. + +"I guess you forgot I told you I was moving," he said hesitatingly. + +"Oh, I remember! And you've moved up into this neighborhood?" + +"Not exactly. I am going to lodge with the Threads, but I shall +continue to eat Marm Parraday's cooking." + +"The Threads?" murmured Janice. + +"You know. The little, crooked-backed man. He's janitor of the +school. His wife has two rooms I can have. Her brother has been +staying with them; but he's lost his job and has gone up into the +woods. It's a quiet place--and that's what I want. I can't stand the +racket at the hotel any longer," concluded the civil engineer. + +But Janice thought he still looked strange and spoke differently from +usual. His glance wandered about the store as he talked. + +"What did you want to buy, Frank?" she asked. "I'm keeping store +to-night." She knew that 'Rill would not want the young man to see her +tears. + +"Oh--ah--yes," Bowman stammered. "What did I want?" + +At that Janice laughed outright. She thought highly of the young civil +engineer, and she considered herself a close enough friend to ask, +bluntly: + +"What ever is the matter with you, Frank Bowman? You're acting +ridiculously." + +He came nearer to her and whispered: "Where's Mrs. Drugg?" + +Janice motioned behind her, and her face paled. What had happened? + +"I--I declare I don't know how to tell her," murmured the young man, +his hand actually trembling. + +"Tell her what?" gasped Janice. + +"Or even that I ought to tell her," added Frank Bowman, shaking his +head. + +Janice seized him by the lapel of his coat and tried to shake him. +"What do you mean? What are you talking about?" she demanded. + +"What is the matter, Janice?" called 'Rill's low voice from the back. + +"Never mind! I can attend to _this_ customer," Janice answered gaily. +"It's Frank Bowman." + +Then she turned swiftly to the civil engineer again and whispered: +"What is it about? Hopewell?" + +"Yes," he returned in the same low tone. + +"What is the matter with him?" demanded the girl greatly worried. + +"He's down at the Inn----" + +"I know. He went there to play at a dance tonight. That's why I am +here--to keep his wife company," explained Janice. + +"Well," said Bowman. "I went down to get some of my books I'd left +there. They're having a high old time in that big back room, +downstairs. You know?" + +"Where they are going to have the Assembly Ball?" + +"Yes," he agreed. + +"But it's nothing more than a dance, is it?" whispered Janice. +"Hopewell was hired to play----" + +"I know. But such playing you never heard in all your life," said +Bowman, with disgust. "And the racket! I wonder somebody doesn't +complain to Judge Little or to the Town Council." + +"Not with Mr. Cross Moore holding a mortgage on the hotel," said +Janice, with more bitterness than she usually displayed. + +"You're right there," Bowman agreed gloomily. + +"But what about Hopewell?" + +"I believe they have given him something to drink. That Joe Bodley, +the barkeeper, is up to any trick. If Hopewell keeps on he will +utterly disgrace himself, and----" + +Janice clung to his arm tightly, interrupting his words with a little +cry of pity. "And it will fairly break his wife's heart!" she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +INTO THE LION'S DEN + +Janice Day was growing up. + +What really ages one in this life? Emotions. +Fear--sorrow--love--hate--sympathy--jealousy--all the primal passions +wear one out and make one old. This young girl of late had suffered +from too much emotion. + +Nelson Haley's trouble; her father's possible peril in Mexico; the many +in whom she was interested being so affected by the sale of liquor in +Polktown--all these things combined to make Janice feel a burden of +responsibility that should not have rested upon the shoulders of so +young a girl. + +"Frank," she whispered to Bowman, there in the front of the dusky +store, "Frank, what shall we do?" + +"What can we do?" he asked quite blankly. + +"He--he should be brought home." + +"My goodness!" Bowman stammered. "Do you suppose Mrs. Drugg would go +down there after him?" + +"She mustn't," Janice hastened to reply, with decision; "but I will." + +"Not you, Janice!" Bowman exclaimed, recoiling at the thought. + +"Do you suppose I'd let you tell Mrs. Drugg?" demanded the girl, +fiercely, yet under her breath. + +"He's her husband." + +"And I'm her friend." + +Bowman looked admiringly at the flushed face of the girl. "You are +fine, Janice," he said. "But you're too fine to go into that place +down there and get Drugg out of it. If you think it is your duty to go +for the man, I'll go with you. And I'll go in after him." + +"Oh, Mr. Bowman! If you would!" + +"Oh, I will. I only wish we had your car. He may be unable to walk +and then the neighbors will talk." + +"It's got beyond worrying about what the neighbors say," said Janice +wearily. "Now, wait. I must go and excuse myself to Mrs. Drugg. She +must not suspect. Maybe it isn't as bad as you think and we'll get +Hopewell home all right." + +The storekeeper's wife had carried Lottie back to the sitting room. +The child was still asleep and 'Rill was undressing her. + +"What is the matter, Janice?" she asked curiously. "Has Mr. Bowman +gone? What did he want?" + +"He didn't want to buy anything. He wanted to see me. I--I am going +out with him a little while, Miss 'Rill." + +The latter nodded her head knowingly. "I know," she said. "You are +going across the street. I am glad Mr. Bowman feels an interest in Mr. +Haley's affairs." + +"Yes!" gasped Janice, feeling that she was perilously near an untruth, +for she was allowing 'Rill to deceive herself. + +"Will you put the window lamps out before you go, dear?" the +storekeeper's wife said. + +"Certainly," Janice answered, and proceeded to do so before putting on +her coat and hat. + +"Don't be long," 'Rill observed softly. "It's after eleven now." + +Janice came and kissed her--oh, so tenderly! They stood above the +sleeping child. 'Rill had eyes only for the half naked, plump limbs +and body of the little girl, or she might have seen something in +Janice's tearful glance to make her suspicious. + +Janice thought of a certain famous picture of the "Madonna and Child" +as she tiptoed softly from the room, looking back as she went 'Rill +yearned over the little one as only a childless and loving woman does. +Perhaps 'Rill had married Hopewell Drugg as much for the sake of being +able to mother little Lottie as for any other reason. + +Yet, what a shock that tender, loving heart was about to receive--what +a blow! Janice shrank from the thought of being one of those to bring +this hovering trouble home to the trusting wife. + +Could she not escape it? There was her handbag on the end of the +counter. She was tempted to seize it, run out of the store, and make +her way homeward as fast as possible. + +She could leave Frank Bowman to settle the matter with his own +conscience. He had brought the knowledge of this trouble to the little +store on the side street. Let him solve the problem as best he might. + +Then Janice gave the civil engineer a swift glance, and her heart +failed her. She could not leave that unhappy looking specimen of +helplessness to his own devices. + +Frank's pompadour was ruffled, his eyes were staring, and his whole +countenance was a troubled mask. In that moment Janice Day realized +for the first time the main duty of the female in this world. That is, +she is here to pull the incompetent male out of his difficulties! + +She thought of Nelson, thoughtful and sensible as he was, actually +appalled by his situation in the community. And here was Frank Bowman, +a very efficient engineer, unable to engineer this small matter of +getting Hopewell Drugg home from the dance, without her assistance. + +"Oh, dear me! what would the world be without us women?" thought +Janice--and gave up all idea of running away and leaving Frank to +bungle the situation. + +The two went out of the store together and closed the door softly +behind them. Janice could not help glancing across at the lighted +front windows of Mrs. Beaseley's cottage. + +"There's trouble over yonder," said young Bowman gently. "I went in to +see him after supper. He said you'd been there to help him buck up, +Janice. Really, you're a wonderful girl." + +"I'm sorry," sighed Janice. + +"What?" cried Frank. + +"Yes. I am sorry if I am wonderful. If I were not considered so, then +not so many unpleasant duties would fall my way." + +Frank laughed at that. "I guess you're right," he said. "Those that +seem to be able to bear the burdens of life certainly have them to +bear. But poor Nelson needs somebody to hold up his hands, as it were. +He's up against it for fair, Janice." + +"Oh! I can't believe that the committee will continue this +persecution, when they come to think it over," the girl cried. + +"It doesn't matter whether they do or not, I fear," Bowman said, with +conviction. "The harm is done. He's been accused." + +"Oh, dear me! I know it," groaned Janice. + +"And unless he is proved innocent, Nelson Haley is bound to have +trouble here in Polktown." + +"Do you believe so, Frank?" + +"I hate to say it. But we--his friends--might as well face the fact +first as last," said the civil engineer, sheltering Janice beneath the +umbrella he carried. It was misting heavily and she was glad of this +shelter. + +"Oh, I hope they will find the real thief very quickly!" + +"So do I. But I see nothing being done toward that. The committee +seems satisfied to accuse Nelson--and let it go at that." + +"It is too, too bad!" + +"They are following the line of least resistance. The real thief is, +of course, well away--out of Polktown, and probably in some big city +where the coins can be disposed of to the best advantage." + +"Do you really believe so?" cried the girl. + +"I do. The thief was some tramp or traveling character who got into +the schoolhouse by stealth. That is the only sensible explanation of +the mystery." + +"Do you really believe so?" repeated Janice. + +"Yes. Think of it yourself. The committee and Benny Thread are not +guilty. Nelson is not guilty. Only two keys to the building and those +both accounted for. + +"Some time--perhaps on Friday afternoon or early evening--this tramp I +speak of crept into the cellar when the basement door of the +schoolhouse was open, with the intention of sleeping beside the +furnace. In the morning he slips upstairs and hides from the janitor +and keeps in hiding when the four committeemen appear. + +"He sees the trays of coins," continued Frank Bowman, waxing +enthusiastic with his own story, "and while the committeemen are +downstairs, and before Nelson comes in, he takes the coins." + +"Why _before_ Nelson entered?" asked Janice sharply. + +"Because Nelson tells me that he did not see the trays on the table in +the committee room when he looked in there. The thief had removed +them, and then put the trays back. Had Nelson seen them he would have +stopped to examine the coins, at least. You see, they were brought +over from Middletown and delivered to Massey, who kept them in his safe +all night. Nelson never laid eyes on them." + +"I see! I see!" murmured Janice. + +"So this fellow stole the coins and slipped out of the building with +them. They may even be melted down and sold for old gold by this time; +although that would scarcely be possible. At any rate, the committee +will have to satisfy the owner of the collection. That is sure." + +"And that is going to make them all just as mad as they can be," +declared the girl. "They want to blame somebody----" + +"And they have blamed Nelson. It remains that he must prove himself +innocent--before public opinion, not before a court. There they have +to prove guilt. He is guilty already in the eyes of half of Polktown. +No chance of waiting to be proved guilty before he is considered so." + +Janice flushed and her answer came sharply: "And how about the other +half of Polktown?" + +"We may be evenly divided--fifty-fifty," and Bowman laughed grimly. +"But the ones who believe--or _say_ that they believe--Nelson Haley +guilty, will talk much louder than those who deny." + +"Oh, Frank Bowman! you take all my hope away." + +"I don't mean to. I want to point out to you--and myself, as +well--that to sit idle and wait for the matter to settle itself, is not +enough for us who believe Haley is guiltless. We've got to set about +disproving the accusation." + +"I--I can see you are right," admitted the girl faintly. + +"Yes; I am right. But being right doesn't end the matter. The +question is: How are we going about it to save Nelson?" + +Janice was rather shocked by this conclusion. Frank had seemed so +clear up to this point. And then he slumped right down and practically +asked her: "What are _you_ going to do about it?" + +"Oh, dear me!" cried Janice Day, faintly, "I don't know. I can't +think. We must find some way of tracing the real thief. Oh! how can I +think of that, when here poor 'Rill and Hopewell are in trouble?" + +"Never mind! Never mind, Janice!" said Frank Bowman. "We'll soon get +Hopewell home. And I hope, too, that his wife will know enough to keep +him away from the hotel hereafter." + +"But, suppose she can't," whispered Janice. "You know, his father was +given to drinking." + +"No! Is that so?" + +"Yes. Maybe it is hereditary----" + +"Queer it didn't show itself before," said Bowman sensibly. "I am more +inclined to believe that Joe Bodley is playing tricks. Why! he's kept +bar in the city and I know he was telling some of the scatter-brained +young fools who hang around the Inn, that he's often seen 'peter' used +in men's drink to knock them out. 'Peter,' you know, is 'knock-out +drops!'" + +"No, I don't know," said Janice, with disgust. "Or, I didn't till you +told me." + +"Forgive me, Janice," the civil engineer said humbly. "I was only +explaining." + +"Oh, I'm not blaming you at all," she said. "But I am angry to think +that my own mind--as well as everybody's mind in Polktown--is being +contaminated from this barroom. We are all learning saloon phrases. I +never heard so much slang from Marty and the other boys, as I have +caught the last few weeks. Having liquor sold in Polktown is giving us +a new language." + +"Well," said Bowman, as the lights of the Inn came in sight, "I hadn't +thought of it that way. But I guess you are right. Now, now, Janice, +what had we better do? Hear the noise?" + +"What kind of dance is it?" asked Janice, in disgust. "I should think +that it was a sailor's dance hall, or a lumber camp dance. I have +heard of such things." + +"It's going a little too strong for Lem Parraday himself to-night, I +guess. Marm shuts herself in their room upstairs, I understand, and +reads her Bible and prays." + +"Poor woman!" + +"She's of the salt of the earth," said Bowman warmly. "But she can't +help herself. Lem would do it. The Inn did not pay. And it is paying +now. At least, he says it is." + +"It won't pay them in the end if this keeps up," said Janice, listening +to the stamping and the laughter and the harsh sounds of violins and +piano. "Surely Hopewell isn't making _all_ that--that music?" + +"I'll go in and see. I shouldn't wonder if he was not playing at all +now. Maybe one of the boys has got his fiddle." + +"Oh, no! He'd never let that precious violin out of his own hands, +would he?" queried Janice. "Why! do you know, Frank, I believe that is +quite a valuable instrument." + +"I don't know. But when I started uptown one of the visitors was +teasing to get hold of the violin. I don't know the man. He is a +stranger--a black-haired, foxy-looking chap. Although, by good rights, +I suppose a 'foxy-looking' person should be red-haired, eh?" + +Janice, however, was not splitting hairs. She said quickly: "Do go in; +Frank, and see what Hopewell is about." + +"How'll I get him out?" + +"Tell him I want to see him. He'll think something has happened to +'Rill or Lottie. I don't care if he is scared. It may do him good." + +"I'll go around by the barroom door," said the young engineer, for they +had come to the front entrance of the hotel. + +Lights were blazing all over the lower floor of the sprawling building; +but from the left of the front door came the sound of dancing. Some of +the windows were open and the shades were up. Janice, standing in the +darkness of the porch, could see the dancers passing back and forth +before the windows. + +By the appearance of those she saw, she judged that the girls and women +were mostly of the mill-hand class, and were from Middletown and +Millhampton. She knew the men of the party were of the same class. +The tavern yard was full of all manner of vehicles, including huge +party wagons which carried two dozen passengers or more. There was a +big crowd. + +Janice felt, after all, as though she had urged Frank Bowman into the +lion's den! The dancers were a rough set. She left the front porch +after a while and stole around to the barroom door. + +The door was wide open, but there was a half-screen swinging in the +opening which hid all but the legs and feet of the men standing at the +bar. Here the voices were much plainer. There were a few boys hanging +about the doorway, late as the hour was. Janice was smitten with the +thought that Marty's boys' club, the foundation society of the Public +Library and Reading Room, would better be after these youngsters. + +"Why, Simeon Howell!" she exclaimed suddenly. "You ought not to be +here. I don't believe your mother knows where you are." + +The other boys, who were ragamuffins, giggled at this, and one said to +young Howell: + +"Aw, Sim! Yer mother don't know yer out, does she? Better run home, +Simmy, or she'll spank ye." + +Simeon muttered something not very complimentary to Janice, and moved +away. The Howells lived on Hillside Avenue and he was afraid Janice +would tell his mother of this escapade. + +Suddenly a burst of voices proclaimed trouble in the barroom. She +heard Frank Bowman's voice, high-pitched and angry: + +"Then give him his violin! You've no right to it. I'll take him away +all right; but the violin goes, too!" + +"No, we want the fiddle. He was to play for us," said a harsh voice. +"There is another feller here can play instead. But we want both +violins." + +"None of that!" snapped the engineer. "Give me that!" + +There was a momentary struggle near the flapping screen. Suddenly +Hopewell Drugg, very much disheveled, half reeled through the door; but +somebody pulled him back. + +"Aw, don't go so early, Hopewell. You're your own man, ain't ye? +Don't let this white-haired kid boss you." + +"Let him alone, Joe Bodley!" commanded Bowman again, and Janice, +shaking on the porch, knew that it must be the barkeeper who had +interfered with Hopewell Drugg's escape. + +The girl was terror-stricken; but she was indignant, too. She shrank +from facing the half-intoxicated crowd in the room just as she would +have trembled at the thought of entering a cage of lions. + +Nevertheless, she put her hand against the swinging screen, pushed it +open, and stepped inside the tavern door. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DECLARATION OF WAR + +The room was a large apartment with smoke-cured and age-blackened beams +in the ceiling. This was the ancient tap-room of the tavern, which had +been built at that pre-Revolutionary time when the stuffed catamount, +with its fangs and claws bared to the York State officers, crouched on +top of the staff at Bennington--for Polktown was one of the oldest +settlements in these "Hampshire Grants." + +No noisier or more ill-favored crew, Janice Day thought, could ever +have been gathered under the roof of the Inn, than she now saw as she +pushed open the screen. Tobacco smoke poisoned the air, floating in +clouds on a level with the men's heads, and blurring the lamplight. + +There was a crowd of men and boys at the door of the dance hall. At +the bar was another noisy line. It was evident that Joe Bodley had +merely run from behind the bar for a moment to stop, if he could, +Hopewell Drugg's departure. Hopewell was flushed, hatless, and +trembling. Whether he was intoxicated or ill, the fact remained that +he was not himself. + +The storekeeper clung with both hands to the neck of his violin. A +greasy-looking, black-haired fellow held on to the other end of the +instrument, and was laughing in the face of the expostulating Frank +Bowman, displaying a wealth of white teeth, and the whites of his eyes, +as well. He was a foreigner of some kind. Janice had never seen him +before, and she believed he must be the "foxy-looking" man Frank had +previously mentioned. + +It was, however, Joe Bodley, whom the indignant young girl confronted +when she came so suddenly into the room. Most of the men present paid +no attention to the quarreling group at the entrance. + +"Come now, Hopewell, be a sport," the young barkeeper was saying. +"It's early yet, and we want to hear more of your fiddling. Give us +that 'Darling, I Am Growing Old' stuff, with all the variations. +Sentiment! Sentiment! Oh, hullo! Evening, Miss! What can I do for +you?" + +He said this last impudently enough, facing Janice. He was a +fat-faced, smoothly-shaven young man--little older than Frank Bowman, +but with pouches under his eyes and the score of dissipation marked +plainly in his countenance. He had unmeasured impudence and bravado in +his eyes and in his smile. + +"I have come to speak to Mr. Drugg," Janice said, and she was glad she +could say it unshakenly, despite her secret emotions. She would not +give this low fellow the satisfaction of knowing how frightened she +really was. + +Frank Bowman's back was to the door. Perhaps this was well, for he +would have hesitated to do just what was necessary had he known Janice +was in the room. The young engineer had not been bossing a +construction gang of lusty, "two-fisted" fellows for six months without +many rude experiences. + +"So, you won't let go, eh?" he gritted between his teeth to the smiling +foreigner. + +With his left hand in his collar, Frank jerked the man toward him, +thrust his own leg forward, and then pitched the fellow backward over +his knee. This act broke the man's hold upon Drugg's violin and he +crashed to the floor, striking the back of his head soundly. + +"All right, Mr. Drugg," panted Frank. "Get out." + +But it was Janice, still confronting Bodley, that actually freed the +storekeeper from his enemies. Her eyes blazed with indignation into +the bartender's own. His fat, white hand dropped from Hopewell's arm. + +"Oh, if the young lady's really come to take you home to the missus, I +s'pose we'll have to let you go," he said, with a nasty laugh. "But no +play, no pay, you understand." + +Janice drew the bewildered Hopewell out of the door, and Frank quickly +followed. Few in the room had noted the incident at all. + +The three stood a minute on the porch, the mist drifting in from the +lake and wetting them. The engineer finally took the umbrella from +Janice and raised it to shelter her. + +"They--they broke two of the strings," muttered Hopewell, with thought +for nothing but his precious violin. + +"You'd better cover it up, or it will be wet; and that won't do any +fiddle any good," growled Frank, rather disgusted with the storekeeper. + +But there was something queer about Hopewell's condition that both +puzzled Janice and made her pity him. + +"He is not intoxicated--not as other men are," she whispered to the +engineer. + +"I don't know that he is," said Frank. "But he's made us trouble +enough. Come on; let's get him home." + +Drugg was trying to shelter the precious violin under his coat. + +"He has no hat and the fiddle bag is gone," said Janice. + +"I'm not going back in there," said the civil engineer decidedly. And +then he chuckled, adding: + +"That fellow I tipped over will be just about ready to fight by now. I +reckon he thinks differently now about the 'white-headed kid,' as he +called me. You see," Frank went on modestly, "I was something of a +boxer at the Tech school, and I've had to keep my wits about me with +those 'muckers' of the railroad construction gang." + +"Oh, dear, me! I think there must be something very tigerish in all of +us," sighed Janice. "I was glad when I saw that black-haired man go +down. What did he want Hopewell's violin for?" + +"Don't know. Just meanness, perhaps. They doctored Hopewell's drink +somehow, and he was acting like a fool and playing ridiculously." + +They could talk plainly before the storekeeper, for he really did not +know what was going on. His face was blank and his eyes staring, but +he had buttoned the violin beneath the breast of his coat. + +"Come on, old fellow," Frank said, putting a heavy hand on Drugg's +shoulder. "Let's be going. It's too wet to stand here." + +The storekeeper made no objection. Indeed, as they walked along, +Hopewell between Frank and Janice, who carried the umbrella, Drugg +seemed to be moving in a daze. His head hung on his breast; he said no +word; and his feet stumbled as though they were leaden and he had no +feeling in them. + +"Mr. Bowman!" exclaimed Janice, at last, and under her breath, "he is +ill!" + +"I am beginning to believe so myself," the civil engineer returned. +"I've seen enough drunken fellows before this to know that Hopewell +doesn't show many of the usual symptoms." + +Janice halted suddenly. "There's a light in Mr. Massey's back room," +she said. + +"Eh? Back of the drugstore? Yes, I see it," Bowman said, puzzled. + +"Why not take Mr. Drugg there and see if Massey can give him something? +I hate to take him home to 'Rill in this condition." + +"Something to straighten him up--eh?" cried the engineer. "Good idea. +If he's there and will let us in," he added, referring to the druggist, +for the front store was entirely dark, it being now long past the usual +closing hour of all stores in Polktown. + +Janice and Frank led Hopewell Drugg to the side door of the shop, he +making no objection to the change in route. It was doubtful if he even +knew where they were taking him. He seemed in a state of partial +syncope. + +Frank had to knock the second time before there was any answer. They +heard voices--Massey's and another. Then the druggist came to the +entrance, unbolted it and stuck his head out--his gray hair all ruffled +up in a tuft which made him, with his big beak and red-rimmed eyes, +look like a startled cockatoo. + +"Who's this, now? Jack Besmith again? What did I tell you?" he +snapped. Then he seemed to see that he was wrong, and the next moment +exclaimed: "Wal! I am jiggered!" for, educated man though he was, Mr. +Massey had lived in the hamlet of his birth all of his life and spoke +the dialect of the community. "Wal! I am jiggered!" he repeated. +"What ye got there?" + +"I guess you see whom we have, Mr. Massey," said Frank Bowman pushing +in and leading the storekeeper. + +"Oh, Mr. Massey! It's Hopewell Drugg," Janice said pleadingly. "Can't +you help him?" + +"Janice Day! I declare to sun-up!" ejaculated the druggist. "What you +beauing about that half-baked critter for? And he's drunk?" + +"He is _not_!" cried the girl, with indignation. "At least, he is like +no other drunken person I have seen. He is ill. They gave him +something to drink down at the Inn--at that dance where he was playing +his violin--and it has made him ill. Don't you _see_?" and she stamped +her foot impatiently. + +"Hoity-toity, young lady!" chuckled Massey. + +They were all inside now and the druggist locked the door again. +Behind the stove, in the corner, sat Mr. Cross Moore, and he did not +say a word. + +"You can see yourself, Mr. Massey," urged Frank Bowman, helping Drugg +into a chair, "that this is no ordinary drunk." + +"No," Massey said reflectively, and now looked with some pity at the +helpless man. "Alcohol never did exhilarate Hopewell. It just dopes +him. It does some folks. And it doesn't take much to do it." + +"Then Hopewell Drugg has been in the habit of drinking?" asked Bowman, +in surprise. "You have seen him this way before?" + +"No, he hasn't. Never mind what these chattering old women in town say +about him now. I never saw him this way but once before. That was +when he had been given some brandy. 'Member that time, Cross, when we +all went fishin' down to Pine Cove? Gosh! Must have been all of +twenty years ago." + +All that Mr. Cross Moore emitted was a grunt, but he nodded. + +"Hopewell cut himself--'bad--on a rusty bailer. He fell on it and +liked ter bled to death. You know, Cross, we gave him brandy and he +was dead to the world for hours." + +"Yes," said Mr. Moore. "What did he want to drink now for?" + +"I do not believe he knowingly took anything intoxicating," Janice said +earnestly. "They have been playing tricks down there at the tavern on +him." + +"Tricks?" repeated Mr. Moore curiously. + +"Yes, sir," said Janice. "Men mean enough to sell liquor are mean +enough to do anything. And not only those who actually sell the stuff +are to blame in a case like this, but those who encourage the sale of +it." + +Mr. Cross Moore uncrossed his long legs and crossed them slowly the +other way. He always had a humorous twinkle in his shrewd gray eye. +He had it now. + +"Meaning me?" he drawled, eyeing the indignant young girl just as he +would look at an angry kitten. + +"Yes, Mr. Moore," said Janice, with dignity. "A word from you, and Lem +Parraday would stop selling liquor. He would have to. And without +your encouragement he would never have entered into the nefarious +traffic. Polktown is being injured daily by that bar at the Inn, and +you more than any other one person are guilty of this crime against the +community!" + +Mr. Cross Moore did not change his attitude. Janice was panting and +half crying now. The selectman said, slowly: + +"I might say that you are an impudent girl." + +"I guess I am," Janice admitted tearfully. "But I mean every word I +have said, and I won't take it back." + +"You and I have been good friends, Janice Day," continued Mr. Moore in +his drawling way. "I never like to quarrel with my friends." + +"You can be no friend of mine, Mr. Moore, till the sale of liquor stops +in this town, and you are converted," declared Janice, wiping her eyes, +but speaking quite as bravely as before. + +"Then it is war between us?" he asked, yet not lightly. + +"Yes, sir," sobbed Janice. "I always have liked you, Mr. Cross Moore. +But now I can't bear even to look at you! I don't approve of you at +all--not one little bit!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AND NOW IT IS DISTANT TROUBLE + +Mr. Massey had been attending to the overcome Hopewell Drugg. He mixed +him something and forced it down his throat. Then he whispered to Frank +Bowman: + +"It was brandy. I can smell it on his breath. Pshaw! Hopewell's a +harmless critter. Why couldn't they let him alone?" + +Frank had taken up the violin. The moisture had got to it a little on +the back and the young man thoughtlessly held it near the fire to dry. +Hopewell's eyes opened and almost immediately he staggered to his feet, +reaching for the instrument. + +"Wrong! wrong!" he muttered. "Never do that. Crack the varnish. Spoil +the tone." + +"Hullo, old fellow!" said Mr. Massey, patting Hopewell on the shoulder. +"Guess you feel better--heh?" + +"Ye--yes. Why! that you, Massey?" ejaculated the storekeeper, in +surprise. + +"'Twas me when I got up this mornin'," grunted the druggist. + +"Why--why--I don't remember coming here to your store, Massey," said the +mystified Hopewell Drugg. "I--I guess I didn't feel well." + +"I guess you didn't," said the druggist, drily, eyeing him curiously. + +"Was I sick? Lost consciousness? This is odd--very odd," said Hopewell. +"I believe it must have been that lemonade." + +Mr. Cross Moore snorted. "Lemonade!" he ejaculated. "Suthin' b'sides +tartaric acid to aid the lemons in that lemonade, Hopewell. You was +drunk!" + +Drugg blinked at him. "That--that's a hard sayin', Cross Moore," he +observed gently. + +"What lemonade was this, Hopewell?" demanded the druggist. + +"I had some. Two glasses. The other musicians took beer. I always take +lemonade." + +"That's what did it," Frank Bowman said, aside to Janice. "Joe Bodley +doped it." + +"You had brandy, Hopewell. I could smell it on your breath," said +Massey. "And I know how that affects you. Remember?" + +"Oh, no, Massey! You know I do not drink intoxicants," said Hopewell +confidently. + +"I know you are a dern fool, Hopewell--and mebbe I'm one!" declared Mr. +Cross Moore, suddenly rising. Then he bolted for the door and went out +without bidding anybody good night. + +Massey looked after his brother committeeman with surprise. "Now!" he +muttered, "what's got into him, I'd like for to be told?" + +Meanwhile Hopewell was saying to Janice: "Miss Janice, how do you come +here? I know Amarilla expected you. Isn't it late?" + +"Mr. Drugg," said the girl steadily, "we brought you here to be treated +by Mr. Massey--Mr. Bowman and I. I do not suppose you remember our +getting you out of the Lake View Inn?" + +"Getting me out of the Inn?" he gasped flushing. + +"Yes. You did not know what you were doing. They did not want you to +leave the dance, but Mr. Bowman made them let you come away with us." + +"You don't mean that, Miss Janice?" said the storekeeper horrified. +"Are--are you sure? I had not been drinking intoxicants." + +"Brandy, I tell ye, Hopewell!" exclaimed the druggist exasperated. "You +keep away from the Inn. They're playing tricks on you down there, them +fellers are. You ain't fit to run alone, anyway--and never was," he +added, too low for Hopewell to hear. + +"And look out for that violin, Mr. Drugg, if you prize it at all," added +Frank Bowman. + +"Why do you say that?" asked Hopewell puzzled. + +"I believe there was a fellow down there trying to steal it," the +engineer said. "He had got it away from you and was looking inside of +it. Is the name of the maker inside the violin? Is it a valuable +instrument, Mr. Drugg?" + +"I--I don't know," the other said slowly. "Only for its associations, I +presume. It was my father's instrument and he played on it a great many +years. I--I think," said Hopewell diffidently, "that it has a +wonderfully mellow tone." + +"Well," said Frank, "that black-haired fellow had it. And he looks like +a fellow that's not to be trusted. There's more than Joe Bodley around +that hotel who will bear watching, I guess." + +"I will not go down to Lem Parraday's again," sighed Hopewell. "I--I +felt that I should earn all the extra money possible. You see, my little +girl may have to return to Boston for treatment." + +"It's a mean shame!" muttered the civil engineer. + +"Oh! I hope you are wrong about Lottie," Janice said quickly. "The dear +little thing! She seemed very bright to-night," she added, with more +cheerfulness in her tone than she really felt. + +"Say, you don't want that violin stole, Hopewell," said Mr. Massey +reflectively. "Enough's been stole in Polktown to-day, I should say, to +last us one spell." + +"Never mind," put in Frank Bowman, scornfully, looking full at the +druggist. "You won't have to pay for Mr. Drugg's violin if it is stolen." + +"Hum! Don't I know that?" snarled Massey. "We committeemen have our +hands full with that missin' collection. Wish't we'd never voted to have +the coins brought over here. Them lectures are mighty foolish things, +anyway. That is scored up against young Haley, too. He wanted the +lecture to come here." + +"And you are foolish enough to accuse Nelson of stealing the coins," said +Bowman, in a low voice. "I should think you'd have more sense." + +"Hey!" exclaimed the druggist. "Who would _you_ accuse?" + +"Not Haley, that's sure." + +"Nobody but the committee, the janitor, and Haley knew anything about the +coins," the druggist said earnestly. "They were delivered to me last +night right here in the store by Mr. Hobart, the lecturer. He came +through from Middletown a-purpose. He took the boat this morning for the +Landing. Now, nobody else knew about the coins being in town----" + +"Who was here with you, Mr. Massey, when the coins were delivered to your +keeping?" Janice Day interposed, for she had been listening. + +"Warn't nobody here," said Mr. Massey promptly. + +"You were alone in the store?" + +"Yes, I was," quite as positively. + +"What did you do with the trays?" + +"Locked 'em in my safe." + +"At once?" again asked Janice. + +"Say! what you tryin' to get at, young lady?" snorted the druggist. +"Don't you s'pose I knew what I was about last night? I hadn't been down +to Lem Parraday's." + +"Some of you didn't know what you were about this morning, or the coins +never would have been lost," said Frank Bowman significantly. + +"That's easy enough to say," complained the committeeman. "It's easy +enough to blame us----" + +"And it seems to be easy for you men to blame Mr. Haley," Janice +interrupted indignantly. + +"Well!" + +"I'd like to know," continued the girl, "if there was not somebody around +here who saw Mr. Hobart bring the coins in here and leave them with you." + +"What if there was?" demanded Mr. Massey with sudden asperity. "The +coins were not stolen from this shop--make up your mind on that score, +Miss Janice." + +"But if some evilly disposed person had seen them in your possession, he +might have planned to do exactly what was afterward done." + +"What's that?" demanded the druggist. + +"Planned to get into the schoolhouse, wait till you brought the coins +there, and then steal them." + +"Aw, young lady!" grunted the druggist. "That's too far-fetched. I +don't want to hurt your feelin's; but young Haley was tempted, and young +Haley fell. That's all there is to it." + +Janice was not silenced. She said reflectively: + +"We may all be mistaken. I really wish you would put your mind to it, +Mr. Massey, and try to remember who was here in the evening, about the +time that Mr. Hobart brought you the coin collection." + +She was not looking at the druggist as she spoke; but she was looking +into the mirror over the prescription desk. And she could see Massey's +face reflected in that glass. She saw his countenance suddenly change. +It flushed, and then paled, and he showed great confusion. But he did +not say a word. She was puzzled, but said no more to him. It did not +seem as though there was anything more to say regarding the robbery and +Nelson Haley's connection with it. + +Besides, Hopewell Drugg was gently reminding her that they must start for +home. + +"I'm afraid Amarilla will be anxious. It--it is dreadfully late," he +suggested. + +"We'll leave Mr. Massey to think it over," said Frank Bowman. "Maybe +he'll come to a better conclusion regarding Nelson Haley." + +"I don't care who stole the coins. We want 'em back," growled the +druggist, preparing to lock them all out. + +The trio separated on the corner. Hopewell was greatly depressed as he +walked on with Janice Day. + +"I--I hope that Amarilla will not hear of this evening's performance. I +declare! I had no idea that that Bodley young man would play me such a +trick. I shall have to refuse to play for any more of the dances," he +said, in his hesitating, stammering way. + +"You may be sure I shall not tell her," Janice said firmly. + +They went into the dark store together as though they had just met on the +porch. "I'm awfully glad you've both come," said 'Rill Drugg. "I was +getting real scared and lonesome. Mr. Bowman gone home, Janice?" + +The girl nodded. She had not much to say. The last hour had been so +full of incident that she wanted to be alone and think it over. So she +hurried to bid the storekeeper and his wife good night and went into the +bedroom she was to share with little Lottie. + +Janice lay long awake. That was to be expected. Her mind was +overwrought and her young heart burdened with a multitude of troubles. + +Her night spent with 'Rill had not turned out just as she expected, that +was sure. From her window she could watch the front of Mrs. Beaseley's +cottage and she saw that Nelson's lamp burned all night. He was wakeful, +too. It made another bond between them; but it was not a bond that made +Janice any more cheerful. + +She returned to the Day house early on Sunday morning, and her +unobservant aunt did not notice the marks the young girl's sleepless +night had left upon her countenance. Aunt 'Mira was too greatly +distracted just then about a new gown she, with the help of Mrs. John-Ed. +Hutchins, had made and was to wear for the first time on this occasion. + +"That is, if I kin ever git the pesky thing ter set straight over my +hips. Do come here an' see what's the matter with it, Janice," Aunt +'Mira begged, in a great to-do over the frock. "What do you make of it?" + +"It doesn't fit very smoothly--that is true," Janice said gently. "I--I +am afraid, Aunt 'Mira, that it draws so because you are not drawn in just +the same as you were when the dress was fitted by Mrs. John-Ed." + +"My soul and body!" gasped the heavy lady, in desperation. "I knowed it! +I felt it in my bones that she'd got me pulled in too tight." + +Janice finally got the good woman into proper shape to fit the new frock, +rather than the new frock to fitting her, and started off with Aunt 'Mira +to church, leaving Mr. Day and Marty to follow. + +Janice looked hopefully for Nelson. She really believed that he would +change his determination at the last moment and appear at church. But he +did not. Nor did anybody see him outside the Beaseley cottage all day. +It was a very unhappy Sunday for Janice. + +The whole town was abuzz with excitement. There were two usually +inoffensive persons "on the dissecting table," as Walky Dexter called +it--Nelson and Hopewell Drugg. Much had already been said about the +missing coin collection and Nelson Haley's connection with it; so the +second topic of conversation rather overshadowed the schoolmaster's +trouble. It was being repeated all about town that Hopewell Drugg had +been taken home from the dance at the Lake View Inn "roaring drunk." + +Monday morning saw Nelson put to the test. Some of the boys gathered on +the corner of High Street near the teacher's lodging, whispering together +and waiting for his appearance. It was said by some that Mr. Haley would +not appear; that he "didn't dare show his head outside the door." + +About quarter past eight that morning there were many more people on the +main street of the lakeside village than were usually visible at such an +hour. Especially was there a large number of women, and it was notorious +that on that particular Monday more housewives were late with their +weekly wash than ever before in the annals of Polktown. + +"Jefers-pelters!" muttered Walky Dexter, as he urged Josephus into High +Street on his first trip downtown. "What's got ev'rybody? Circus in +town? If so, it must ha' slipped my mind." + +"Yep," said Massey, the druggist, at his front door, and whom the +expressman had hailed. "And here comes the procession." + +From up the hill came a troop of boys--most of them belonging in the +upper class of the school. Marty was one of them, and in their midst +walked the young schoolmaster! + +"I snum!" ejaculated Walky. "I guess that feller ain't got no +friends--oh, no!" and he chuckled. + +The druggist scowled. "Boy foolishness. That don't mean nothing." + +"He, he, he! It don't, hey?" drawled Walky, chirping to Josephus to +start him. "Wal--mebbe not. But if I was you, and had plate glass +winders like you've got, an' no insurance on 'em, I wouldn't let that +crowd of young rapscallions hear my opinion of Mr. Haley." + +Indeed, Marty and his friends had gone much further than passing +resolutions. Nelson was their friend and chum as well as their teacher. +He coached their baseball and football teams, and was the only instructor +in gymnastics they had. The streak of loyalty in the average boy is the +biggest and best thing about him. + +Nelson often joined the crowd on the way to the only level lot in town +where games could be played; and this seemed like one of those Saturday +occasions, only the boys carried their books instead of masks and bats. + +Their chorus of "Hullo, Mr. Haley!" "Morning, Mr. Haley!" and the like, +as he reached the corner, almost broke down the determination the young +man had gathered to show a calm exterior to the Polktown inhabitants. +More than a few other well-wishers took pains to bow to the schoolmaster +or to speak to him. And then, there was Janice, flying by in her car on +her way to Middletown to school, passing him with a cheery wave of her +gloved hand and he realized that she had driven this way in the car on +purpose to meet him. + +Indeed, the young man came near to being quite as overwhelmed by this +reception as he might have been had he met frowning or suspicious faces. +But he got to the school, and the School Committee remained under +cover--for the time being. + +Janice, coming back from Middletown in the afternoon, stopped at the +post-office and got the mail. In it was a letter which she knew must be +from her father, although the outer envelope was addressed in the same +precise, clerkly hand which she associated with the mysterious Juan +Dicampa. + +No introductory missive from the flowery Juan was inside, however; and +her father's letter began as follows: + + +"Dear daughter:-- + +"I am under the necessity of putting on your young shoulders more +responsibility than I think you should bear. But I find that of a sudden +I am confined to an output of one letter a month, and that one to you. +As I write in English, and these about me read (if they are able to read +at all) nothing but Spanish, I have some chance of getting information +and instructions to my partners in Ohio, by this means, and by this means +only. + +"First of all, I will assure you, dear child, that my health is quite, +quite good. There is nothing the matter with me save that I am a 'guest +of the State,' as they pompously call it, and I cannot safely work the +mining property. I am not going to dig ore for the benefit of either the +Federal forces or the Constitutionalists. + +"I shall stay to watch the property, however, and meanwhile the Zapatist +chief in power here watches me. He takes pleasure in nagging and +interfering with me in every possible way; so issues this last decree +limiting the number of letters to one a month. + +"He would do more, but he dare not. I happen to be on friendly terms +with a chief who is this fellow's superior. If the chief in charge here +should harm me and my friend should feel so inclined, he might ride up +here, and stand my enemy up against an adobe wall. The fellow knows +it--and is aware of my friend's rather uncertain temper. That temper, my +dear Janice, known to all who have ever heard of Juan Dicampa, and his +abundant health, is the wall between me and a possibly sudden and very +unpleasant end." + + +There was a great deal more to the letter, but at first Janice could not +go on with it for surprise. The clerkly writer with the abundance of +flowery phrases, Juan Dicampa was, then, a Mexican chieftain--perhaps a +half-breed Yaqui murderer! The thought rather startled Janice. Yet she +was thankful to remember how warmly the man had written of her father. + +Much of what followed in her father's letter she had to transmit to the +bank officials and others of his business associates in her old home +town. But the important thing, it seemed all the time to Janice, was +Juan Dicampa. + +She thought about him a great deal during the next few days. Mostly she +thought about his health, and the chances of his being shot in some +battle down there in Mexico. + +She began to read even more than heretofore of the Mexican situation in +the daily papers. She began to look for mention of Dicampa, and tried to +learn what manner of leader he was among his people. + +If Juan Dicampa should be removed what, then, would happen to Broxton Day? + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ONE MATTER COMES TO A HEAD + +That was a black week for Janice as well as for the young schoolmaster. +She could barely keep her mind upon her studies at the seminary. +Nelson Haley's salvation was the attention he was forced to give to his +classes in the Polktown school. + +One or another of the four committeemen who had constituted themselves +his enemies, were hovering about Nelson all the time. He felt himself +to be continually watched and suspected. + +Mr. Middler, who had been away on an exchange over Sunday, returned to +find his parish split all but in two by the accusation against Nelson +Haley. Mr. Middler was the fifth member of the School Committee, and +both sides in the controversy clamored for him to take a hand in the +case. + +"Gentlemen," he said to his four brother committeemen in Massey's back +room, "I have not a doubt in my mind that you are all honestly +convinced that Mr. Haley has stolen the coins. Otherwise you would not +have made a matter public that was quite sure to ruin the young man's +reputation." + +The four committeemen writhed under this thrust, and the minister went +on: + +"On the other hand, I have no doubt in my mind that Mr. Haley is just +as innocent as I am of the robbery." + +"Ye say that 'cause you air a clergyman," said Cross Moore bluntly. +"It's your business to be allus seeing the good side of folks, whether +they've got a good side, or not." + +The minister flushed. "I thank God I can see the good side of my +fellow men," he said quickly. "I can even see your good side, Mr. +Moore, when you are willing to uncover it. You do not show it now, +when you persecute this young man----" + +"'Persecute'? We oughter prosecute," flashed forth Cross Moore. "The +fellow's as guilty as can be. Nobody else could have done it." + +"I wonder?" returned the minister, and walked out before there could be +further friction between them; for he liked the hard-headed, shrewd, +and none-too-honest politician, as he liked few men in Polktown. + +If the minister did not distinctly array himself with the partisans of +Nelson Haley, he expressed his full belief in his honesty in a public +manner. And at Thursday night prayer meeting he incorporated in his +petition a request that his parishioners be not given to judging those +under suspicion, and that a spirit of charity be spread abroad in the +community at just this time. + +The next day, Walky Dexter said, that charitable spirit the minister +had prayed for "got awfully swatted." News spread that on the previous +Saturday, only a few hours after the coin collection was missed, Nelson +Haley had sent away a post-office money order for two hundred dollars. + +"That's where a part of the missing money went," was the consensus of +public opinion. How this news leaked out from the post-office was a +mystery. But when taxed with the accusation Nelson's pride made him +acknowledge the fact without hesitation. + +"Yes; I sent away two hundred dollars. It went to my aunt in +Sheffield. I owed it to her. She helped me through college." + +"Where did I get the money? I saved it from my salary." + +Categorically, these were his answers. + +"If that young feller only could be tongue-tied for a few weeks, he +might git out o' this mess in some way," Walky Dexter said. "He talks +more useless than th' city feller that was a-sparkin' one of our +country gals. He talked mighty high-falutin'--lots dif'rent from what +the boys she'd been bringed up with talked. + +"Sez he: 'See haow b-e-a-u-tiful th' stars shine ter-night. An' if th' +moon would shed--would shed----' 'Never mind the woodshed,' sez the +gal. 'Go on with yer purty talk.' Haw! haw! haw! + +"Now, this here Nelson Haley ain't got no more control of his tongue +than that feller had. Jefers-pelters! what ye goin' ter do with a +feller that tells ev'rything he knows jest because he's axed?" + +"He's perfectly honest," Janice cried. "That shows it." + +"If he's puffec' at all," grunted Walky, "he's a puffec' fule! That's +what he is!" + +And Nelson Haley's frankness really did spell disaster. Taking courage +from the discovery of the young schoolmaster's use of money, the +committee swore a warrant out for him before Judge Little. It was done +very quietly; but Nelson's friends, who were on the watch for just such +a move, were informed almost as soon as the dreadful deed was done. + +News of it came to the Day house on Saturday afternoon, just before +supper-time. On this occasion Uncle Jason waited for no meal to be +eaten. Marty ran and got out Janice's car. His cousin and Mr. Day +joined him while Aunt 'Mira came to the kitchen door with the +inevitable slice of pork dangling from her fork. + +"I'd run him right out o' the county, that's what I'd do, Janice, an' +let Cross Moore and Massey whistle for him!" cried the angry lady. +"Leastwise, don't ye let that drab old crab, Poley Cantor, take him to +jail." + +"We'll see about _that_," said Uncle Jason grimly. "Let her go, +Marty--an' see if ye can git us down the hill without runnin' over +nobody's pup." + +Perhaps Judge Little had purposely delayed giving the warrant to +Constable Cantor to serve. The Days found Nelson at home and ran him +down to the justice's office before the constable had started to hunt +for his prey. + +The "drab" old constable met them in front of the justice's office and +marched back into the room with Janice and Nelson and Marty and his +father. Judge Little looked surprised when they entered. + +"What's this? what's this?" he demanded, smiling at Janice. "Another +case of speeding, Janice Day?" + +"Somebody's been speeding, I reckon, Jedge," drawled Mr. Day. "And +their wheels have skidded, too. I understand that you've issued a +warrant for Mr. Haley?" + +"Had to do it, Jason--positively _had_ to," said the justice. "Better +serve it right here, quietly, Constable. This is a serious matter, Mr. +Haley. I'm sorry." + +"Wal," drawled Uncle Jason, "it ain't so serious; I s'pose, but what +you kin take bail for him? I'm here to offer what leetle tad of +property I own. An' if ye want more'n I got, I guess I kin find all ye +want purty quick." + +"That'll be all right, Jason," Judge Little said quickly. "I'll put +him under nominal bail, only. We'll have a hearing Monday evening, if +that's agreeable to----" + +"Nossir!" exclaimed Uncle Jason promptly. "This business ain't goin' +ter be hurried. We gotter git a lawyer--and a good one. I dunno but +Mr. Haley will refuse to plead and the case will hatter be taken to a +higher court. Why, Jedge Little! this here means life an' repertation +to this young man, and his friends aren't goin' ter see no chance +throwed away ter clear him and make them school committeemen tuck their +tails atween their laigs, an' skedaddle!" + +"Oh, very well, Jason. We'll set the examination for next Saturday, +then?" + +"That'll be about right," said Uncle Jason. "Give us a week to turn +around in. What d'ye say, Mr. Haley?" + +"I'd like to have it over as quickly as possible," sighed the young +man. "But I think you know best, Mr. Day." + +He could not honestly feel grateful. As they got into the car again to +whirl up the hill to the Day house for supper, Nelson felt a little +doubtful, after all, of Mr. Day's wisdom in putting off the trial. + +"I might just as well be tried, convicted, and sentenced right now, as +to have it put off a week," he said, after they reached the Day place. +"They've got me, and they mean to put me through. A demand has been +made upon the committee through the State Board by the owner of the +collection of coins. The value of the collection is placed by the +owner at sixteen hundred and fifty dollars, their face value--although +some of the pieces were rare, and worth more. There is not a man of +the quartette that would not sell his soul for four hundred and twelve +dollars and fifty cents!" + +"_Now_ you've said a mouthful!" grunted Marty, in agreement. + +"That's a hard sayin'," Mr. Day observed judiciously. "They're +all--th' hull quadruped (Yes, Marty, that's what I meant, 'quartette,') +of 'em--purty poor pertaters, I 'low. But four hundred dollars is a +lot of money for any man ter lose." + +Nelson was very serious, however. He said to Janice: + +"You see now, can't you, why I can not teach any longer? I should not +have done it this past week. I shall ask for my release. It is +neither wise, nor right for a person accused of robbery to teach school +in the community." + +"Oh, Nelson!" gasped the girl despairing. + +"Hi tunket! I won't go to school--_a-tall_, if they don't let you +teach, Mr. Haley," cried Marty. + +"Of course you will, Marty," said the schoolmaster. "I shall need you +boys right there to stand up for me." + +"Well!" gasped the very red lad, "you kin bet if they put Miss Pearly +Breeze inter your place, I won't go. I've vowed I won't never go to +school to no old maid again!" + +"Wal, now you've said it," sniffed his father, "and hev relieved your +mind, s'pose ye bring in some wood for the settin' room stove. We need +a spark o' fire to take the chill off." + +Meanwhile Nelson was saying: "I will resign; I will not wait for them +to request me to get out. If you will lend me ink and paper, Janice, +I'll write my resignation here and hand it to Massey as I go home." + +"But, Mr. Middler----" began Janice. + +"Mr. Middler is only one of five. He has no power now in the +committee, for the other four are against him. Cross Moore and Massey +and Crawford and Joe Pellet mean to put it on me if they can. I think +they have already had legal advice. I think they will attempt to +escape responsibility for the loss of the coin collection by +prosecuting and convicting me of having stolen the money. They were +not under bond, you know." + +"It's a mess! it's a mess!" groaned Uncle Jason, "whichever way ye look +at it. What ye goin' ter do, Mr. Haley, if ye don't teach?" + +"I'd go plumb away from here an' never come back to Polktown no more!" +declared the heated Marty, coming in with an armful of wood. + +"I feel as though I might as well do that, Marty, when I hear you +speak," said Nelson, shaking his head. "What good does it do you to go +to school? I have failed somewhere when you use such poor grammar +as----" + +"Huh! what's good grammar?" demanded the boy, so earnest that he +interrupted the teacher. "That won't make ye a civil engineer--and +that's what I'm goin' ter be." + +"A proper use of English will help even in that calling in life," said +the schoolmaster. "But seriously, I have no intention of running away." + +"Ye don't wanter be idle," Mr. Day said. + +"I'll find something to do, I fancy. But whether or no, it shall not +be said of me that I was afraid to face this business. I won't run +away from it." + +Janice squeezed his hand privately in approval. She had been afraid +that he might wish to flee. And who could blame him? During this week +of trial, however, Nelson Haley had recovered his self-control, and had +deliberately made up his mind to the manly course. + +Nevertheless, he did not appear in his accustomed place in church on +the morrow. It was not possible for him to walk boldly up the church +aisle among the people who doubted his honesty, or would sneer at him, +either openly or behind his back. And it was known all over the town +by church time that Sunday that he had been arrested, bailed, and had +asked the school committee for a vacation of indefinite length and +without pay, and that this had been granted. + +Miss Pearly Breeze and her contingent of trends were not happy for +long. The School Committee knew that a return to old methods in school +matters would never satisfy Polktown again. + +They telegraphed the State Superintendent of Schools and a proper and +capable substitute for Mr. Haley was expected to arrive on Monday. + +It was on Monday morning, too, that Nelson's partisans and the enemy +came to open warfare. That is, the junior portion of the community +began belligerent action. + +Janice was rather belated that morning in starting for Middletown in +the Kremlin car. Marty jumped on the running board with his school +books in a strap, to ride down the hill to the corner of School Street. + +Just as they came in sight of Polktown's handsome brick schoolhouse, +there was Nelson Haley briskly approaching. + +He had given up his key to the committee on Saturday night; but there +were books and private papers in his desk that he desired to remove +before his successor arrived. The front door was locked and he had to +wait for Benny Thread to hobble up from the basement to open it. + +This delay brought every woman on the block to her front windows. Some +peeped from behind the blinds; some boldly came out on their "stoops" +to eye the unfortunate schoolmaster askance. A group of boys were +gathered on the corner within plain earshot of the schoolmaster. As +Janice turned the car carefully into School Street Sim Howell, one of +these young loungers, uttered a loud bray. + +"What d'ye s'pose he's after now?" he then demanded of nobody in +particular, but loud enough for all the neighbors to hear. "S'pose he +thinks there's any more money in there ter steal?" + +"Stop, Janice!" yelped Marty. "I knew I'd got ter do it. That +feller's been spoilin' for it for a week! Lemme down, I say!" + +He did not wait for his cousin to obey his command. Before she could +stop the car he took a flying leap from the running-board of the +automobile. His books flew one way, his cap another; and with a wild +shout of rage, Marty fell upon Sim Howell! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN + +Janice ran the car on for half a block before she stopped. She looked +back. She had never approved of fisticuffs--and Marty was prone to +such disgraceful activities. Nevertheless, when she saw Sim Howell's +blood-besmeared countenance, his wide-open mouth, his clumsy fists +pawing the air almost blindly, something primal--instinctive--made her +heart leap in her bosom. + +She delighted in Marty's clean blows, in his quick "duck" and +"side-step;" and when her cousin's freckled fist impinged upon the +fatuous countenance of Sim Howell, Janice Day uttered an unholy gasp of +delight. + +She saw Nelson striding to separate the combatants. She hoped he would +not be harsh with Marty. + +Then, seeing the neighbors gathering, she pressed the starter button +and the Kremlin glided on again. The tall young schoolmaster was +between the two boys, holding each off at arm's length, when Janice +wheeled around the far corner and gave a last glance at the field of +combat. + +"I am getting to be a wicked, wicked girl!" she accused herself, when +she was well out of town and wheeling cheerfully over the Lower Road +toward Middletown. "I have just longed to see that Simeon Howell +properly punished ever since I caught him that day mocking Jim Narnay. +And _that_ arises from the influence of Lem Parraday's bar. Oh, dear +me! _I_ am affected by the general epidemic, I believe. + +"If the Inn did not sell liquor, in all human probability, Narnay would +not have been drunk that day; at least, not where I could see him. And +so Sim and those other young rascals would not have chased and mocked +him. I would not have felt so angry with Sim--Dear me! everything +dovetails together, Nelson's trouble and all. I wonder if, after all, +the selling of liquor at the Inn isn't at the bottom of Nelson's +trouble. + +"It sounds foolish--or at least, far-fetched. But it may be so. +Perhaps the person who stole those coins was inspired to do the wicked +deed because he was under the influence of liquor. And, of course, the +Lake View Inn was the nearest place where liquor was to be bought. + +"Dear me! Am I foolish? Who knows?" Janice concluded, with a sigh. + +The thought of Sim Howell mocking Jim Narnay reminded her of the +latter's unfortunate family. She had been only once to the little +cottage near Pine Cove since Narnay had gone into the woods with +Trimmins and Jack Besmith. + +Nor had she been able to see Dr. Poole, amid her multitudinous duties, +and ask him how the nameless little baby was getting on; although she +had at once left a note at the doctor's office asking him to call and +see the child at her expense. + +The peril threatening her father and the peril threatening Nelson Haley +filled Janice Day's mind and heart so full that other interests had +been rather lost sight of during the past eventful week. + +She had not seen Frank Bowman since the time they had separated on the +street corner by the drug store, late Saturday night, when she had +taken Hopewell Drugg home. + +Bowman was with his railroad construction gang not far off the Lower +Middletown Road. But Janice had been going to and from school by the +Upper Road, past Elder Concannon's place, because it was dryer. + +This morning, however, Frank heard her car coming, and he appeared, +plunging through the jungle, shouting to her to stop. He could +scarcely make a mistake in hailing the car, for Janice's automobile was +almost the only one that ran on this road. By summer time, however, +the boarding house people and Lem Parraday hoped that automobiles in +Polktown would be, in the words of Walky Dexter, "as thick as fleas on +a yaller hound." + +Janice saw Frank Bowman coming, if she did not hear him call, and +slowed down. He strode crashingly down the hillside in his high boots, +corduroys, and canvas jacket, his face flushed with exercise and, of +course, broadly smiling. Janice liked the civil engineer immensely. +He lacked Nelson Haley's solid character and thoughtfulness; but he +always had a fund of enthusiasm on tap. + +"How goes the battle, Janice?" was his cheery call, as he leaped down +into the roadway and thrust out a gloved hand to grasp hers. + +"I guess, by now, Simmy Howell has learned a thing or two," she +declared, her mind on the scrimmage she had just seen. + +"What?" demanded Bowman, wonderingly. + +At that Janice burst into a laugh. "Oh! I am a perfect heathen. I +suppose you did not mean Marty's battle with his schoolmate. But that +was in my mind." + +"What's Marty fighting about now?" asked the civil engineer, with a +puzzled smile. "And are you interested in such sparring encounters?" + +"I was in this one," confessed Janice. Then she told him of the +occurrence--and its cause, of course. + +"Well, I declare!" said Frank Bowman, happily. "For once I fully +approve of Marty." + +"Do you? Well, to tell the truth, so do I!" gasped Janice, laughing +again. "But I know it is wicked." + +"Guess the whole Day family feels friendly toward Nelson," declared the +engineer. "I hear Mr. Day went on Nelson's bond Saturday night." + +"Yes, indeed. Dear Uncle Jason! He's slow, but he's dependable." + +"Well, I am glad Nelson Haley has some friends," Bowman said quickly. +"But I didn't stop you to say just this." + +"No?" + +"No," said the civil engineer. "When I asked you, 'How goes the +battle?' I was thinking of something you said the other night when we +were rounding up that disgraceful old reprobate, Hopewell Drugg," and +he laughed. + +"Oh, poor Hopewell! Isn't it a shame the way they talk about him?" + +"It certainly is," agreed Frank Bowman. "But whether Hopewell Drugg is +finally injured in character by Lem Parraday's bar or not, enough other +people are being injured. You said you'd do anything to see it closed." + +"I would," cried Janice. "At least, anything I could do." + +"By jove! so would I!" exclaimed Frank Bowman, vigorously. "It was pay +night for my men last Saturday night. One third of them have not shown +up this morning, and half of those that have are not fit for work. +I've got a reputation to make here. If this drunkenness goes on I'll +have a fat chance of making good with the Board of Directors of the +railroad." + +"How about making good with that pretty daughter of Vice President +Harrison's?" asked Janice, slily. + +Bowman blushed and laughed. "Oh! she's kind. She'll understand. But +I can't take the same excuses for failure to a Board of Directors." + +"Of course not," laughed Janice. "A mere Board of Directors hasn't +half the sense of a lovely girl--nor half the judgment." + +"You're right!" cried Bowman, seriously. "However, to get back to my +men. They've got to put the brake on this drinking stuff, or I'll +never get the job done. As long as the drink is right here handy in +Polktown, I'm afraid many of the poor fellows will go on a spree every +pay day." + +"It is too bad," ventured Janice, warmly. + +"I guess it is! For them and me, too!" said Bowman, shaking his head. +"Do you know, these fellows don't want to drink? And they wouldn't +drink if there was anything else for them to do when they have money in +their pockets. Let me tell you, Janice," he added earnestly, "I +believe that if these fellows had it to vote on right now, they'd vote +'no license' for Polktown--yes, ma'am!" + +"Oh! I wish we could _all_ vote on it," cried Janice. "I am sure more +people in Polktown would like to see the bar done away with, than +desire to have it continued." + +"I guess you're right!" agreed Bowman. + +"But, of course, we 'female women,' as Walky calls us, can't vote." + +"There are enough men to put it down," said Bowman, quickly. "And it +can come to a vote in Town Meeting next September, if it's worked up +right." + +"Oh, Frank! Can we do that?" + +"Now you've said it!" crowed the engineer. "That's what I meant when I +wondered if you had begun your campaign." + +"_My_ campaign?" repeated Janice, much flurried. + +"Why, yes. You intimated the other night that you wanted the bar +closed, and Walky has told all over town that you're 'due to stir +things up,' as he expresses it, about this dram selling." + +"Oh, dear!" groaned Janice, in no mock alarm. "My fatal reputation! +If my friends really loved me they would not talk about me so." + +"I'm afraid there is some consternation under Walky's talk," said +Bowman, seriously. "He likes a dram himself and would be sorry to see +the bar chased out of Polktown. I hope you can do it, Janice." + +"Me--_me_, Frank Bowman! You are just as bad as any of them. Putting +it all on my shoulders." + +"The time is ripe," went on the engineer, seriously. "You won't be +alone in this. Lots of people in the town see the evil flowing from +the bar. Mrs. Thread tells me her brother would never have lost his +job with Massey if it hadn't been for Lem Parraday's rum selling." + +"Do you mean Jack Besmith?" cried Janice, startled. + +"That's the chap. Mrs. Thread is a decent little woman, and poor Benny +is harmless enough. But she is worried to death about her brother." + +Janice, remembering the condition of the ex-drug clerk when he left +Polktown for the woods, said heartily: "I should think she would be +worried." + +"She tells me he tried to get back his job with Massey on Friday +night--the evening before he went off with Trimmins and Narnay. But I +expect he'd got Mr. Massey pretty well disgusted. At any rate, the +druggist turned him down, and turned him down hard." + +"Poor fellow!" sighed Janice. + +"I don't know. Oh, I suppose he's to be pitied," said Frank Bowman, +with some disgust. "Anyhow, Besmith got thoroughly desperate, went +down to the Inn after his interview with his former employer, and spent +all the money he had over Lem's bar. He didn't come home at all that +night----" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Janice, remembering suddenly where Jack Besmith had +probably slept off his debauch, for she had seen him asleep in her +uncle's sheepfold on that particular Saturday morning. + +"He's a pretty poor specimen, I suppose," said the engineer, eyeing +Janice rather curiously. "He's one of the weak ones. But there are +others!" + +Janice was silent for a moment. Indeed, she was not following closely +Bowman's remarks. She was thinking of Jack Besmith. Mr. Massey had +evidently been much annoyed by his discharged clerk. + +When she and Frank Bowman, with Hopewell Drugg, had gone to the +druggist's back door that eventful Saturday night, Massey had thought +it was Jack Besmith summoning him to the door. Massey had spoken +Besmith's name when he first opened the door and peered out into the +mist. + +"Now, Janice," she suddenly heard Frank Bowman say, "what shall we do?" + +She awoke to the subject under discussion with a start. "Goodness! do +you really expect me to tell you?" + +"Why--why, you see, Janice, you've got ideas. You always do have," +said the civil engineer, humbly. "I've talked to such of my men as +have come back to work this morning. Of course, they have been off +before, on pay day; but this is the worst. They had a big time down +there at the Inn Saturday night and Sunday morning." + +"Poor Mrs. Parraday!" sighed Janice. + +"You're right. I'm sorry for Marm Parraday. She's the salt of the +earth. But there are more than Marm Parraday suffering through Lem's +selling whiskey. But about my boys," added the engineer. "They tell +me if the stuff wasn't so handy they would finish the job without going +on these sprees. And I believe they would." + +"Well! I'll think about it," Janice rejoined, preparing to start her +car. "I suppose if I don't go ahead in the matter, the railroad will +never get its branch road built into Polktown?" and she laughed. + +"That's about the size of it!" cried Bowman, as the wheels began to +roll. + +But it was of Jack Besmith, the ex-drug clerk, that Janice Day thought +as she sped on toward the seminary and not of the opening of the +campaign against the liquor traffic in Polktown, which she felt had +really been organized on this morning. + +In some way the ne'er-do-well was connected in her mind with another +train of thought that, until now, had had "the right of way" in her +inner consciousness. What had Jack Besmith to do with Nelson Haley's +troubles? + +Janice Day was puzzled. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +HOPEWELL SELLS HIS VIOLIN + +Janice Day had no intention of avoiding what seemed, finally, to be a +duty laid upon her. If everybody else in Polktown opposed to the sale +of liquor, merely complained about it--and in a hopeless, helpless +way--it was not in her disposition to do so. She was Broxton Day's own +daughter and she absolutely had to _do something_! She was imbued with +her father's spirit of helpfulness, and she believed thoroughly in his +axiom: If a thing is wrong, go at it and make it right. + +Of course, Janice knew very well that a young girl like herself could +do little in reality about this awful thing that had stalked into +Polktown. She could do nothing of her own strength to put down the +liquor traffic. But she believed she might set forces in motion which, +in the end, would bring about the much-desired reformation. + +She had done it before. Her inspiration had touched all of Polktown +and had awakened and rejuvenated the old place. She had learned that +all that the majority of people needed to rank them on the active side +of right, was to be made to think. She determined that Polktown should +be made to think upon this subject of liquor selling. + +After school she drove around by the Upper Road and branched off into a +woods path that she had not dared venture into the week before. The +Spring winds had done much to dry this woodroad and there were not many +mud-holes to drive around before she came in sight of the squatters' +cabin occupied by the family of Mr. Trimmins. + +This transplanted family of Georgia "crackers" had been a good deal of +a misfit in the Vermont community until Janice had found and interested +herself in them. Virginia, a black-haired sprite of eleven or twelve, +was the leader of the family in all things, although there were several +older children. But "Jinny" was born to be a commander. + +Having made a friend of the little witch of a girl, and of Buddy, who +had been the baby the year before, but whose place had been usurped +because of the advent of another tow-head into the family, the others +of "them Trimminses," as they were spoken of in Polktown, had become +Janice Day's staunch friends. Virginia and two of her sisters came +regularly to the meetings of the Girls' Guild which Janice had founded; +but it was a long walk to the Union Church and Janice really wondered +how they ever got over the road in stormy weather. + +It always puzzled Janice where so many children managed to sleep when +bedtime came, unless they followed the sea law of "watch and watch." +Now all the children who were at home poured out of the cabin to greet +the driver of the Kremlin car. The whole family, as now arrayed before +her, she had not seen since Christmas. + +She had not forgotten to bring a great bag of "store cakes," of which +these poor little Trimminses were inordinately fond; so most of them +soon drifted away, each with a share of the goodies, leaving Janice to +talk with Mrs. Trimmins and Jinny and play with Buddy and the baby. + +"It's a right pretty evening, Miss Janice," said Mrs. Trimmins. "I +shell be glad enough when the settled weather comes to stay. I kin git +some o' these young'uns out from under foot all day long, then. + +"Trimmins has got a gang wo'kin' for him over th' mountain a piece----" + +"Here comes dad now," said the sharp-eyed Virginia. "And the elder's +with him." + +"Why--ya-as," drawled her mother, "so 'tis. It's one of Concannon's +timber lots Trimmins is a-wo'kin' at." + +The elder, vigorous and bewhiskered, came tramping into the clearing +like a much younger man. Trimmins slouched along by his side, chewing +a twig of black birch. + +"No, Trimmins," the elder was saying decisively. "We'll stick to the +letter of the contract. I furnish the team and feed them. I went a +step further and furnished supplies for three men instead of two. But +not one penny do you nor they handle till the job is finished." + +"That's all right, Elder," drawled the Georgian. "That's 'cordin' to +contrac', I know. I don't keer for myself. But Narnay and that other +feller are mighty hongree for a li'le change." + +"Powerful thirsty, ye mean!" snorted the elder. + +"Wa-al--mebbe so! mebbe so!" agreed Trimmins, with a weak grin. + +"They knew the agreement before they started in with you on the job, +didn't they?" + +"Oh, ya-as. They knowed about the contrac'." + +"'Nuff said, then," grunted the elder. "Oh! is that you, Janice Day? +I'll ride back with you," added the elder, who had quite overcome his +dislike for what he had formerly termed "devil wagons," since one very +dramatic occasion when he himself had discovered the necessity for +traveling much "faster than the law allowed." + +"You are very welcome, Elder Concannon," Janice said, smiling at him. + +She kissed the two babies and Virginia, shook hands with Mrs. Trimmins, +and then waved a gloved hand to the rest of the family as she settled +herself behind the steering wheel. The elder got into the seat beside +her. + +"I declare for't, Janice!" the elder said, as the started, the words +being fairly jerked ouf of his mouth, "I dunno but I'd like to own one +of these contraptions myself. You can git around lively in 'em--and +that's a fac'." + +"They are a whole lot better than 'shanks' mare,' Elder," said the +young girl, laughing. + +"I--should--say! And handy, too, when the teams are all busy. Now I +had to walk clean over the mountain to-day to that piece where Trimmins +and them men are working. Warn't a hoss fit to use." + +"Has Mr. Trimmins a big gang at work?" + +The elder chuckled. "He calls it a gang--him, and Jim Narnay, and a +boy. They've all got a sleight with the axe, I do allow; and the boy +handles the team right well." + +"Is he Jack Besmith?" questioned Janice. + +"That's his name, I believe," said the elder. "Likely boy, I guess. +But if I let 'em have any money before the job is done--as Trimmins +wants me to--none of 'em would do much till the money was spent--boy +and all." + +"It is too bad about young Besmith," Janice said, shaking her head. +"He is only a boy." + +"Yep. But a month or so in the woods without drink will do him a heap +of good." + +That very evening, however, Janice saw Jack Besmith in town. From +Marty she learned that he did not stay long. + +"He came in for booze--that's what he come for," said her cousin, in +disgust. "He started right back for the woods with a two-gallon +demi-john." + +"And I thought they had no money up there," Janice reflected. "Can it +be that Lem Parraday or his barkeeper would trust them for drink?" + +Marty was nursing a lump on his jaw and a cut lip. The morning's +battle, had not gone all his way, although he said to Janice with his +usual impish grin when she commented upon his battered appearance: +"You'd orter see the other feller! If Nelson Haley hadn't got in +betwixt us I'd ha' whopped Sim Howell good and proper. I was some +excited, I allow. If I hadn't been I needn't never run ag'inst Sim's +fist a-_tall_. He's a clumsy kid, if ever there was one--and I reckon +he's got enough of me for a spell. Anyway, he won't get fresh with Mr. +Haley again--nor none of the rest of 'em." + +"Dear me, Marty! it seems too bad that any of the boys should feel so +unkindly toward Mr. Haley, after all he's done for them." + +"They're a poor lot--fellers like Sim Howell. Hang around the tavern +hoss sheds all the time. Can't git 'em to come up to the Readin' Room +with the decent fellers," Marty said belligerently. + +Marty had forgotten that--not so long before--he had been a frequenter +of the tavern "hoss sheds" himself. That was before Janice had started +the Public Library Association and the boys' club. + +Janice did not see Nelson that evening, and she wondered what he was +doing with his idle time. So the following afternoon she came home by +the Lower Road, meaning to call on the schoolmaster. She stopped her +car before Hopewell Drugg's store and ran in there first. + +'Rill was behind the counter; but from the back room the wail of the +violin announced Hopewell's presence. The lively tunes which the +storekeeper had played so much through the Winter just past--such as +"Jingle Bells" and "Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party"--seemed now forgotten. +Nor was Hopewell in a sentimental mood and his old favorite, "Silver +Threads Among the Gold," could not express his feelings. + +"Old Hundred" was the strain he played, and he drew it lingeringly out +of the strings until it fairly rasped the nerves. No son of Israel, +weeping against the wall in old Jerusalem, ever expressed sorrow more +deeply than did Hopewell's fiddle at the present juncture. + +"Oh, dear, Janice! that's the way he is all day long," whispered the +bride, the tears sparkling in her eyes. "He says Lottie _must_ go to +Boston, and I guess he's right. The poor little thing doesn't see +anywhere near as good as she did." + +"Oh, my dear!" cried Janice, under her breath. "I wish I could help +pay for her trip." + +"No. You've done your part, Janice. You paid for the treatment +before----" + +"I only helped," interrupted Janice. + +"It was a great, big help. Hopewell can never repay you," said the +wife. "And he can accept no more from you, dear." + +"But I haven't got it to offer!" almost wailed Janice. "Daddy's mine +is shut down again. I--I could almost wish to sell my car--only it was +a particular present from daddy----" + +"No, indeed! There is going to be something else sold, I expect," +'Rill said gravely. "Here! let us go back. I don't like even to see +this fellow come in here. Hopewell must wait on him." + +Janice turned to see Joe Bodley, the fat, smirking bartender from the +Lake View Inn, now entering the store. + +"Afternoon, Mrs. Drugg!" he called after the storekeeper's retreating +wife. "I won't bite ye." + +"Mr. Drugg will be right in," said 'Rill, beckoning Janice away. + +Hopewell entered, violin in hand. He greeted Janice in his quiet way +and then spoke to Bodley. + +"You wanted to see me, Mr. Bodley?" + +"Now, how about that fiddle, Hopewell? D'ye really want to sell it?" +asked the bartender, lightly. + +"I--I must sell it, Mr. Bodley. I feel that I _must_," said Hopewell, +in his gentle way. + +"It's as good as sold, then, old feller," said the barkeeper. "I've +got a customer for it." + +"Ah! but I must have my price. Otherwise it will do me no good to sell +the violin which I prize so highly--and which my father played before +me." + +"That's Yankee talk," laughed Bodley. "How much?" + +"I believe it is a valuable instrument--a very valuable instrument," +said poor Hopewell, evidently in fear of not making the sale, yet +determined to obtain what he considered a fair price for it. "At +least, I know 't is an _old_ violin." + +"One of the 'old masters,' eh?" chuckled Bodley. + +"Perhaps. I do not think you will care to pay my price, sir," said the +storekeeper, with dignity. + +"I've got a customer for it. He seen it down to the dance--and he +wants it. What's your price?" repeated Bodley. + +"I thought some of sending it to New York to be valued," Hopewell said +slowly. + +"My man will buy it--sight unseen, as ye might say--on my recommend. +He only saw it for a moment," said Bodley. + +"What will he give for it?" asked Hopewell. + +"How much do you want?" + +"One hundred dollars, Mr. Bodley," said the storekeeper, this time with +more firmness. + +"_What_? One hundred of your grandmother's grunts! Why, Hopewell, +there _ain't_ so much money--not in Polktown, at least--'nless it's hid +away in a broken teapot on the top shelf of a cupboard in Elder +Concannon's house. They say he's got the first dollar he ever earned, +and most all that he's gathered since that time." + +Janice heard all this as she stood in the back room with 'Rill. Then, +having excused herself to the storekeeper's wife, she ran out of the +side door to go across the street to Mrs. Beaseley's. + +In fact, she could not bear to stay there and hear Hopewell bargain for +the sale of his precious violin. It seemed too, too, bad! It had been +his comfort--his only consolation, indeed--for the many years that +circumstances had kept him and 'Rill Scattergood apart. And after all, +to be obliged to dispose of it---- + +Janice remembered how she had brought little Lottie home to the +storekeeper the very day she first met him, and how he had played +"Silver Threads Among the Gold" for her in the dark, musty back room of +the old store. Why! Hopewell Drugg would be utterly lost without the +old fiddle. + +She was glad Mrs. Beaseley was rather an unobservant person, for +Janice's eyes were tear-filled when she looked into the cottage +kitchen. Nelson, however, was not at home. He had gone for a long +tramp through the fields and had not yet returned. So, leaving word +for him to come over to the Day house that evening, Janice went slowly +back to her car. + +Before she could start it 'Rill came outside. Bodley had gone, and the +storekeeper's wife was frankly weeping. + +"Poor Hopewell! he's sold the fiddle," sobbed 'Rill. + +"To that awful bartender?" demanded Janice. + +"Just as good as. The fellow's paid a deposit on it. If he comes back +with the rest of the hundred dollars in a month, the fiddle is his. +Otherwise, Hopewell declares he will send it to New York and take what +he can get for it." + +"Oh, dear me!" murmured Janice, almost in tears, too. + +"It--it is all Hopewell can do," pursued 'Rill. "He has nothing else +on which he can raise the necessary money. Lottie must have her +chance." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE GOLD COIN + +The campaign against liquor selling in Polktown really had been opened +on that Monday morning when Janice and Frank Bowman conferred together +near the scene of the young engineer's activities for the railroad. + +The determination of two wide-awake young people to _do something_ was +the beginning of activities. + +Not only was the time ripe, but popular feeling was already stirred in +the matter. The thoughtful people of Polktown were becoming +dissatisfied with the experiment. Those who had considered it of small +moment in the beginning were learning differently. If Polktown was to +be "boomed" through such disgraceful means as the sale of intoxicants +at the only hotel, these people with suddenly awakened consciences +would rather see the town lie fallow for a while longer. + +The gossip regarding Hopewell Drugg's supposed fall from sobriety was +both untrue and unkind. That the open bar at Lem Parraday's was a real +and imminent peril to Polktown, however, was a fact now undisputed by +the better citizens. + +Janice had sounded Elder Concannon on that very Monday when she had +brought him home from the Trimmins place. The old gentleman, although +conservative to a fault where money was concerned--his money, or +anybody's--agreed that one or two men should not be allowed to benefit +at the moral expense of their fellow townsmen. + +That the liquor selling was causing a festering sore in the community +of Polktown could not be gainsaid. Sim Howell and two other boys in +their early teens had somehow obtained liquor, and had been picked up +in a frightful condition on the public street by Constable Poley Cantor. + +The boys were made very ill by the quantity of liquor they had drunk, +and although they denied that they had bought the stuff at the hotel, +it was soon learned that the supply of spirits the boys had got hold +of, came from Lem Parraday's bar. + +One of the town topers had purchased the half-gallon bottle and had hid +it in a barn, fearing to take it home. The boys had found it and dared +each other to taste the stuff. + +"It's purty bad stuff 'at Lem sells, I allow," observed Walky Dexter. +"No wonder it settled them boys. It's got a 'kick' to it wuss'n +Josephus had that time the swarm of bees lit on him." + +The town was ablaze with the story of the boys' escapade on Wednesday +afternoon when Janice came back from Middletown. She stopped at +Hopewell Drugg's store, which was a rendezvous for the male gossips of +the town, and Walky was holding forth upon the subject uppermost in the +public mind: + +"Them consarned lettle skeezicks--I'd ha' trounced the hull on 'em if +they'd been mine." + +"How would you have felt, Mr. Dexter, if they really were yours?" asked +Janice, who had been talking to 'Rill and Nelson Haley. "Suppose Sim +Howell were your boy? How would you feel to know that, at his age, he +had been intoxicated?" + +"Jefers-pelters!" grunted Walky. "I reckon I wouldn't git +pigeon-breasted with pride over it--nossir!" + +"Then don't make fun," admonished the girl, severely. "It is an +awful, _awful_ thing that the boys of Polktown can even get hold of +such stuff to make them so ill." + +"That is right, Miss Janice," Hopewell said, busy with a customer. +"What else, Mrs. Massey?" + +"That's all to-day, Hopewell. I hate to give you so big a bill, but +that's all I've got," said the druggist's wife, as she handed the +store-keeper a twenty-dollar gold certificate. + +"He, he!" chuckled Walky, "Guess Massey wants all the change in town in +his own till, heh?" + +"That is all right, Mrs. Massey," said Hopewell, in his gentle way. "I +can change it. Have to give you a gold piece--there." + +"What's going to be done about this liquor selling, anyway?" demanded +Nelson Haley, in a much more serious mood, it would seem, than usual. +"I think Janice has the right of it--although I did not think so at +first. 'Live and let live,' is a good motto; but it is foolish to let +a mad dog live in a community. Lem Parraday's bar is certainly doing a +lot of harm to innocent people." + +Janice clapped her hands softly, and her eyes shone. The school +teacher went on with increased warmth: + +"Polktown is really being vastly injured by the liquor selling. To +think of those boys becoming intoxicated--one of them of my school, +too----" + +The young man halted suddenly in this speech. In his earnestness he +had forgotten that it was his school no longer. + +"It is a disgraceful state of affairs," 'Rill hastened to say, kindly +covering Nelson's momentary confusion. + +But Janice beamed at the young man. "Oh, Nelson! I am delighted to +hear you speak so. We are going to hold a temperance meeting--Mr. +Middler and I have talked it over. And I have obtained Elder +Concannon's promise to be one of those on the platform. Polktown must +be waked up----" + +"What! _Again_? Haw! haw! haw!" burst out Walky. "Jefers-pelters, +Janice Day! You've abeout give Polktown insomnia already! I sh'd say +our eyes was purty well opened----" + +"_Yours_ are not, old fellow," said Nelson, good-naturedly, but with +marked earnestness, too. "You're patronizing the barroom side of the +hotel altogether more than is good for you, and if you don't know it +yourself, Walky, I feel myself enough your friend to tell you so." + +"Nonsense! nonsense!" returned the expressman, reddening a little, yet +man enough to accept personal criticism when he was so prone to +criticizing other people. "What leetle I drink ain't never goin' ter +hurt me." + +"Nor anybody else?" asked Janice, softly, for she liked Walky and was +sorry to see him go wrong. "How about your example, Walky?" + +"Shucks! Don't talk ter me abeout 'example.' That's allus the excuse +of the weak-headed. If my example was goin' ter hurt the boys, ev'ry +one o' them would wanter be th' town expressman! Haw! haw! haw! I +ain't never seen none o' them tumblin' over each other fer th' chance't +ter cut me out on my job. An' 'cause I chaw terbaccer, is ev'ry +white-headed kid in town goin' ter take up chawin' as a habit? + +"Jefers-pelters! I 'low if I had a boy o' m' own mebbe I'd be a lettle +keerful how I used either licker, or terbaccer. But I hain't. I got +only one child, an' she's a female. I reckon I ain't gotter worry +about little Matildy bein' inflooenced either by her daddy's chawin', +or his takin' a snifter of licker on a cold day--I snum!" + +"Unanswerable logic, Walky," said Nelson, with some scorn. "I've used +the same myself. And it serves all right if one is utterly selfish. I +thought _that_ out after Janice, here, opened my eyes." + +"You show me how my takin' a drink 'casionally hurts anybody or +anything else, an', jefers-pelters! I'll stop it mighty quick!" +exclaimed the expressman, with some heat. + +"I shall hold you to that, Walky," said Janice, quickly, interfering +before there should be any further sharp discussion. + +"And," muttered Nelson, "she's as good as got you, Walky--she has that!" + +At the moment the door opened with a bang, and Mr. Massey plunged in. +He was without a hat and wore the linen apron he always put on when he +was compounding prescriptions in the back room of his shop. In his +excitement his gray hair was ruffled up more like a cockatoo's topknot +than usual, and his eyes seemed fairly to spark. + +"Hopewell Drugg!" he exclaimed, spying the storekeeper. "Was my wife +just in here?" + +"Hul-_lo_!" ejaculated Walky Dexter. "Hopewell hasn't been sellin' her +Paris green for buckwheat flour, has he? That would kinder be in your +line, wouldn't it, Massey?" + +But the druggist paid the town humorist no attention. He hurried to +the counter and leaned across it, asking his question for a second time. + +"Why, yes, she was here, Mr. Massey," said Hopewell, puzzled. + +"She changed a bill with you, didn't she?" + +"Jefers-pelters! was it counterfeit?" put in Walky, drawing nearer. + +"A twenty dollar bill--yes, sir," said the storekeeper. + +"Did you give her a gold piece--a ten dollar gold piece--in the +change?" shot in Massey, his voice shaking. + +"Why--yes." + +"Is this it?" and the druggist slapped a gold coin down on the counter +between them. + +Hopewell picked up the coin, turned it over in his hand, holding it +close to his near-sighted eyes. Nothing could ever hurry Hopewell +Drugg in speech. + +"Why--yes," he said again. "I guess so." + +"But look at the date, man!" shouted Massey. "Don't you see the date +on it?" + +Amazed, Drugg repeated the date aloud, reading it carefully from the +coin. "Why, yes, that's the date, sir," said the storekeeper. + +"Don't ye know that's one of the rarest issues of ten dollar coins in +existence? Somethin' happened to the die: they only issued a few," +Massey stammered. "Where'd you git it, Hopewell?" + +"Why--why--Is it valuable?" asked Hopewell. "A rare coin, you say?" + +"Rare!" shouted Massey. "Yes, I tell ye! It's rare. There ain't but +a few in existence. Mr. Hobart told me when he brought them coins over +here that night. And he pointed one of them out to me in that +collection. Where did you get this one, Hopewell--where'd you get it, +I say?" + +And on completing the demand he turned sharply and stared with his +blinking, red eyes directly at Nelson Haley. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +SUSPICIONS + +"Why--why--why----" stammered Hopewell Drugg, and could say no more. + +The others had noted Massey's accusing glance at the schoolmaster; but +not even Walky Dexter commented upon it at the moment. + +"Come, Hopewell!" exclaimed the druggist; "where did you get it?" + +"Where--where did I get the gold piece?" repeated the storekeeper, +weakly. + +"Yes. Who paid it in to you? Hi, man! surely you don't think for a +moment I accuse you of having stolen the coin collection--or having +guilty knowledge of the theft?" + +"Oh, Mr. Massey! what are you saying?" cried the storekeeper's wife. + +"The coins?" whispered Hopewell. "Is that one of them?" + +"Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky, "Here's a purty mess." + +"Who gave it to you?" again demanded Mr. Massey. + +"Why, it would be hard to say offhand," the storekeeper had sufficient +wit to reply. + +"Oh, but Hopewell!" implored the druggist. "Don't ye see what I am +after? Stir yourself, man! Perhaps we are right on the trail of the +thief--this is maybe a clue," and he cast another glance at Nelson as +though he feared the schoolmaster might try to slip out of the store if +he did not watch him. + +Nelson came forward to the counter. At first he had grown very red; +now he was quite pale and the look of scorn and indignation he cast +upon the druggist might have withered that person at a time of less +excitement. + +"I ran 'way up here the minute my wife gave me that gold piece, +Hopewell," Massey continued. "Don't you remember how you came by it?" + +"He means, Mr. Drugg," broke in Nelson, "that he suspects you got it +from me. Now tell him, if you please: Have I passed a gold piece over +your counter since the robbery--that piece, or any other?" + +"Not--not to my knowledge, Mr. Haley," the storekeeper said, shaking +his head slowly. + +"Oh, Nelson!" gasped Janice, coming nearer and touching his arm lightly. + +The young man's hands were clenched. He had a temper and it nearly +mastered him now. But he had learned to control himself. Otherwise he +could never have been as successful as he was in handling his pupils. +His eyes darted lightning at the druggist; but the latter was too +excited to realize Nelson Haley's mood. + +"This fellow has been to the postmaster to try to discover if I bought +my money-order the other day with gold coin; but the postmaster obeyed +the rules of the Department and refused to answer. He and the other +committeemen are doing every underhanded thing possible to injure me. +Cross Moore even tried to get into my rooms to search my trunk--but +Mrs. Beaseley threatened him with a broom. + +"It doesn't surprise me that Mr. Massey should attempt in this way to +find what he calls 'a clue.' The only clue he and his friends are +looking for is something with which to connect me with the robbery." + +Janice's light touch on his arm again, stayed his wrathful words; but +the druggist's freckled face glowed--red under the young man's gaze. + +"Wal!" he grunted, shortly, "we're bound to look after our own +skins--not after yours, Mr. Haley." + +"I believe you!" exclaimed the schoolmaster in scorn, and turned away. + +"But, say, Hopewell, ye ain't answered me yet," went on Massey, again +addressing the storekeeper. + +"Well--I couldn't say offhand----" + +"Great goodness, Hopewell!" cried Massey, pounding his fist upon the +counter for emphasis, "you're the most exasperating critter. If +this--this---- If Mr. Haley didn't give you the coin, _who did_?" + +"Why--I--I----" + +Drugg was slow enough at best. Now he was indeed very irritating. He +was not the man to allow anything he said to injure another, if he +could help it. + +"Le's see," he continued; "I've had that gold piece sev'ral days. I am +sure, of course, that Mr. Haley did not give it to me. No. Come to +think of it----" + +"Well?" gasped Mr. Massey. + +"I _do_ remember the transaction, now. It--it was give me as an option +on my violin," said Hopewell Drugg, with growing confidence. "Yes. I +remember now all about it." + +"What's that? Yer fiddle, Hopewell?" put in Dexter. "Ye ain't goin' +ter sell yer fiddle?" + +"I must," Hopewell said simply. "I accepted that ten dollar gold piece +and two five dollar bills, as a payment upon it." + +"Who from?" demanded Massey, sticking to his text, and that only. + +"Young Joe Bodley, of the Lake View Inn." + +"Joe Bodley! Why, he was abed when them coins was stolen--I know +that," blurted out the druggist, very much disappointed. "Lem Parraday +'tends bar himself forenoons, for Joe's allus up till past midnight. +You know that, Walky." + +"Ya-as--f'r sure," agreed the expressman. "But one o' these here +magazine deteckatiffs might be able ter hook up Joe with them missin' +coins, jes' the same. Mebbe he's a sernamb'list," suggested, Walky, +with a sly grin. + +"A _what_?" demanded Massey, with a startled look. "He's an Odd +Feller, an' a Son o' Jethro. I don't know what other lodges he b'longs +to." + +"Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky, "who's talkin' about lodges? I +mean mebbe Joe walks in his sleep. He might ha' stole them coins when +he was sernamb'latin' about----" + +The druggist snorted. "That's some o' your funny business, I s'pose, +Walky Dexter. If you stood ter lose four hundred dollars you wouldn't +chuckle none about it, I'm bound." + +"Mebbe that's so," admitted Walky. "But I dunno's I'd go around +suspectin' everybody there was of stealin' that money. Caesar's +wife--er was it his darter?--wouldn't 'scape suspicion in your mind, +Mr. Massey." + +"By hickory!" exclaimed the exasperated druggist, "I'd suspect my own +grandmother!" + +"Sure ye would--ef ye thought by so doin' ye'd escape payin' out four +hundred dollars! Hay! haw! haw!" laughed the expressman. "Ye ac' +right fullish, Massey. All sorts of money is passed over that bar. I +seen a feller count out forty pennies there t'other day for a flask of +whiskey: an' I bet he'd either robbed his baby's bank, or the +missionary-fund box. Haw! haw! haw!" + +"You can laugh," began the druggist, looking sour enough, when Walky +broke in again: + +"Sure I can. It's lucky I can, too. If I couldn't laff at most of the +folks that live in this town, I'd be tempted ter commit +sooicide--that's right! And you air one of the most amusin' of the +lot, Massey. Them other committeemen run ye a clost second." + +"Oh! I can't stop here and fool with you all day, Walky Dexter," +snapped the druggist, pretty well worked up by now. "I tell ye this +gold piece is a clue----" + +"Mebbe," said Walky. "Mebbe 'tis a clue. But I reckon it's what them +magazine deteckatifs call a blind clue. Haw! haw! haw! An' afore ye +git anywhere with it, it'll proberbly go on crutches an' be deef an' +dumb inter the bargain!" + +Massey did not look as though he enjoyed these gibes much. "I'll go +down an' see Joe," he grunted. "Mebbe he'll know something about it." + +"I hope you do not expect to find that I spent that ten dollar gold +piece at the Inn bar," said Nelson, bitterly. + +"Well! I'll find out how it got into Joe's hands," growled Massey. + +"If Joe tells you," chuckled Walky. "An' do stop for yer hat, Massey. +You'll ketch yer death o' dampness." + +The druggist had opened a fruitful subject for speculation. Those he +left behind in the store were eagerly interested. Indeed, Janice and +Nelson could not fail to be excited by the occurrence, and the latter +rode home with Janice in the car to talk the matter over with Uncle +Jason. + +"Of course," the schoolmaster said, when the family was assembled in +the sitting room of the old Day house, "_that_ gold piece may not be +one of those stolen at all. There are plenty of ten dollar gold pieces +in circulation." + +"Not in Polktown!" exclaimed Uncle Jason. + +"And if we are to believe Mr. Massey," added Janice, "there are not +many ten dollar gold pieces of that particular date in existence." + +"We don't really know. Perhaps Massey is mistaken. We know he was +excited," said Nelson. + +"Hold hard, now," advised Uncle Jason, "It's a breach in their walls, +nevertheless." + +"How is that, Mr. Day?" asked the schoolmaster. + +"Why, don't you see?" said Uncle Jason, puffing on his pipe in some +excitement. "They have opened th' way for Doubt ter stalk in," and he +chuckled. "Them committeemen have been toller'ble sure--er they've +_said_ they was--it was you stole the money, Mr. Haley. If they can't +connect this coin with you at all, they'll sartain sure be up a stump. +And they air a-breakin' down their own case against ye. I guess I'm +lawyer enough ter see that." + +"Oh, goodness, Uncle Jason! So they will!" cried Janice. + +"But it does not seem reasonable that the person stealing the coins +would spend one of them in Polktown," Nelson said slowly. + +"I dunno," reflected Mr. Day. "I never did think that a thief had any +medals fer good sense--nossir! He most allus leaves some openin' so's +ter git caught." + +"And if he spent the money at the tavern--and for liquor--of course he +_couldn't_ have good sense." + +"I take off my hat to you on that point, Janice," laughed Nelson. "I +believe you are right." + +"Ya-as, ain't she?" Aunt Almira said proudly. "An' our Janice +has done suthin' this time that'll make Polktown put her on a +ped-ped-es-tri-an----" + +"'Pedestal,' Maw!" giggled Marty. + +"Wal, never mind," said the somewhat flurried Mrs. Day. "Mr. Middler +said it. Mr. Haley, ye'd oughter hear all 't Mr. Middler said about +her this arternoon at the meetin' of the Ladies' Aid." + +"Oh, Auntie!" murmured Janice, turning very red. + +"Go on, Maw, and tell us," said Marty. "What did he say?" and he +grinned delightedly at his cousin's rosy face. + +"Sing her praises, Mrs. Day--do," urged Nelson. "We know she deserves +to have them sung." + +"Wal! I should say she did," agreed Aunt 'Mira, proudly. "It's her, +the parson says, that's re'lly at the back of this temp'rance movement +that's goin' ter be inaugurated right here in Polktown. Nex' Sunday +he's goin' to give a sermon on temperance. He said 'at he was ashamed +to feel that he--like the rest of us--was content ter drift along and +_do nothin'_ 'cept ter talk against rum selling, until Janice began ter +_do somethin'_." + +"Now, Auntie!" complained the girl again. + +"Wal! You started it--ye know ye did, Janice. They was talkin' about +holdin' meetings, an' pledge-signin', and stirrin' up the men folks ter +vote nex' Fall ter make Polktown so everlastin'ly dry that all the old +topers, like Jim Narnay, an' Bruton Willis, an'--an' the rest of 'em, +will jest natcherly wither up an' blow away! I tell ye, the Ladies' +Aid is all worked up." + +"I wonder, now," said Uncle Jason, reflectively. + +"Ye wonder what, Jase Day?" demanded his spouse, with some warmth. + +"I wonder if it can be _did_?" returned Uncle Jason. "Lemme tell ye, +rum sellin' an' rum drinkin' is purty well rooted in Polktown. If +Janice is a-goin' ter stop th' sale of licker here, she's tackled purty +consider'ble of a job, lemme tell ye." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +WHAT WAS IN THE PAPER + +As the days passed it certainly looked as though Mr. Day was correct in +his surmise about the difficulties of "Janice's job," as he called it. +The girl was earnestly talking to everybody whom she knew, especially +to the influential men of Polktown, regarding the disgraceful things +that had happened in the lakeside hamlet since the bar had been opened +at the Inn. And it was among these influential men that she found the +most opposition to making Polktown "dry" instead of "wet." + +She had thrown down her gauntlet at Mr. Cross Moore's feet, so she +troubled no more about him. Janice realized that nobody was more +politically powerful in Polktown than Mr. Moore. But she believed she +could not possibly obtain him on the side of prohibition, so she did +not waste her strength or time in trying. + +Not that Mr. Cross Moore was a drinking man himself. He was never +known to touch either liquor or tobacco. He was just a hard-fisted, +hard-hearted, shrewd and successful country politician; and there +appeared to be no soft side to his character. Unless that side was +exposed to his invalid wife. And nobody outside ever caught Mr. Moore +displaying tenderness in particular to her, although he was known to +spend much time with her. + +He had fought his way up in politics and in wealth, from very poor and +small beginnings. From his birth in an ancient log cabin, with parents +who were as poor and miserable as the Trimminses or the Narnays to +being president of the Town Council and chairman of the School +Committee, was a long stride for Mr. Cross Moore--and nobody +appreciated the fact more clearly than himself. + +Money had been the best friend he had ever had. Without Elder +Concannon's streak of acquisitiveness in his character that made the +good old man almost miserly, Mr. Cross Moore possessed the +money-getting ability, and a faith in the creed that "Wealth is Power" +that nothing had yet shaken in his long experience. + +For a number of years Polktown had been free of any public +dram-selling, although the voters had not put themselves on record as +desiring prohibition. Occasionally a more or less secret place for the +selling of liquor had risen and was quickly put down. There had, in +the opinion of the majority of the citizens, been no call for a +drinking place, and there would probably have been no such local demand +had Lem Parraday--backed by Mr. Moore, who held the mortgage on the +Inn--not desired to increase the profits of that hostelry. The license +was taken out that visitors to Polktown might be satisfied. + +There had been no local demand for the sale of liquor, as has been +said. Those who made a practise of using it could obtain all they +wished at Middletown, or other places near by. But once having allowed +the traffic a foothold in the hamlet, it would be hard to dislodge it. + +John Barleycorn is fighting for his life. He has few real friends, +indeed, among his consumers. No man knows better the danger of alcohol +than the man who is addicted to its use--until he gets to that besotted +stage where his brain is so befuddled that his opinion would scarcely +be taken in a court of law on any subject. + +Janice Day was determined not to listen to these temporizers in +Polktown who professed themselves satisfied if the license was taken +away from the Lake View Inn. Something more drastic was needed than +that. + +"The business must be voted out of town. We all must take a stand upon +the question--on one side or the other," the girl had said earnestly, +in discussing this point with Elder Concannon. + +"If you only shut up this bar, another license, located at some other +point, will be asked for. Each time the fight will have to be begun +again. Vote the town _dry_--that is the only way." + +"Well, I reckon that's true enough, my girl," said the cautious elder. +"But I doubt if we can do it. They're too strong for us." + +"We can try," Janice urged. "You don't _know_ that the wets will win, +Elder." + +"And if we try the question in town meeting and get beaten, we'll be +worse off than we are now." + +"Why shall we?" Janice demanded. "And, besides, I do not believe the +wets can carry the day." + +"I'm afraid the idea of making the town dry isn't popular enough," +pursued the elder. + +"Why not?" + +"We are Vermonters," said Elder Concannon, as though that were +conclusive. "We're sons of the Green Mountain Boys, and liberty is +greater to us than to any other people in the world." + +"Including the liberty to get drunk--and the children to follow the +example of the grown men?" asked Janice, tartly. "Is _that_ liberty so +precious?" + +"That's a harsh saying, Janice," said the old man, wagging his head. + +"It's the truth, just the same," the girl declared, with doggedness. + +"You can't make the voters do what you want--not always," said Elder +Concannon. "I don't want to see liquor sold here; but I think we'll be +more successful if we oppose each license as it comes up." + +"What chance had you to oppose Lem Parraday's license?" demanded the +girl, sharply. + +"Well! I allow that was sprung on us sudden. But Cross Moore was +interested in it, too." + +"Somebody will always be particularly interested in the granting of the +license. I believe with Uncle Jason that it's foolish to give Old Nick +a fair show. He does not deserve the honors of war." + +More than Elder Concannon did not believe that Polktown could be +carried for prohibition in Town Meeting. But election day was months +ahead, and if "keeping everlastingly at it" would bring success, Janice +was determined that her idea should be adopted. + +Mr. Middler's first sermon on temperance was in no uncertain tone. +Indeed, that good man's discourses nowadays were very different from +those he had been wont to give the congregation of the Union Church +when Janice had first come to Polktown. In the old-fashioned phrase, +Mr. Middler had "found liberty." + +There was nothing sensational about his sermons. He was a drab man, +who still hesitated before uttering any very pronounced view upon any +subject; but he thought deeply, and even that super-critic, Elder +Concannon, had begun to praise the pastor of the Union Church. + +To start the movement for prohibition in the largest church in the +community was all very well; but Janice and the other earnest workers +realized that the movement must be broader than that. A general +meeting was arranged in the Town House, the biggest assembly room in +town, and speakers were secured who were really worth hearing. All +this went on quite satisfactorily. Indeed, the first temperance rally +was a pronounced success, and white ribbons became common in Polktown, +worn by both young and old. + +But Janice's and Nelson Haley's private affairs remained in a most +unsatisfactory state indeed. + +First of all, there was a long month to wait before Janice could expect +to see another letter from daddy. It puzzled her that he was forbidden +to write but once in thirty days, by an under lieutenant of the +Zapatist chief, Juan Dicampa, who was Mr. Day's friend--or supposed to +be, and yet the letters came to her readdressed in Juan Dicampa's hand. + +She watched the daily papers, too, for any word printed regarding the +chieftain, and perhaps never was a brigand's well-being so heartily +prayed for, as was Juan Dicampa's. Janice never forgot that her father +said Dicampa stood between him and almost certain death. + +Considering Nelson Haley's affairs, that young man was quite impatient +because they had come to no head. Nor did it seem that they were +likely to soon. + +Nelson had secretly objected when Uncle Jason had asked Judge Little to +put off for a full week the examination of Nelson in his court. The +unfortunate schoolmaster felt that he wanted the thing over and the +worst known immediately. + +But it seemed that he was neither to be acquitted at once of the crime +charged against him, nor was he to be found guilty and punished. + +Uncle Jason was right about the turning up of the ten dollar gold piece +being a blow to the accusation the School Committee had lodged against +Nelson. They could not connect the young schoolmaster with the gold +coin. + +By Uncle Jason's advice, too, Nelson had put off engaging a lawyer in +Middletown to come over to defend the young man in Judge Little's court. + +"And well he did wait, too," declared Mr. Day, very much pleased with +his own shrewdness. "_That_ would have meant a twenty dollar note. +Now it don't cost Mr. Haley a cent." + +"What do you mean, Jase Day?" demanded Aunt Almira, for her husband +announced the above at the supper table on Friday evening of that +eventful week. "They ain't goin' ter send Mr. Haley to jail without a +trial?" + +"Hear the woman, will ye?" apostrophized Uncle Jason, with disgust. +"Ain't thet jes' like ye, Almiry--goin' off at ha'f cock thet-a-way? +Who said anythin' about Mr. Haley goin' ter jail?" + +"Wal----" + +"He ain't goin' yet awhile, I reckon," and Mr. Day chuckled. "I told +ye them fule committeemen would overreach themselves. They've +withdrawn the charge." + +"_What_?" chorused the family, in joy and amazement. + +"Yessir! that's what they've done. Jedge Little sent word to me an' +give me back my bond. 'Course, we could ha' demanded a hearin' an' +tried ter git a clear discharge. And then ag'in--Wal! I advised Mr. +Haley ter let well enough alone." + +"Then they know who is the thief at last?" asked Janice, quaveringly. + +"No." + +"But they know Mr. Haley never stole them coins!" cried Aunt Almira. + +"Wal--ef they do, they don't admit of it," drawled Uncle Jason. + +"What in tarnation is it, then, Dad?" demanded Marty. + +"Why, they've made sech a to-do over findin' that gold piece in Hope +Drugg's possession, that they don't dare go on an' prosercute the +schoolmaster--nossir!" + +"Bully!" exclaimed the thoughtless Marty. "That's all right, then." + +"But--but," objected Janice, with trembling lip, "that doesn't clear +Nelson at all!" + +"It answers the puppose," proclaimed Uncle Jason. "He ain't under +arrest no more, and he don't hafter pay no lawyer's fee." + +"Ye-es," admitted his niece, slowly. "But what is poor Nelson to do? +He's still under a cloud, and he can't teach school." + +"And believe me!" growled Marty, "that greeny they got to teach in his +place don't scu'cely know beans when the bag's untied." + +It was true that the four committeemen had considered it wise to +withdraw their charge against Nelson Haley. Without any evidence but +that of a purely presumptive character, their lawyer had advised this +retreat. + +Really, it was a sharp trick. It left Nelson worse off, as far as +disproving their charge went, than he would have been had they taken +the case into court. The charge still lay against the young man in the +public mind. He had no opportunity of being legally cleared of +suspicion. + +The ancient legal supposition that a man is innocent until he is found +guilty, is never honored in a New England village. He is guilty unless +proved innocent. And how could Nelson prove his innocence? Only by +discovering the real thief and proving _him_ guilty. + +The shrewd attorney hired by the four committeemen knew very well that +he was not prejudicing his clients' case when he advised them to quash +the warrant. + +But as for the discovery of the rare coin in circulation--one known to +belong to the collection stolen from the schoolhouse--that injured the +committeemen's cause rather than helped it, it must be confessed. + +Joe Bodley frankly admitted having paid over the gold piece to Hopewell +Drugg, as a deposit on the fiddle. But he professed not to know how +the coin had come into the till at the tavern. + +Joe had full charge of the cash-drawer when Mr. Parraday was not +present, and he had helped himself to such money as he thought he would +need when he went up town to negotiate for the purchase of the fiddle. +He denied emphatically that the man who had engaged him to purchase the +fiddle had given him the ten dollar gold piece. Who the purchaser of +the fiddle was, however, the barkeeper declined to say. + +"That's my business," Joe had said, when questioned on this point. +"Ya-as. I expect to take the fiddle. Hopewell's agreed to sell it to +me, fair and square. If I can make a lettle spec on the side, who's +business is it but my own?" + +When Janice heard the report of this--through Walky Dexter, of +course--she was reminded of the black-haired, foreign looking man, who +had been so much interested in Hopewell's violin the night she and +Frank Bowman had taken the storekeeper home from the dance. + +"I wonder if he can be the customer that Joe Bodley speaks of? Oh, +dear me!" sighed Janice. "I'm so sorry Hopewell has to sell his +violin. And I'm sorry he is going to sell it this way. If that 'foxy +looking foreigner,' as Mr. Bowman called him, is the purchaser of the +instrument, perhaps it is worth much more than a hundred dollars. + +"Lottie _must_ go again and have her eyes examined. Hopewell will take +her himself next month--the poor, dear little thing! Oh! if daddy's +mine wasn't down there among those hateful Mexicans---- + +"And I wonder," added the young girl, suddenly, "what one of those real +old violins is worth." + +She chanced to be reflecting on this subject on a Saturday afternoon +near the end of the month Hopewell had allowed to Joe Bodley to find +the rest of the purchase price for the violin. She had been up to the +church vestry to attend a meeting of her Girls' Guild. As she passed +the Public Library this thought came to her: + +"I'll go in and look in the encyclopaedia. _That_ ought to tell about +old violins." + +She looked up Cremona and read about its wonderful violins made in the +sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries by the Amati family +and by Antonio Stradivari and Josef Guarnerius. It did not seem +possible that Hopewell's instrument could be one of these beautifully +wrought violins of the masters; yet---- + +"Who knows?" sighed Janice. "You read about such instruments coming to +light in such queer places. And Hopewell's fiddle _looks_ awfully old. +From all accounts his father must have been a musician of some +importance, despite the fact that he was thought little of in Polktown +by either his wife or other people. Mr. Drugg might have owned one of +these famous violins--not one of the most ancient, perhaps--and told +nobody here about it. Why! the ordinary Polktownite would think just +as much of a two-dollar-and-a-half fiddle as of a real Stradivarius or +an Amati." + +While she was at the task, Janice took some notes of what she read. +While she was about this, Walky Dexter, who brought the mail over from +Middletown, daily, came in with the usual bundle of papers for the +reading desk, and the girl in charge that afternoon hastened to put the +papers in the files. + +Major Price had presented the library with a year's subscription to a +New York daily. Janice or Marty always found time to scan each page of +that paper for Mexican news--especially for news of the brigand chief, +Juan Dicampa. + +She went to the reading desk after closing and returning the +encyclopaedia to its proper shelf, and spread the New York paper before +her. This day she had not to search for mention of her father's +friend, the Zapatist chief. Right in front of her eyes, at the top of +the very first column, were these headlines: + + + JUAN DICAMPA CAPTURED + + THE ZAPATIST CHIEFTAIN CAPTURED BY + FEDERALS WITH 500 OF HIS FORCE AND + IMMEDIATELY SHOT. MASSACRE + OF HIS FOLLOWERS. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DEEP WATERS + +The dispatch in the New York paper was dated from a Texan city on the +day before. It was brief, but seemed of enough importance to have the +place of honor on the front page of the great daily. + +There were all the details of a night advance, a bloody attack and a +fearful repulse in which General Juan Dicampa's force had been nearly +wiped out. + +The half thousand captured with the famous guerrilla chief were +reported to have been hacked to pieces when they cried for quarter, and +Juan Dicampa himself was given the usual short shrift connected in most +people's minds with Mexican justice. He had been shot three hours +after his capture. + +It was an awful thing--and awful to read about. The whole affair had +happened a long way from that part of Chihuahua in which daddy's mine +was situated; but Janice immediately realized that the "long arm" of +Dicampa could no longer keep Mr. Broxton Day from disaster, or punish +those who offended the American mining man. + +The very worst that could possibly happen to her father, Janice +thought, had perhaps already happened. + +That was a very sorrowful evening indeed at the old Day house on +Hillside Avenue. Although Mr. Jason Day and Janice's father were half +brothers only, the elder man had in his heart a deep and tender love +for Broxton, or "Brocky," as he called him. + +He remembered Brocky as a lad--always. He felt the superiority of his +years--and presumably his wisdom--over the younger man. Despite the +fact that Mr. Broxton Day had early gone away from Polktown, and had +been deemed very successful in point of wealth in the Middle West, +Uncle Jason considered him still a boy, and his ventures in business +and in mining as a species of "wild oat sowing," of which he could +scarcely approve. + +"No," he sighed. "If Brocky had been more settled he'd ha' been better +off--I snum he would! A piece o' land right here back o' Polktown--or +a venture in a store, if so be he must trade--would ha' been safer for +him than a slather o' mines down there among them Mexicaners." + +"Don't talk so--don't talk so, Jason!" sniffed Aunt Almira. + +"Wal--it's a fac'," her husband said vigorously. "There may be some +danger attached ter store keepin' in Polktown; it's likely ter make a +man a good deal of a hawg," added Uncle Jason. "But I guess the life +insurance rates ain't so high as they be on a feller that's determined +ter spend his time t'other side o' that Rio Grande River they tell +about." + +"I wonder," sighed Aunt Almira, quite unconscious that she spoke aloud, +"if I kin turn that old black alpaca gown I got when Sister Susie died, +Jason, an' fashion it after one o' the new models?" + +"Heh?" grunted the startled Mr. Day, glaring at her. + +"Of course, we'll hafter go inter black--it's only decent. But I did +fancy a plum-colored dress this Spring, with r'yal purple trimmins. I +seen a pattern in the fashion sheet of the Fireside Love Letter that +was re'l sweet." + +"What's eatin' on you, Maw?" demanded her son gruffly. "Whatcher +wanter talk that way for right in front of Janice? I reckon we won't +none of us put on crepe for Uncle Brocky yet awhile," he added, stoutly. + +On Monday arrived another letter from Mr. Broxton Day. Of course, it +was dated before the dreadful night attack which had caused the death +of General Juan Dicampa and the destruction of his forces; and it had +passed through that chieftain's hands and had been remailed. + +Janice put away the envelope, directed in the sloping, clerkly hand, +and sighed. Daddy was in perfect health when he had written this last +epistle and the situation had not changed. + +"But no knowing what has happened to poor daddy since he wrote," +thought Janice. "We can know nothing about it. And another whole +month to wait to learn if he is alive." + +The girl was quite well aware that she could expect no inquiry to be +made at Washington regarding Mr. Broxton Day's fate. The +administration had long since warned all American citizens to leave +Mexico and to refrain from interference in Mexican affairs. Mr. Day +had chosen to stay by his own, and his friends', property--and he had +done this at his peril. + +"Oh, I wish," thought the girl, "that somebody could go down there and +capture daddy, and just make him come back over the border! As Uncle +Jason says, what's money when his precious life is in danger?" + +In almost the same breath, however, she wished that daddy could send +her more money. For Lottie Drugg had gone to Boston. Her father had +given over the violin to Joe Bodley, and that young speculator paid the +storekeeper the remainder of the hundred dollars agreed upon. With +this hundred dollars Hopewell started for Boston with Lottie, leaving +his wife to take care of the store for the few days he expected to be +absent. Janice went over to stay with Mrs. Drugg at night during +Hopewell's absence. + +Perhaps it was just as well that Janice was not at home during these +few days, as it gave her somebody's troubles besides her own to think +about. And the Day household really, if not visibly, was in mourning +for Broxton Day. Uncle Jason's face was as "long as the moral law," +and Aunt 'Mira, lachrymose at best, was now continuously and deeply +gloomy. Marty was the only person in the Day household able to cheer +Janice in the least. + +'Rill and Hopewell were in deep waters, too. Had Lottie not been such +an expense, the little store on the side street would have made a very +comfortable living for the three of them. They lived right up to their +income, however; and so Hopewell was actually obliged to sell his +violin to get Lottie to Boston. + +Mrs. Scattergood was frequently in the store now that her son-in-law +was away. She was, of course, ready with her criticisms as to the +course of her daughter and her husband. + +"Good Land o' Goshen!" chirped the little old woman to Janice, "didn't +I allus say it was the fullishest thing ever heard of for them two to +marry? Amarilly had allus airned good money teachin' and had spent it +as she pleased. And Hope Drugg never did airn much more'n the salt in +his johnny-cake in this store." + +Meanwhile she was helping herself to sugar and tea and flour and butter +and other little "notions" for her own comfort. Hopewell always said +that "Mother Scattergood should have the run of the store, and take +what she pleased," now that he had married 'Rill; and, although the +woman was not above maligning her easy-going son-in-law, she did not +refuse to avail herself of his generosity. + +"An' there it is!" went on Mrs. Scattergood. "'Rill was fullish enough +to put the money she'd saved inter a mortgage that pays her only five +per cent. An' ter git th' int'rest is like pullin' eye-teeth, and I +tell her she never will see the principal ag'in." + +Mrs. Scattergood neglected to state that she had urged her daughter to +put her money in this mortgage. It was on her son's farm, across the +lake at "Skunk's Hollow," as the place was classically named; and the +money would never have been tied up in this way had her mother not +begged and pleaded and fairly "hounded" 'Rill into letting the +shiftless brother have her savings on very uncertain security. + +"Them two marryin'," went on Mrs. Scattergood, referring to 'Rill and +Hopewell, "was for all the worl' like Famine weddin' with Poverty. And +a very purty weddin' that allus is," she added with a sniff. "Neither +of 'em ain't got nothin', nor never will have--'ceptin' that Hopewell's +got an encumbrance in the shape of that ha'f silly child." + +Janice was tempted to tell the venomous old woman that she thought +Hopewell's only encumbrance was his mother-in-law. + +"And him fiddlin' and drinkin' and otherwise wastin' his substance," +croaked Mrs. Scattergood. + +At this Janice did utter an objection: + +"Now, that is not so, Mrs. Scattergood. You know very well that that +story about Hopewell being a drinking man is not true." + +"My! is that so? Didn't I see him myself? And you seen him, too, +Janice Day, comin' home that night, a wee-wawin' like a boat in a heavy +sea. I guess I see what I see. And as for his fiddlin'----" + +"You need not be troubled on that score, at least," sighed Janice. +"Poor Hopewell! He's sold his violin." + +Walky Dexter came into the store that same evening, chuckling over the +sale of the instrument. + +"I wouldn't go for ter say Hopewell is a sharper," he grinned; "but +mebbe he ain't so powerful innercent as he sometimes 'pears. If so, +I'm sartainly glad of it." + +"What do you mean, Mr. Dexter?" asked 'Rill, rather sharply. + +"Guess Joe Bodley feels like he'd like ter know whether Hopewell done +him or not. Joe's condition is suthin' like the snappin' turtle's when +he cotched a-holt of Peleg Swift's red nose as he was stoopin' ter git +a drink at the spring. He didn't durst ter let go while Peke was +runnin' an' yellin' 'Murder!' but he was mighty sorry ter git so fur +from home. Haw! haw! haw!" + +"What is the matter with Joe Bodley now, Walky?" asked Nelson, who was +present. "Didn't he make a good thing out of the violin transaction?" + +"Why--haw! haw!--he dunno yit. But I b'lieve he's beginnin' ter have +his doubts--like th' feller 't got holt of the black snake a-thinkin' +it was a heifer's tail," chuckled Walky, whose face was very red and +whose spicy breath--Joe Bodley always kept a saucer of cloves on the +end of the bar--was patent to all in the store. + +"Joe's a good sport; he ain't squealin' none," pursued Dexter; "but +there is the fiddle a-hangin' behint th' bar an' Joe's beginnin' ter +look mighty sour when ye mention it to him." + +"Why, Mr. Dexter!" 'Rill said, in surprise, "hasn't he turned it over +to the man he said he bought it for?" + +"Wal--not so's ye'd notice it," Walky replied, grinning fatuously. "I +dunno who the feller is, or how much money he gin Joe in the fust place +to help pay for the fiddle--some, of course. But if Joe paid Hopewell +a hundred dollars for the thing you kin jest bet he 'spected to git +ha'f as much ag'in for it. + +"But I reckon the feller's reneged or suthin'. Joe ain't happy about +it--he! he! Mebbe on clost examination the fiddle don't 'pear ter be +one o' them old masters they tell about! Haw! haw! haw!" + +Janice started to say something. "Why don't they look inside----" + +"Inside o' what?" demanded Walky, when the girl halted. + +"I am positive that Hopewell would never have sold it for a hundred +dollars if he hadn't felt he must," broke in the storekeeper's wife, +and Janice did not complete her impulsive observation. + +"Ye can't most allus sometimes tell!" drawled Walky. "Mebbe Hopewell +had suthin' up his sleeve 'sides his wrist. Haw! haw! haw! + +"Shucks! talk about a fiddle bein' wuth a hunderd dollars! +Jefers-pelters! I seen one a-hangin' in a shop winder at Bennington +once 't looked every whit as good as Hopewell's, and as old, an' 'twas +marked plain on a card, 'two dollars an' a ha'f.'" + +"I guess there are fiddles and _fiddles_," said 'Rill, a little tartly +for her. + +"No," laughed Nelson. "There are fiddles and _violins_. Like the word +'vase.' If it's a cheap one, plain 'vase' is well enough to indicate +it; but if it costs over twenty-five dollars they usually call it a +'vahze.' I have always believed Hopewell's instrument deserved the +dignity of 'violin.'" + +"Wal," declared Walky. "I guess ye kin have all the dignity, _and_ the +vi'lin, too, if you offer Joe what he paid for it. I don't b'lieve +he'll hang off much for a profit--er--haw! haw! haw!" + +"I wish I were wealthy enough to buy the violin back from that fellow," +whispered Janice to the schoolmaster. + +"Ah! I expect you do, Janice," he said softly, eyeing her with +admiration. "And I wish I could give you the money to do so. It would +give you more pleasure, I fancy, to hand Hopewell back his violin when +he returns from Boston than almost anything we could name. Wouldn't +it?" + +"Oh, dear me! yes, Nelson," she sighed. "I just wish I were rich." + +Just about this time there were a number of things Janice desired money +for. She had a little left in the bank at Middletown; but she dared +not use it for anything but actual necessities. No telling when daddy +could send her any more for her own private use. Perhaps, never. + +The papers gave little news of Mexican troubles just now. Of course, +Juan Dicampa being dead, there was no use watching the news columns for +_his_ name. + +And daddy was utterly buried from her! She had no means of informing +herself whether he were alive or dead. She wrote to him faithfully at +least once each week; but she did not know whether the letters reached +him or not. + +As previously advised, she addressed the outer envelope for her +father's letters in care of Juan Dicampa. But that seemed a hollow +mockery now. She was sending the letters to a dead man. + +Was it possible that her father received the missives? Could Juan +Dicampa's influence, now that he was dead, compass their safety? It +seemed rather a ridiculous thing to do, yet Janice continued to send +them in care of the guerrilla chieftain. + +Indeed, Janice Day was wading in deep waters. It was very difficult +for her to carry a cheerful face about during this time of severe trial. + +But she threw herself, whole-heartedly, into the temperance campaign, +and strove to keep her mind from dwelling upon her father's peril. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +JOSEPHUS COMES OUT FOR PROHIBITION + +It was while Janice was staying with Mrs. Hopewell Drugg during the +storekeeper's absence in Boston, that she met Sophie Narnay on the +street. + +The child looked somewhat better as to dress, for Janice had found her +some frocks weeks before, and Mrs. Narnay had utilized the gifts to the +very best advantage. But the poor little thing was quite as hungry +looking as ever. + +"Oh, Miss Janice!" she said, "I wish you'd come down to see our baby. +She's ever so much worse'n she was. I guess 'twas a good thing 'at we +never named her. 'Twould jest ha' been a name wasted." + +"Oh, dear, Sophie! is she as bad as all that?" cried Janice. + +"Yep," declared the child. + +"Can't the doctor help her?" + +"He's come a lot--an' he's been awful nice. Mom says she didn't know +there was such good folks in the whole worl' as him an' you. But +there's somethin' the matter with the baby that no doctor kin help, so +he says. An' I guess he's got the rights of it," concluded Sophie, in +her old-fashioned way. + +"I will certainly come down and see the poor little thing," promised +Janice. "And your mamma and Johnnie and Eddie. Is your father at home +now?" + +"Nop. He's up in Concannon's woods yet. They've took a new +contrac'--him and Mr. Trimmins. An' mebbe it'll last all Summer. Dear +me! I hope so. Then pop won't be home to drink up all the money mom +earns." + +"I will come down to-morrow," Janice promised, for she was busy just +then and could not accompany Sophie to Pine Cove. + +This was Saturday afternoon and Janice was on her way to the steamboat +dock to see if certain freight had arrived by the _Constance Colfax_ +for Hopewell Drugg's store. She was doing all she could to help 'Rill +conduct the business while the storekeeper was away. + +During the week she had scarcely been home to the Day house at all. +Marty had run the car over to the Drugg place in the morning in time +for her to start for Middletown; and in the afternoon her cousin had +come for the Kremlin and driven it across town to the garage again. + +This Saturday she would not use the car, for she wished to help 'Rill, +and Marty had taken a party of his boy friends out in the Kremlin. +Marty had become a very efficient chauffeur now and could be trusted, +so his father said, not to try to hurdle the stone walls along the way, +or to make the automobile climb the telegraph poles. + +"Marm" Parraday was sweeping the front porch and steps of the Lake View +Inn. Although the Inn had become very well patronized now, the +tavernkeeper's vigorous wife was not above doing much of her own work. + +"Oh, Janice Day! how be ye?" she called to the girl. "I don't see ye +often," and Mrs. Parraday smiled broadly upon her. + +As Janice came nearer she saw that Marm Parraday did not look as she +once did. Her hair had turned very gray, there were deeper lines in +her weather-beaten face, and a trembling of her lips and hands made +Janice's heart ache. + +If the Inn was doing well and Lem Parraday was prospering, his wife +seemed far from sharing in the good times that appeared to have come to +the Lake View Inn. + +The great, rambling house had been freshened with a coat of bright +paint; the steps and porch and porch railings were mended; the sod was +green; the flower gardens gay; the gravel of the walks and driveway +freshly raked; while the round boulders flanking the paths were +brilliant with whitewash. + +"Why!" said Janice honestly, "the old place never looked so nice +before, Mrs. Parraday. You have done wonders this Spring. I hope you +will have a prosperous season." + +Mrs. Parraday clutched the girl's arm tightly. Janice saw that her +eyes seemed quite wild in their expression as she pointed a trembling +finger at the gilt sign at the corner of the house, lettered with the +single word: "Bar." + +"With that sign a-swingin' there, Janice Day?" she whispered. "You air +wishin' us prosperity whilst Lem sells pizen to his feller men?" + +"Oh, Mrs. Parraday! I was not thinking of the liquor selling," said +Janice sympathetically. + +"Ye'd better think of it, then," pursued the tavernkeeper's wife. +"Ye'd better think of it, day and night. That's what _I_ do. I git on +my knees and pray 't Lem won't prosper as long as that bar room's open. +I do it 'fore Lem himself. He says I'm a-tryin' ter pray the +bread-and-butter right aout'n aour mouths. He's so mad at me he won't +sleep in the same room an' has gone off inter the west wing ter sleep +by hisself. But I don't keer," cried Mrs. Parraday wildly. "Woe ter +him that putteth the cup to his neighbor's lips! That's what _I_ tell +him. 'Wine is a mocker--strong drink is ragin'.' That's what the +Bible says. + +"An' Lem--a perfessin' member of Mr. Middler's church--an' me attendin' +the same for goin' on thutty-seven years----" + +"But surely, Mrs. Parraday, you are not to blame because your husband +sells liquor," put in Janice, sorry for the poor woman and trying to +comfort her. + +"Why ain't I?" sharply demanded the tavern-keeper's wife. "I've been +Lem's partner for endurin' all that time, too--thutty-seven years. +I've been hopin' all the time we'd git ahead an' have suthin' beside a +livin' here in Polktown. _I've been hungry for money_! + +"Like enough if I hadn't been so sharp after it, an' complained so +'cause we didn't git ahead, Lem an' Cross Moore wouldn't never got +their heads together an' 'greed ter try rum-selling to make the old Inn +pay a profit. + +"Oh, yes! I see my fault now. Oh, Lord! I see it," groaned Marm +Parraday, clasping her trembling hands. "But, believe me, Janice Day, +I never seen this that's come to us. We hev brought the curse of rum +inter this taown after it had been free from it for years. An' we +shell hafter suffer in the end--an' suffer more'n anybody else is +sufferin' through our fault." + +She broke off suddenly and, without looking again at Janice, mounted +the steps with her broom and disappeared inside the house. + +Janice, heartsick and almost in tears, was turning away when a figure +appeared from around the corner of the tavern--from the direction of +the bar-room, in fact. But Frank Bowman's smiling, ruddy face +displayed no sign of _his_ having sampled Lem Parraday's bar goods. + +"Hullo, Janice," he said cheerfully. "I've just been having a set-to +with Lem--and I don't know but he's got the best of me." + +"In what way?" asked the girl, brushing her eyes quickly that the young +man might not see her tears. + +"Why, this is pay day again, you know. My men take most of the +afternoon off on pay day. They are cleaning up now, in the camp house, +and will be over by and by to sample some of Lem's goods," and the +engineer sighed. + +"No, I can't keep them away from the place. I've tried. Some of them +won't come; but the majority will be in that pleasing condition known +as 'howling drunk' before morning." + +"Oh, Frank! I wish Lem would stop selling the stuff," cried Janice.' + +"Well, he won't. I've just been at him. I told him if he didn't close +his bar at twelve o'clock tonight, according to the law, I'd appear in +court against him myself. I mean to stand outside here with Constable +Cantor to-night and see that the barroom is dark at twelve o'clock, +anyway." + +"That will be a splendid move, Frank!" Janice said quickly, and with +enthusiasm. + +"Ye-es; as far as it goes. But Lem said to me: 'Don't forget this is a +hotel, Mr. Bowman, and I can serve my guests in the dining room or in +their own rooms, all night long, if I want to.' And that's true." + +"Oh, dear me! So he can," murmured Janice. + +"He's got me there," grumbled young Bowman. "I never thought Lem +Parraday any too sharp before; but he's learned a lot from Joe Bodley. +That young fellow is about as shrewd and foxy as they make 'em." + +"Yet they say he did not sell Hopewell's violin at a profit, as he +expected to," Janice observed. + +"That's right, too. And it's queer," the engineer said. "I've seen +that black-haired, foxy-looking chap around town more than once since +Joe bought the fiddle. Hullo! what's the matter with Dexter?" + +The engineer had got into step at once with Janice, and they had by +this time walked down High Street to the steamboat dock. The +freight-house door was open and Walky Dexter had loaded his wagon and +was ready to drive up town; but Josephus was headed down the dock. + +The expressman was climbing unsteadily to his seat, and in reply to +something said by the freight agent, he shouted: + +"Thas all right! thas all right! I kin turn Josephus 'round on this +dock. Jefers-pelters! he could _back_ clean up town with _this_ load, +I sh'd hope!" + +Janice had said nothing in reply to Frank Bowman's last query; but the +latter added, under his breath: "Goodness! Walky is pretty well +screwed-up, isn't he? I just saw him at the hotel taking what he calls +a 'snifter.'" + +"Poor Walky!" sighed Janice. + +"Poor Josephus, _I_ should say," rejoined Frank quickly. + +The expressman was turning the old horse on the empty dock. There was +plenty of room for this manoeuver; but Walky Dexter's eyesight was not +what it should be. Or, perhaps he was less patient than usual with +Josephus. + +"Git around there, Josephus!" the expressman shouted. "Back! Back! I +tell ye! Consarn yer hide!" + +He yanked on the bit and Josephus' heavy hoofs clattered on the +resounding planks. The wagon was heavily laden; and when it began to +run backward, with Walky jerking on the reins, it could not easily be +stopped. + +A rotten length of "string-piece" had been removed from one edge of the +dock, and a new timber had not yet replaced it. As bad fortune would +have it, Walky backed his wagon directly into this opening. + +"Hold on there! Where ye goin' to--ye crazy ol' critter?" bawled the +freight agent. + +"Hul-_lo_! Jefers-pelters!" gasped the suddenly awakened Walky, +casting an affrighted glance over his shoulder. "I'm a-backin' over +the dump, ain't I? Gid-_ap_, Josephus!" + +But when once Josephus made up his slow mind to back, he did it +thoroughly. He, too, expected to feel the rear wheels of the heavy +farm wagon bump against the string-piece. + +"Gid-_ap_, Josephus!" yelled Walky again, and rose up to smite the old +horse with the ends of the reins. He had no whip--nor would one have +helped matters, perhaps, at this juncture. + +The rear wheels went over the edge of the dock. The lake was high, +being swelled by the Spring floods. "Plump!" the back of the wagon +plunged into the water, and, the bulk of the load being over the rear +axle, the forward end shot up off the front truck. + +Wagon body and freight sunk into the lake. Walky, as though shot from +a catapult, described a parabola over his horse's head and landed with +a crash on all fours directly under Josephus' nose. + +Never was the old horse known to make an unnecessary motion. But the +sudden flight and unexpected landing on the dock of his driver, quite +excited Josephus. + +With a snort he scrambled backward, the front wheels went over the edge +of the dock and dragged Josephus with them. Harnessed as he was, and +still attached to the shafts, the old horse went into the lake with a +great splash. + +"Hey! Whoa! Whoa, Josephus! Jefers-pelters! ain't this a purty +to-do?" roared Walky, recovering his footing with more speed than grace. + +"Naow see that ol' critter! What's he think he's doin'--takin' a +swimmin' lesson?" + +For Josephus, with one mighty plunge, broke free from the shafts. He +struck out for the shore and reached shallow water almost immediately. +Walky ran off the dock and along the rocky shore to head the old horse +off and catch him. + +But Josephus had no intention of being so easily caught. Either he had +lost confidence in his owner, or some escapade of his colthood had come +to his memory. He splashed ashore, dodged the eager hand of Walky, and +with tail up, nostrils expanded, mane ruffled, and dripping water as he +ran, Josephus galloped up the hillside and into the open lots behind +Polktown. + +Walky Dexter, with very serious mien, came slowly back to the dock. +Janice and Frank Bowman, as well as the freight agent, had been held +spellbound by these exciting incidents. Frank and the agent were now +convulsed with laughter; but Janice sympathized with the woeful +expressman. + +The latter halted on the edge of the dock, gazing from the shafts of +his wagon sticking upright out of the lake to the snorting old horse up +on the hill. Then he scratched his bare, bald crown, sighed, and +muttered quite loud enough for Janice to hear: + +"Jefers-pelters! I reckon old Josephus hez come out for prohibition, +an' no mistake!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +ANOTHER GOLD PIECE + +Fortunately for Walky Dexter, the freight that he had backed into the +lake was not perishable. It could not be greatly injured by water. +With the help of neighbors and loiterers and a team of horses, the two +sections of the unhung wagon and the crates of agricultural tools were +hauled out of the lake. + +"There, Walky," said the freight agent, wiping his perspiring brow when +the work was completed--for this happened on a warm day in early June. +"I hope ter goodness you look where you air backin' to, nex' time." + +"Perhaps it will be just as well if he _backs_ where he's _looking_," +suggested the young engineer, having removed his coat and aided very +practically in the straightening out of Walky's affairs. This greatly +pleased Janice, who had remained to watch proceedings. + +"Come, naow, tell the truth, Walky Dexter," drawled another of the +expressman's helpers. "Was ye seein' double when ye did that trick?" + +There was a general laugh at this question. Walky Dexter, for once, +had no ready reply. Indeed, he had been particularly serious all +through the work of re-establishing his wagon on the dock. + +"Well, Walky, ye oughter stand treat on this, I vum!" said the freight +agent. "Suthin' long, an' cool, would go mighty nice." + +"Isuckles is aout o' season--he! he!" chuckled another, frankly +doubtful of Walky's generosity. + +"Lock up your freight house, Sam, and ye shall have it," declared +Walky, with sudden briskness. + +"That's the ticket!" exclaimed the Doubting Thomas, with a quick change +of tone. "Spoke like a soldier, Walky. I hope Joe's jest tapped a +fresh kaig." + +Walky halted and scratched his head as he looked from one to another of +the expectant group. "Why, ter tell the trewth," he jerked out, "I'm +feelin' more like some o' thet thar acid phosphate Massey sells out'n +his sody-fountain. Le's go up there." + +"Jest as yeou say, Walky. You're the doctor," said the freight agent, +though somewhat crestfallen, as were the others, at this suggestion. + +"Don't count me in, Walky--though I'm obliged to you," laughed Bowman, +who was getting into his coat. + +"Jest the same we'll paternize the drug store for this once," said the +expressman, stoutly, and with gravity he led the way up the hill. + +Later Walky went across into the fields and tried to catch Josephus; +but that wise old creature seemed suddenly to have lost confidence in +his master, and refused to be won by his tones, or even the shaking of +an empty oat-measure. So Walky was obliged to go home and bring down +Josephus' mate to draw the freight to its destination. + +Janice parted from the young engineer and walked up Hillside Avenue, +intending to take supper at home and afterward return to the Drugg +place to spend another night or two with the storekeeper's lonely wife. + +She was sitting with Aunt 'Mira on the side porch before supper, while +the "short bread" was baking and Uncle Jason and Marty were at the +chores, when Walky Dexter drew near with his now all but empty wagon, +and stopped in the lane to bring in a new cultivator Uncle Jason had +sent for. + +"Evenin', Miz' Day," observed Walky, eyeing Aunt 'Mira and her niece +askance. "Naow say it!" + +"Say what, Mr. Dexter?" asked Mrs. Day puzzled. + +"Why, I been gittin' of it all over taown," groaned the expressman. +"Sarves me right, I s'pose. I see the reedic'lous side o' most things +that happen ter other folks--an' they gotter right ter laff at me." + +"Why, what's happened ye?" asked Aunt 'Mira. + +"Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky. "Ain't Janice tol' ye?" + +"Nothin' about you," Mrs. Day assured him. + +"She'd be a good 'un ter tell secrets to, wouldn't she?" the expressman +said, with a queer twist of his face. "Ain't ye heard how I dumped m' +load--an' Josephus--inter the lake?" and he proceeded to recount the +accident with great relish and good humor. + +Marty and his father, bringing in the milk, stopped to listen and +laugh. At the conclusion of the story, as Marty was pumping a pail of +water for the kitchen shelf, Walky said: + +"Gimme a dipper o' that, boy. My mouth's so dry I can't speak the +trewth. That's it--thanky!" + +"Ye oughtn't to be dry, Walky--comin' right past Lem Parraday's +_ho_-tel," remarked Mr. Day, with a chuckle. + +"Wal, naow! that's what I was goin' ter speak abeout," said Walky, with +sudden vigor. "Janice, here, an' me hev been havin' an argyment right +along about that rum sellin' business----" + +"About the _drinking_, at any rate, Walky," interposed Janice, gently. + +"Wal--ahem!--ya-as. About the drinkin' of it, I s'pose. Yeou said, +Janice, that my takin' a snifter now and then was an injury to other +critters as well as to m'self." + +"And I repeat it," said the girl confidently. + +"D'ye know," jerked out Walky, with his head on one side and his eyes +screwed up, "that I b'lieve Josephus agrees with ye?" + +"Ho! ho!" laughed Marty. "Was you fresh from Lem Parraday's bar when +you backed the old feller over the dock?" + +"Wal, I'd had a snifter," drawled Walky, his eyes twinkling. "Anyhow, +I'm free ter confess that I don't see how I could ha' done sech a +fullish thing if I hadn't been drinkin'--it's a fac'! I never did +b'lieve what little I took would ever hurt anybody. But poor ol' +Josephus! He might ha' been drowned." + +"Oh, Walky!" cried Janice. "Do you see that?" + +"I see the light at last, Janice," solemnly said the expressman. "I +guess I'd better let the stuff alone. I dunno when I'd git a hoss as +good as Josephus----" + +"No nearer'n the boneyard," put in Marty, _sotto voce_. + +"Anyhow, I see my failin' sure enough. Never was so reckless b'fore in +all my life," pursued Walky. "Mebbe, if I kep' on drinkin' that stuff +they sell daown ter the _ho_-tel, I'd drown both m' hosses--havin' +drowned m' own brains--like twin kittens, in ha'f an inch o' alcohol! +Haw! haw! haw!" + +But despite his laughter Janice saw that Walky Dexter was much in +earnest. She said to Nelson that evening, in Hopewell Drugg's store: + +"I consider Walky's conversion is the best thing that's happened yet in +our campaign for prohibition." + +"A greater conquest than _mine_?" laughed the schoolmaster. + +"Why, Nelson," Janice said sweetly, "I know that you have only to think +carefully on any subject to come to the right conclusion. But poor +Walky isn't 'long' on thought, if he is on 'talk,'" and she laughed a +little. + +It was after Sunday School the following afternoon that Janice went +again to Pine Cove to see the Narnay baby. She had conversed with busy +Dr. Poole for a few moments and learned his opinion of the case. It +was not favorable. + +"Not much chance for the child," said the brusk doctor. "Never has +been much chance for it. One of those children that have no right to +be born." + +"Oh, Doctor!" murmured Janice. + +"A fact. It has never had enough nutrition and is going to die of +plain starvation." + +"Can nothing be done to save it? If it had plenty of nourishment +_now_?" + +"No use. Gone too far," growled the physician, shaking his grizzled +head. "If I knew how to save it, I would; that's my job. But the best +thing that can happen is its death. Ought to be a hangin' matter for +poor folks to have so many children, anyway," he concluded grimly. + +"That sounds _awful_ to me, Dr. Poole," Janice said. + +"There is something awful about Nature. Nature takes care of these +things, if we doctors are not allowed to." + +"Why! what do you mean?" + +"The law of the survival of the fittest is what keeps this old world of +ours from being overpopulated by weaklings." + +Janice Day was deeply impressed by the doctor's words, and thought over +them sadly as she walked down the hill toward Pine Cove. She went by +the old path past Mr. Cross Moore's and saw him in his garden, wheeling +his wife in her chair. + +Mrs. Moore was a frail woman, and because of long years of invalidism, +a most exacting person. She had great difficulty in keeping a maid +because of her unfortunate temper; and sometimes Mr. Moore was left +alone to keep house. Nobody could suit the invalid as successfully as +her husband. + +"Wheel me to the fence. I want to speak to that girl, Cross," +commanded the wife sharply, and the town selectman did so. + +"Janice Day!" called Mrs. Moore, "I wish to speak to you." + +Janice, smiling, ran across the street and shook hands with the sick +woman over the fence palings. But she barely nodded to Mr. Cross Moore. + +"I understand you're one o' these folks that's talking so foolish about +prohibition, and about shutting up the hotel. Is that so?" demanded +Mrs. Moore, her sunken, black eyes snapping. + +"I don't think it is foolish, Mrs. Moore," Janice said pleasantly. +"And we don't wish to close the Inn--only its bar." + +"Same thing," decided Mrs. Moore snappishly. "Takin' the bread and +butter out o' people's mouths! Ye better be in better business--all of +ye. And a young girl like you! I'd like to have my stren'th and have +the handling of you, Janice Day. I'd teach ye that children better be +seen than heard. Where you going to, Cross Moore?" for her husband had +turned the chair and was starting away from the fence. + +"Well--now--Mother! You've told the girl yer mind, ain't ye?" +suggested Mr. Moore. "That's what you wanted to do, wasn't it?" + +"I wish she was my young one," said Mrs. Moore, between her teeth, "and +I had the use o' my limbs. I'd make her behave herself!" + +"I wish she _was_ ours, Mother," Mr. Moore said kindly. "I guess we'd +be mighty proud of her." + +Janice did not hear his words. She had walked away from the fence with +flaming cheeks and tears in her eyes. She was sorry for Mrs. Moore's +misfortunes and had always tried to be kind to her; but this seemed +such an unprovoked attack. + +Janice Day craved approbation as much as any girl living. She +appreciated the smiles that met her as she walked the streets of +Polktown. The scowls hurt her tender heart, and the harsh words of +Mrs. Moore wounded her deeply. + +"I suppose that is the way they both feel toward me," she thought, with +a sigh. + +The wreck of the old fishing dock--a favorite haunt of little Lottie +Drugg--was at the foot of the hill, and Janice halted here a moment to +look out across it, and over the quiet cove, to the pine-covered point +that gave the shallow basin its name. + +Lottie had believed that in the pines her echo lived, and Janice could +almost hear now the childish wail of the little one as she shouted, +"He-a! he-a! he-a!" to the mysterious sprite that dwelt in the pines +and mocked her with its voice. Blind and very deaf, Lottie had been +wont to run fearlessly out upon the broken dock and "play with her +echo," as she called it. A wave of pity swept over Janice's mind and +heart. Suppose Lottie should again completely lose the boon of sight. +What would become of her as she grew into girlhood and womanhood? + +"Poor little dear! I almost fear for Hopewell to come home and tell us +what the doctors say," sighed Janice. + +Then, even more tender memories associated with the old wharf filled +Janice Day's thought. On it, in the afterglow of a certain sunset, +Nelson Haley had told her how the college at Millhampton had invited +him to join its faculty, and he had asked her if she approved of his +course in Polktown. + +It had been decided between them that Polktown was a better field for +his efforts in his chosen profession for the present--as the college +appointment would remain open to him--and Janice was proud to think +that meanwhile he had built the Polktown school up, and had succeeded +so well. This spot was the scene of their first really serious talk. + +She wondered now if her advice had been wise, after all. Suppose +Nelson had gone to Millhampton immediately when he was called there? +He would have escaped this awful accusation that had been brought +against him--that was sure. + +His situation now was most unfortunate. Having requested a vacation +from his school, he was receiving no pay all these weeks that he was +idle. And Janice knew the young man could ill afford this. He had +been of inestimable help to Mr. Middler and the other men who had +charge of the campaign for prohibition that was moving on so grandly in +Polktown. But that work could not be paid for. + +Janice believed Nelson was now nearly penniless. His situation +troubled her mind almost as much as that of her father in Mexico. + +She went on along the shore to the northward, toward the little group +of houses at the foot of the bluff, in one of which the Narnays lived. + +There were the children grouped together at one end of the rickety +front porch. Their mother sat on the stoop, rocking herself to and fro +with the sickly baby across her lean knees, her face hopeless, her +figure slouched forward and uncouth to look at. + +A more miserable looking party Janice Day had never before seen. And +the reason for it was quickly explained to her. At the far end of the +porch lay Narnay, on his back in the sun, his mouth open, the flies +buzzing around his red face, sleeping off--it was evident--the night's +debauch. + +"Oh, my dear!" moaned Janice, taking Mrs. Narnay's feebly offered hand +in both her own, and squeezing it tightly. "I--I wish I might help +you." + +"Ye can't, Miss. There ain't nothin' can be done for us--'nless the +good Lord would take us all," and there was utter hopelessness and +desperation in her voice. + +"Don't say that! It must be that there are better times in store for +you all," said Janice. + +"With _that_?" asked Mrs. Narnay, nodding her uncombed head toward the +sleeping drunkard. "Not much. Only for baby, here. There's a better +time comin' for her--thanks be!" + +"Oh!" + +"Doctor says she can't live out th' Summer. She's goin' ter miss +growin' up ter be what _I_ be--an' what Sophie'll proberbly be. It's a +mercy. But it's hard ter part 'ith the little thing. When she is +bright, she's that cunnin'!" + +As Janice came up the steps to sit down beside the poor woman and play +with the baby, that smiled at her so wanly, the sleeping man grunted, +rolled over toward them, half opened his eyes, and then rolled back +again. + +Something rattled on the boards of the porch. Janice looked and saw +several small coins that had rolled out of the man's trousers pocket. +Mrs. Narnay saw them too. + +"Git them, Sophie--quick!" she breathed peremptorily. + +"Cheese it, Mom!" gasped Sophie, running on tiptoe toward her sleeping +father. "He'll nigh erbout kill us when he wakes up." + +"I don't keer," said the woman, grabbing the coins when Sophie had +collected them. "He come out o' the woods last night and he had some +money an' I hadn't a cent. I sent him to git things from the store and +all he brought back--and that was at midnight when they turned him out +o' the hotel--was a bag of crackers and a pound of oatmeal. And he's +got money! He kin kill me if he wants. I'm goin' ter have some of +it--Oh, look! what's this?" + +Janice had almost cried out in amazement, too. One of the coins in the +woman's toil-creased palm was a gold piece. + +"Five dollars! Mebbe he had more," Mrs. Narnay said anxiously. "Mebbe +Concannon's paid 'em all some more money, and Jim's startin' in to +drink it up." + +"Better put that money back, Mom, he'll be mad," said Sophie, evidently +much alarmed. + +"He won't be ugly when the drink wears off and he ain't got no money to +git no more," her mother said. "Jim never is." + +"But he'll find out youse got that gold coin. He's foxy," said the +shrewd child. + +Janice drew forth her purse. "Let me have that five dollar gold +piece," she said to Mrs. Narnay. "I'll give you five one dollar bills +for it. You won't have to show but one of the bills at a time, that is +sure." + +"That's a good idea, Miss," said the woman hopefully. "And mebbe I can +make him start back for the woods again to-night. Oh, dear me! 'Tis +an awful thing! I don't want him 'round--an' yet when he's sober he's +the nicest man 'ith young'uns ye ever see. He jest dotes on this poor +little thing," and she looked down again into the weazened face of the +baby. + +"It is too bad," murmured Janice; but she scarcely gave her entire mind +to what the woman was saying. + +Here was a second gold piece turned up in Polktown. And, as Uncle +Jason had said, such coins were not often seen in the hamlet. Janice +had more than one reason for securing the gold piece, and she +determined to learn, if she could, if this one was from the collection +that had been stolen from the school-house weeks before. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IN DOUBT + +The first of all feminine prerogatives is the right to change one's +mind. Janice Day changed hers a dozen times about that five dollar +gold piece. + +It was at last decided, however, by the young girl that she would not +immediately take Nelson Haley into her confidence. Why excite hope in +his mind only, perhaps, to have it crushed again? Better learn all she +could about the gold coin that had rolled out of Jim Narnay's pocket, +before telling the young schoolmaster. + +In her heart Janice did not believe Narnay was the person who had +stolen the coin collection from the schoolhouse. He might have taken +part in such a robbery, at night, and while under the influence of +liquor; but he never would have had the courage to do such a thing by +daylight and alone. + +Narnay might be a companion of the real criminal; but more likely, +Janice believed, he was merely an accessory after the fact. + +This, of course, if the gold piece should prove to be one of those +belonging to the collection which Mr. Haley was accused of stealing. +The coin found in Hopewell Drugg's possession, and which had come to +him through Joe Bodley, might easily have been put into circulation by +the same person as this coin Narnay had dropped. The ten dollar coin +had gone into the tavern till, and this five dollar coin would probably +have gone there, too, had chance not put it in Janice Day's way. + +"First of all, I must discover if there was a coin like this one in +that collection," the girl told herself. And early on Monday morning, +on her way to the seminary, she drove around through High Street and +stopped before the drugstore. + +Fortunately Mr. Massey was not busy and she could speak to him without +delaying her trip to Middletown. + +"What's that?" he asked her, rumpling his topknot in his usual fashion +when he was puzzled or disturbed. "List of them coins? I should say I +did have 'em. The printed list Mr. Hobart left with 'em wasn't taken +by--by--well, by whoever took 'em. Here 'tis." + +"You speak," said Janice quickly, "as though you still believed Mr. +Haley to be the thief." + +"Well!" and again the druggist's hands went through his hair. "I dunno +what to think. If he done it, he's actin' mighty funny. There ain't +no warrant out for him now. He can leave town--go clean off if he +wants--and nobody will, or can, stop him. And ye'd think if he had all +that money he _would_ do so." + +"Oh, Mr. Massey!" + +"Well, I'm merely puttin' the case," said the druggist. "That would be +sensible. He's got fifteen hundred dollars or more--if he took the +coin collection. An' it ain't doin' him a 'tarnal bit of good, as I +can see. I told Cross Moore last night that I believe we'd been +barkin' up the wrong tree all this time." + +"What did he say?" cried Janice eagerly. + +"Well--he didn't _say_. Ye know how Cross is--as tight-mouthed as a +clam with the lockjaw. But it is certain sure that we committeemen +have our own troubles. Mr. Haley was a master good teacher. Ye got to +hand it to him on _that_. And this feller the Board sent us ain't got +no more idea of handling the school than I have of dancing the Spanish +fandango. + +"However, that ain't the p'int. What I was speakin' of is this: Nelse +Haley is either a blamed fool, or else he never stole that money," and +the druggist said it with desperation in his tone. "I hear he's took a +job at sixteen a month and board with Elder Concannon--and farmin' for +the elder ain't a job that no boy with money _and_ right good sense +would ever tackle." + +"Oh, Mr. Massey! Has he?" for this was news indeed to Janice. + +"Yep. That's what he's done. It looks like his runners was scrapin' +on bare ground when he'd do that. Course, I need a feller right in +this store--behind that sody-fountain. And a smart, nice appearin' one +like Nelse Haley would be just the ticket--'nough sight better than +Jack Besmith was. But I couldn't hire the schoolteacher, 'cause it +would create so much talk. But goin' to work on a farm--and for a +slave-driver like the elder--Well!" + +Janice understood very well why Nelson had said nothing to her about +this. He was very proud indeed and did not want the girl to suspect +how poor he had really become. Nelson had said he would stay in +Polktown until the mystery of the stolen coin collection was cleared +up--or, at least, until it was proved that he had nothing to do with it. + +"And the poor fellow has just about come to the end of his rope," +thought Janice commiseratingly. "Oh, dear, me! Even if I had plenty +of money, he wouldn't let me help him. Nelson wouldn't take money from +a girl--not even borrow it!" + +However, Janice stuck to her text with Massey and obtained the list of +the lost collection to look at. "Dunno what you want it for," said the +druggist. "You going sleuthing for the thief, Miss Janice?" + +"Maybe," she returned, with a serious smile. + +"I reckon that ten dollar gold piece that Joe Bodley took in at the +hotel was a false alarm." + +"If Joe Bodley had told you how he came by it, it would have helped +some, would it not, Mr. Massey?" + +"Sure--it might. But he couldn't remember who gave it to him," said +the man, wagging his head forlornly. + +"I wonder?" said Janice, using one of her uncle's favorite expressions, +and so made her way out of the store and into her car again. When she +had time that forenoon at the seminary she spread out the sheet on +which the description of the coins was printed, and looked for the note +relating to the five dollar gold piece in her possession. + +It was there. It was not a particularly old or a very rare coin, +however. There might be others of the same date and issue in +circulation. So, after all, the fact that Narnay had it proved +nothing--unless she could discover how he came by it--who had given it +to him. + +In the afternoon Janice drove home by the Upper Road and ran her car +into Elder Concannon's yard. It was the busy season for the elder, for +he conducted two big farms and had a number of men working for him +besides his regular farm hands. + +He was ever ready to talk with Janice Day, however, and he came out of +the paddock now, in his old dust coat and broad-brimmed hat, smiling +cordially at her. + +"Come in and have a pot of tea with me," he said. "Ye know I'm partial +to 'old maid's tipple' and Mrs. Grayson will have it ready about now, I +s'pose. Stop! I'll tell her to bring it out on the side porch. It's +shady there. You look like a cup would comfort you, Janice. What's +the matter?" + +"I've lots of troubles, Elder Concannon," she said, with a sigh. "But +you have your share, too, so I'll keep most of mine to myself," and she +hopped out from behind the wheel of the automobile. + +They went to the porch and the elder halloaed in at the screen door. +His housekeeper soon bustled out with the tray. She remained to take +one cup of tea herself. Then, when she had gone about her duties, +Janice opened the subject upon which she had come to confer. + +"How are those men getting on in your wood lot, Elder?" + +"What men--and what lot?" he asked smiling. + +"I don't know what lot it is; but I mean Mr. Trimmins and those others." + +"Oh! Trimmins and Jim Narnay and that Besmith boy?" + +"Yes." + +"Why, they are moving on slowly. This is their third job with me since +Winter. Once or twice they've kicked over the traces and gone on a +spree----" + +"That was when you paid them?" + +"That was when I _had_ to pay them," said the elder. "They work pretty +well when they haven't any money." + +"Have you paid them lately, Sir?" asked Janice. "I am asking for a +very good reason--not out of curiosity." + +"I have not. It's a month and more since they saw the color of my +money. Hold on! that's not quite true," he added suddenly. "I gave +Jim Narnay a dollar Saturday afternoon." + +"Oh!" + +"He came by here on his way to town. Said he was going down to see his +sick baby. She _is_ sick, isn't she?" + +"Oh, yes," murmured Janice. "Poor little thing!" + +"Well, he begged for some money, and I let him have a dollar. He said +he didn't want to go down home without a cent in his pocket. So I gave +it to him." + +"Only a dollar?" repeated the girl thoughtfully. + +The old man's face flushed a little, and he said tartly: "I reckon +_that_ did him no good. By the looks of his face when he went through +here Sunday night he'd proberbly spent it all in liquor, I sh'd say." + +"Oh, no! I didn't mean to criticize your generosity," Janice said +quickly. "I believe you gave him more than was good for him. I know +that Mrs. Narnay and the children had little benefit of it." + +"That's what I supposed," grunted the elder. + +Janice sipped her tea and, looking over the edge of her cup at him, +asked: + +"Having much trouble, Elder, with your new man?" + +"What new man?" snorted the old gentleman, his mouth screwed up very +tightly. + +"I hear you have the school teacher working for you," she said. + +"Well! So I have," he admitted, his face suddenly broadening. "Trust +you women folks for finding things out in a hurry. But he ain't +teaching school up here--believe me!" + +"No?" + +"He's helping clean up my hog lot. I dunno but maybe he thinks it +isn't any worse than managing Polktown boys," and the elder chuckled. + +But Janice was serious and she bent forward and laid a hand upon the +old man's arm. "Oh, Elder Concannon! don't be too hard on him, will +you?" she begged. + +He grinned at her. "I won't break him all up in business. We want to +use him down town in these meetings we're going to hold for temperance. +He's got a way of talking that convinces folks, Janice--I vow! +Remember how he talked for the new schoolhouse? I haven't forgotten +that, for he beat me that time. + +"Now; we can't afford to hire many of these outside speakers for +prohibition--it costs too much to get them here. But I have told Mr. +Haley to brush up his ideas, and by and by we'll have him make a speech +in Polktown. He can practise on the pigs for a while," added the elder +laughing; "and maybe after all they won't be so dif'rent from some of +them in town that I want should hear the young man when he does spout." + +So Janice was comforted, and ran down town to the Drugg place in a much +more cheerful frame of mind. Marty was waiting at the store for the +car. There was a special reason for his being so prompt. + +"Look-a-here!" he called. "What d'ye know about this?" and he waved +something over his head. + +"What is it, Marty Day?" Janice cried, looking at the small object in +wonder. + +"Another letter from Uncle Brockey! Hooray! he ain't dead yet!" +shouted the boy. + +His cousin seized the missive--fresh from the post-office--and gazed +anxiously at the envelope. It was postmarked in one of the border +towns many days after the report of Juan Dicampa's death; yet the +writing on the envelope was the handwriting of the guerrilla chief. + +"Goodness me!" gasped Janice, "what can this mean?" + +She broke the seal. As usual the envelope inside was addressed to her +by her father. And as she hastily scanned the letter she saw no +mention made of Juan Dicampa's death. Indeed, Mr. Broxton Day wrote +just as though his own situation, at least, had not changed. And he +seemed to have received most of her letters. + +What did it mean? If the guerrilla leader had been shot by the +Federals, how was it possible for her father's letters to still come +along, redirected in Juan Dicampa's hand? + +Doubt assailed her mind--many doubts, indeed. Although Mr. Broxton Day +seemed still in safety, the mystery surrounding his situation in Mexico +grew mightily in Janice's mind. + +That evening Hopewell Drugg returned from Boston and reported that +Lottie would have to remain under the doctors' care for a time. They, +too, were in doubt. Nobody could yet say whether the child would lose +her sight or not. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE TIDE TURNS + +These doubts, however, did not switch Janice Day's thought off the line +of the stolen gold coins. + +The five dollar gold piece found in the possession of Jim Narnay still +raised in the girl's mind a number of queries. It was a mystery, she +believed, that when solved might aid in clearing Nelson Haley of +suspicion. + +Of course, the coin she carried in her purse might not be one of those +lost with the collection. That was impossible to decide at the moment. +The case of the ten-dollar coin was different. That was an exceedingly +rare one and in all probability nobody but a person ignorant of its +value would have put it into circulation. + +Nevertheless, how did Jim Narnay get hold of a five dollar gold piece? + +Elder Concannon had not given it to him. Narnay had come to town on +that Saturday evening with only a dollar of the elder's money in his +pocket. Did he bring the coin with him, or did he obtain it after +reaching town? And who had given the gold piece to the man, in either +case? + +Janice would have been glad to take somebody into her confidence in +this matter; but who should it be? Not her uncle or her aunt. Neither +Hopewell nor 'Rill was to be thought of. And the minister, or Elder +Concannon, seemed too much apart from this business to be conferred +with. And Nelson---- + +She did go to Mrs. Beaseley's one evening, hoping that she might find +Nelson there, for she had not seen the young man or heard from him +since he had gone out of town to work for Elder Concannon. He was not +at the widow's, and she found that good but lachrymose woman in tears. + +"I'm a poor lone woman--loner and lorner than I've felt since my poor, +sainted Charles passed away. Oh, Janice! it seems a pitiful shame that +such a one as Mr. Haley should have to go to work on a farm when he can +do such a lot of other things--and better things." + +"I don't know about there being anything much better than farming--if +one has a taste for it," said Janice cheerfully. + +"But an educated man--a teacher!" groaned Mrs. Beaseley. "An' I felt +like he was my own son--'specially since Cross Moore and them others +been houndin' him about that money. Cross Moore come to me, an' says +he: 'Miz Beaseley, 'tis your duty to let me look through that young +man's things when he's out. We'll either clear him or clench it on +him.' + +"An' says I: 'Cross Moore, if you put your fut across my threshold I'll +sartain sure take the broom to you--an' ye'll find _that's_ clenched, +a'ready!'" + +"Oh, Mrs. Beaseley!" gasped Janice, yet inclined to laugh, too. + +"Oh, I'd ha' done it," threatened the widow, the tears still on her +cheeks. "Think o' them, houndin' poor Mr. Haley so! Why! if my poor +sainted Charles was alive, he'd run Cross Moore clean down to the +lake--an' inter it, I expect, like Walky Dexter's boss. + +"And if he warn't so proud----" + +"_Who_ is so proud, Mrs. Beaseley?" asked Janice, who had some +difficulty at times in following the good woman's line of talk. + +"Why--Mr. Nelson Haley. I did make him leave his books here, and +ev'rything he warn't goin' ter use out there at the elder's. And I'm +going to keep them two rooms jest as he had 'em, and he shell come back +here whenever he likes. Money! What d' I keer whether he pays me +money or not? My poor, sainted Charles left me enough to live on as +long as a poor, lorn, lone creeter like me wants ter live. Nelson +Haley is welcome ter stay here for the rest of his endurin' life, if he +wants to, an' never pay me a cent!" + +"I don't suppose he could take such great favors as you offer him, Mrs. +Beaseley," said Janice, kissing her. "But you are a _dear_! And I +know he must appreciate what you have already done for him." + +"Wish't 'twas more! Wish't 'twas more!" sobbed Mrs. Beaseley. "But +he'll come back ter me nex' Fall. I know! When he goes ter teachin' +ag'in, he _must_ come here to live." + +"Oh, Mrs. Beaseley! do you think they will _let_ Nelson teach again in +the Polktown school?" cried the girl. + +"My mercy me! D'yeou mean to tell me Cross Moore and Massey and them +other men air perfect fules?" cried the widow. "Here 'tis 'most time +for school to close, and they tell me the graduatin' class ain't +nowhere near where they ought to be in their books. The supervisor +come over himself, and he says he never seen sech ridiculous work as +this Mr. Adams has done here. He--he's a _baby_! And he ought to be +teachin' babies--not bein' principal of a graded school sech as Mr. +Haley built up here." + +There were plenty of other people in Polktown who spoke almost as +emphatically against the present state of the school and in Nelson's +favor. Three months or so of bad management had told greatly in the +discipline and in the work of the pupils. + +A few who would graduate from the upper grade were badly prepared, and +would have to make up some of their missed studies during the Summer if +they were to be accepted as pupils in their proper grade at the +Middletown Academy. + +Mr. Haley's record up to the very day he had withdrawn from his +position of teacher was as good as any teacher in the State. Indeed, +several teachers from surrounding districts had met with him in +Polktown once a month and had taken work and instructions from him. +The State Board of Education and the supervisors had appreciated +Nelson's work. Mr. Adams had been the only substitute they could give +Polktown at such short notice. He was supposed to have had the same +training, as Mr. Haley; but--"different men, different minds." + +"Ye'd oughter come over to our graduation exercises, Janice," said +Marty, with a grin. "We're goin' to do ourselves proud. Hi tunket! +that Adams is so green that I wonder Walky's old Josephus ain't bit him +yet, thinkin' he was a wisp of grass." + +"Now Marty!" said his mother, admonishingly. + +"Fact," said her son. "Adams wants me to speak a piece on that great +day. I told him I couldn't--m' lip's cracked!" and Marty giggled. +"But Sally Prentiss is going to recite 'A Psalm of Life,' and Peke +Ringgold is going to tell us all about 'Bozzar--Bozzar--is'--as though +we hadn't been made acquainted with him ever since Hector was a pup. +And Hector's a big dog now!" + +"You're one smart young feller, now, ain't ye?" said his father, for +this information was given out by Marty at the supper table one evening +just before the "great day," as he called the last session of school +for that year. + +"I b'lieve I'm smart enough to know when to go in and keep dry," +returned his son, flippantly. "But I've my doubts about Mr. Adams--for +a fac'." + +"Nev' mind," grunted his father. "There'll be a change before next +Fall." + +"There'd better be--or I don't go back for my last year at school. +Now, you can bet on that!" cried Marty, belligerently. "Hi tunket! +I'd jest as soon be taught by an old maid after all as Adams." + +Differently expressed, the whole town seemed of a mind regarding the +school and the failure of Mr. Adams. The committee got over that +ignominious graduation day as well as possible. Mr. Middler did all he +could to make it a success, and he made a very nice speech to the +pupils and their parents. + +The minister could not be held responsible in any particular for the +failure of the school. Of all the committee, he had had nothing to do +with Nelson Haley's resignation. As Walky Dexter said, Mr. Middler +"flocked by himself." He had little to do with the other four members +of the school committee. + +"And when it comes 'lection," said Walky, dogmatically, "there's a hull +lot on us will have jest abeout as much to do with Cross Moore and +Massey and old Crawford and Joe Pellett, as Mr. Middler does. +Jefers-pelters! If they don't put nobody else up for committeemen, +I'll vote for the taown pump!" + +"Ya-as, Walky," said Uncle Jason, slily. "That'd be likely, I reckon. +I hear ye air purty firmly seated on the water wagon." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE TEMPEST + +Mr. Cross Moore was not a man who easily or frequently recanted before +either public or private opinion. As political "boss" of the town he +had often found himself opposed to many of his neighbors' wishes. +Neither sharp tongue nor sharp look disturbed him--apparently, at least. + +Besides, Mr. Moore loved a fight "for the fight's sake," as the +expression is. He had backed Lem Parraday in applying for a liquor +license, to benefit his own pocket. It had to be a good reason indeed, +to change Mr. Moore's attitude on the liquor selling question. + +The hotel barroom held great attractions for many of Cross Moore's +supporters, although Mr. Moore himself seldom stepped into that part of +the hotel. The politician did not trust Lem Parraday to represent him, +for Lem was "no wiser than the law allows," to quote his neighbors. +But Joe Bodley, the young barkeeper, imported from the city, was just +the sort of fellow Cross Moore could use. + +And about this time Joe Bodley was in a position where his fingers +"itched for the feel of money." Not other people's money, but his own. +He had scraped together all he had saved, and drawn ahead on his wages, +to make up the hundred dollars paid Hopewell Drugg for the violin, +and---- + +"Seems ter me that old fiddle is what they call a sticker, ain't it, +'stead of a Straddlevarious?" chuckled Walky Dexter, referring to the +instrument hanging on the wall behind Joe's head. + +"Oh, I'll get my money back on it," Bodley replied, with studied +carelessness. "Maybe I'll raffle it off." + +"Not here in Polktown ye won't," said the expressman. "Yeou might as +well try ter raffle off a white elephant." + +"Pshaw! of course not. But a fine fiddle like that--a real +Cremona--will bring a pretty penny in the city. There, Walky, roll +that barrel right into this corner behind the bar. I'll have to put a +spigot in it soon. Might's well do it now. 'Tis the real Simon-pure +article, Walky. Have a snifter?" + +"On the haouse?" queried Walky, briskly. + +"Sure. It's a tin roof," laughed Bodley. + +"Much obleeged ter ye," said Walky. "As yer so pressin'--don't mind if +I do. A glass of sars'p'rilla'll do me." + +"What's the matter with you lately, Walky?" demanded the barkeeper, +pouring the non-alcoholic drink with no very good grace. "Lost your +taste for a man's drink?" + +"Sort o'," replied Walky, calmly. "Here's your health, Joe. I thought +you had that fiddle sold before you went to Hopewell arter it?" + +"To tell ye the truth, Walky----" + +"Don't do it if it hurts ye, Joe. Haw! haw!" + +The barkeeper made a wry face and continued: + +"That feller I got it for, only put up a part of the price. I thought +he was a square sport; but he ain't. When he got a squint at the old +fiddle while Hopewell was down here playing for the dance, he was just +crazy to buy it. Any old price, he said! After I got it," proceeded +Joe, ruefully, "he tries to tell me it ain't worth even what I paid for +it." + +"Wal--'tain't, is it?" said Walky, bluntly. + +"If it's worth a hundred it's worth a hundred and fifty," said the +barkeeper doggedly. + +"Ya-as--_if_," murmured the expressman. + +"However, nobody's going to get it for any less--believe me! Least of +all that Fontaine. I hate these Kanucks, anyway. I know _him_. He's +trying to jew me down," said Joe, angrily. + +"Wal, you take it to the city," advised Walky. "You kin make yer spec +on it there, ye say." + +There was a storm cloud drifting across Old Ti as the expressman +climbed to his wagon seat and drove away from the Inn. It had been a +very hot day and was now late afternoon--just the hour for a summer +tempest. + +The tiny waves lapped the loose shingle along the lake shore. There +was the hot smell of over-cured grass on the uplands. The flower beds +along the hilly street which Janice Day mounted after a visit to the +Narnays, were quite scorched now. + +This street brought Janice out by the Lake View Inn. She, too, saw the +threatening cloud and hastened her steps. Sharp lightnings flickered +along its lower edge, lacing it with pale blue and saffron. The mutter +of the thunder in the distance was like a heavy cannonade. + +"Maybe it sounded so years and years ago when the British and French +fought over there," Janice thought. "How these hills must have echoed +to the roll of the guns! And when Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain +Boys discharged the guns in a salvo of thanksgiving over Old Ti's +capture--Oh! is that you, Nelson? How you startled me." + +For the young schoolmaster had come up the hill behind her at a +breathless gait. "We've got to hurry," he said. "That's going to be +what Marty would call a 'humdinger' of a storm, Janice." + +"Dear me! I didn't know you were in town," she said happily. + +"We got the last of the hay in this morning," said the bronzed young +fellow, smiling. "I helped mow away and the elder was kind enough to +say that I had done well and could have the rest of the day to myself. +I fancy the shrewd old fellow knew it was about to rain," and he +laughed. + +"And how came you down this way?" Janice asked. + +"Followed your trail," laughed Nelson. I went in to Mrs. Beaseley's of +course. "And then at Drugg's I learned you had gone down to see Jim +Narnay's folks. But I didn't catch you there. Goodness, Janice, but +they are a miserable lot! I shouldn't think you could bear to go +there." + +"Oh, Nelson, the poor little baby--it is so sick and it cheers Mrs. +Narnay up a little if I call on her. Besides, Sophie and the little +boys are just as cunning as they can be. I can't help sympathizing +with them." + +"Do save some of your sympathy for other folks, Janice," said Nelson, +rather ruefully. "You ought to have seen the blisters I had on my +hands the first week or two I was a farmer." + +"Oh, Nelson! That's too bad," she cried, with solicitude. + +"Too late!" he returned, laughing. "They are callouses now--marks of +honest toil. Whew! see that dust-cloud!" + +The wind had ruffled the lake in a wide strip, right across to the +eastern shore. Whitecaps were dancing upon the surface and the waves +ran a long way up the beach. The wind, rushing ahead of the +rain-cloud, caught up the dust in the streets and advanced across the +town. + +Janice hid her face against the sleeve of her light frock. Nelson led +her by the hand as the choking cloud passed over. Then the rain, in +fitful gusts at first, pelted them so sharply that the girl cried out. + +"Oh, Nelson, it's like hail!" she gasped. + +A vivid flash of lightning cleaved the cloud; the thunder-peal drowned +the schoolmaster's reply. But Janice felt herself fairly caught up in +his arms and he mounted some steps quickly. A voice shouted: + +"Bring her right this way, school teacher! Right in here!" + +It was Lem Parraday's voice. They had mounted the side porch of the +Inn and when Janice opened her eyes she was in the barroom. The +proprietor of the Inn slammed to the door against the thunderous rush +of the breaking storm. The rain dashed in torrents against the house. +The blue flashes of electricity streaked the windows constantly, while +the roll and roar of the thunder almost deafened those in the darkened +barroom. + +Joe Bodley was behind the bar briskly serving customers. He nodded +familiarly to Janice, and said: + +"Bad storm, Miss. Glad to see you. You ain't entirely a stranger +here, eh?" + +"Shut up, Joe!" commanded Mr. Parraday, as Janice flushed and the +schoolmaster took a threatening step toward the bar. + +"Oh, all right, Boss," giggled the barkeeper. "What's yours, Mister?" +he asked Nelson Haley. + +A remarkable clap of thunder drowned Nelson's reply. Perhaps it was as +well. And as the heavy roll of the report died away, they heard a +series of shrieks somewhere in the upper part of the house. + +"What in good gracious is the matter now?" gasped Lem Parraday, +hastening out of the barroom. + +Again a blinding flash of light lit up the room for an instant. It +played upon the fat features of Joe Bodley--pallidly upon the faces of +his customers. Some of them had shrunk away from the bar; some were +ashamed to be seen there by Janice and the schoolmaster. + +The thunder discharged another rolling report, shaking the house in its +wrath. The rain beat down in torrents. Janice and Nelson could not +leave the place while the storm was at its height, and for the moment, +neither thought of going into the dining room. + +Again and again the lightning flashed and the thunder broke above the +tavern. It was almost as though the fury of the tempest was centered +at the Lake View Inn. Janice, frankly clinging to Nelson's hand, +cowered when the tempest rose to these extreme heights. + +Echoing another peal of thunder once again a scream from within the +house startled the girl. "Oh, Nelson! what's that?" + +"Gee! I believe Marm Parraday's on the rampage," exclaimed Joe Bodley, +with a silly smile on his face. + +The door from the hall flew open. In the dusky opening the woman's +lean and masculine form looked wondrous tall; her hollow eyes burned +with unnatural fire; her thin and trembling lips writhed pitifully. + +With her coming another awful flash and crash illumined the room and +shook the roof tree of the Inn. + +"It's come! it's come!" she said, advancing into the-room. Her face +shone in the pallid, flickering light of the intermittent flashes, and +the loafers at the bar shrank away from her advance. + +"I told ye how 'twould be, Lem Parraday!" cried the tavern keeper's +wife. "This is the end! This is the end!" + +Another stroke of thunder rocked the house. Marm Parraday fell on her +knees in the sawdust and raised her clasped hands wildly. The act +loosened her stringy gray hair and it fell down upon her shoulders. A +wilder looking creature Janice Day had never imagined. + +"Almighty Father!" burst from the quivering lips of the poor woman. +"Almighty Father, help us!" + +"She's prayin'!" gasped a trembling voice back in the shrinking crowd. + +"Help us and save us!" groaned the woman, her face and clasped hands +uplifted. "We hear Thy awful voice. We see the flash of Thy anger. +Ah!" + +The thunder rolled again--ominously, suddenly, while the casements +rattled from its vibrations. + +"_Forgive Lem and these other men for what they air doin', O Lord!_" +was the next phrase the startled spectators heard. "_They don't +deserve Thy forgiveness--but overlook 'em!_" + +The Voice in the heavens answered again and drowned her supplication. +One man screamed--a shrill, high neigh like that of a hurt horse. +Janice caught a momentary glimpse of the pallid face of Joe Bodley +shrinking below the edge of the counter. There was no leer upon his +fat face now; it expressed nothing but terror. + +Lem Parraday entered hastily. He caught his wife by her thin shoulders +just as she pitched forward. "Now, now, Marm! This ain't no way to +act," he said, soothingly. + +The thunder muttered in the distance. Suddenly the flickering +lightning seemed less threatening. As quickly as it had burst, the +tempest passed away. + +"My jimminy! She's fainted," Lem Parraday murmured, lifting the woman +in his strong arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE ENEMY RETREATS + +As the Summer advanced visitors flocked to Polktown. From the larger +and better known tourist resorts on the New York side of the lake, +small parties had ventured into Polktown during the two previous +seasons. Now news of the out-of-the-way, old-fashioned hamlet had +spread; and by the end of July the Lake View Inn was comfortably +filled, and most people who were willing to take "city folks" to board +had all the visitors they could take care of. + +"But I dunno's we're goin' to make much by havin' sech a crowd," Lem +Parraday complained. "With Marm sick nothin' seems ter go right. Sech +waste in the kitchen I never did see! An' if I say a word, or look +skew-jawed at them women, they threaten ter up an' leave me in a bunch." + +For Marm Parraday, by Dr. Poole's orders, had been taken out into the +country to her sister's, and told to stay there till cool weather came. + +"If you are bound to run a rum-hole, Lem," said the plain-spoken +doctor, "don't expect a woman in her condition to help you run it." + +Lem thought it hard--and he looked for sympathy among his neighbors. +He got what he was looking for, but of rather doubtful quality. + +"I cartainly do wish Marm'd git well--or sumpin'," he said one day in +Walky Dexter's hearing. "I don't see how a man's expected to run a +_ho_-tel without a woman to help him. It beats me!" + +"It'll be _sumpin'_ that happens ter ye, I reckon," observed Walky, +drily. "Sure as yeou air a fut high, Lem. In the Fall. Beware the +Ides o' September, as the feller says. Only mebbe I ain't got jest the +month right. Haw! haw! haw!" + +Town Meeting Day was in September. The call had already been issued, +and included in it was the amendment calling for no license in +Polktown--the new ordinance, if passed, to take immediate effect. + +The campaign for prohibition was continued despite the influx of Summer +visitors. Indeed, because of them the battle against liquor selling +grew hotter. Not so many "city folks" as the hotel-keeper and his +friends expected, desired to see a bar in the old-fashioned community. +Especially after the first pay day of the gang working on the branch of +the V. C. Road. When the night was made hideous and the main street of +Polktown dangerous for quiet people, by drink-inflamed fellows from the +railroad construction camp, a strong protest was addressed to the Town +Selectmen. + +There was a possibility of several well-to-do men building on the +heights above the town, another season. Uncle Jason had a chance to +sell his sheep-lot at such a price that his cupidity was fully aroused. +But the buyer did not care to close the bargain if the town went "wet" +in the Fall. Naturally Mr. Day's interest in prohibition increased +mightily. + +The visiting young people would have liked to hold dances in Lem +Parraday's big room at the Inn. But gently bred girls did not care to +go where liquor was sold; so the dancing parties of the better class +were held in the Odd Fellows Hall. + +The recurrent temperance meetings which had at first been held in the +Town House had to seek other quarters early in the campaign. Mr. Cross +Moore "lifted his finger" and the councilmen voted to allow the Town +Hall to be used for no such purpose. + +However, warm weather having come, in a week the Campaign Committee +obtained a big tent, set it up on the old circus grounds behind Major +Price's place, somewhat curtailing the boys' baseball field, and the +temperance meetings were held not only once a week, but thrice weekly. + +The tent meetings became vastly popular. When Nelson Haley, urged by +the elder, made his first speech in the campaign, Polktown awoke as +never before to the fact that their schoolmaster had a gift of oratory +not previously suspected. + +And, perhaps as much as anything, that speech raised public opinion to +a height which could be no longer ignored by the School Committee. +There was an unveiled demand in the Polktown column of the Middletown +Courier that Nelson Haley should be appointed teacher of the graded +school for the ensuing year. + +Even Mr. Cross Moore saw that the time had come for him and his +comrades on the committee to back down completely from their position. +It was the only thing that would save them from being voted out of +office at the coming election--and perhaps that would happen anyway! + +Before the Summer was over the request, signed by the five +committeemen, came to Nelson that he take up his duties from which he +had asked to be relieved in the Spring. + +"It's a victory!" cried Janice, happily. "Oh, Nelson! I'm _so_ glad." + +But there was an exceedingly bitter taste on Nelson Haley's lips. He +shook his head and could not smile. The accusation against his +character still stood. He had been accused of stealing the collection +of coins, and he had never been able to disprove the charge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE TRUTH AT LAST + +Daddy had not written for nearly two months. At least, no letter from +him had reached Janice. The Day family in Polktown had not gone into +mourning in the Spring and Aunt 'Mira gloried in a most astonishing +plum-colored silk with "r'yal purple" trimmings. Nevertheless, Janice +had now all but given up hope for her father's life. + +The uncertainty connected with his fate was very hard for the young +girl to bear. She had the thought with her all the time--a picture in +her mind of a man, blindfolded, his wrists fastened behind him, +standing with his back against a sunburnt wall and a file of ragged, +barefooted soldiers in front of him. + +In desperation she had written a letter addressed personally to +"General Juan Dicampa," sending it to the same place to which she +addressed her father's letters. She did this almost in fear of the +consequences. Who would read her letter now that the guerrilla chief +was dead? + +In the appeal Janice pleaded for her father's life and for news of him. +Days passed and there was no reply. But the letter, with her name and +address on the outside, was not returned to her. + +Broxton Day's fate was discussed no more before Janice at home. And +other people who knew of her trouble, save Nelson Haley, soon forgot +it. For the girl did not "wear her heart on her sleeve." + +As for the Druggs--Hopewell and his wife--they were so worried about +little Lottie's case that they had thought for nobody's troubles but +their own. + +The doctors would not let the child return to Polktown at present. +They kept her all through the Summer, watching her case. And Lottie, +at a Summer school in Boston, was enjoying herself hugely. She was not +yet at an age to worry much about the future. + +These months of Lottie's absence were weary ones indeed for her father. +Sometimes he wandered about the store quite distraught. 'Rill was +worried about him. He missed the solace of his violin and refused to +purchase a cheap instrument to take the place of the one he had been +obliged to sacrifice. + +"No, Miss Janice," he told the girl once, when she spoke of this. "I +could not play another instrument. I am no musician. I was never +trained. It was just a natural talent that I developed, because I +found in my heart a love for the old violin my father had played so +many years. + +"Through its vibrant strings I expressed deeper feelings than I could +ever express in any other way--or upon any other instrument. My lips +would never have dared tell my love for 'Rill," and he smiled in his +gentle way, "half so boldly as my violin told it! Ask her. She will +tell you that my violin courted her--not Hopewell Drugg." + +"Oh, it is too, too bad!" cried Janice. "And that fellow down at Lem +Parraday's hotel has never succeeded in disposing of the fiddle. I +wish he would sell it back to you." + +"I could not buy it at the price he gave me for it," said Hopewell, +sadly shaking his head. "No use to think of it." + +But Janice thought of it--and thought of it often. If daddy were +only--only _successful_ again! That is the way she put it in her mind. +If he could only send her some more money! There was many a thing +Janice Day needed, or wanted. But she thought that she would deny +herself much for the sake of recovering the violin for Hopewell Drugg. + +Meanwhile nothing further had come to light regarding the missing +collection of gold coins. No third coin had been put into +circulation--in Polktown, at least. The four school committeemen who +were responsible for the collection had long since paid the owner out +of their own pockets rather than be put to further expense in law. + +Jim Narnay's baby was growing weaker and weaker. The little thing had +been upon the verge of passing on so many times, that her parents had +grown skeptical of the doctor's prophecy--that she could not live out +the Summer. + +It seemed to Janice, however, that the little body was frailer, the +little face wanner, the tiny smile more pitiful, each time she went to +Pine Cove to see the baby. Nelson, who had come back to town and again +taken up his abode with the overjoyed Mrs. Beaseley while he prepared +for the opening of the school, urged Janice not to go so often to the +Narnay cottage. + +"You've enough on your heart and mind, dear girl," he said to her. +"Why burden yourself with other people's troubles?" + +"Why--do you know, Nelson," she told him, thoughtfully, "that is one of +the things I have learned of late." + +"What is one of the things you have learned?" + +"I have been learning, Nelson, that the more we share other people's +burdens the less weight our own assume. It's wonderful! When I am +thinking of the poor little Narnay baby, I am not thinking of daddy +away down there in Mexico. And when I am worrying about little Lottie +Drugg--or even about Hopewell's lost violin--I am not thinking about +those awful gold coins and _who_ could have taken them----" + +"Here! here, young woman!" exclaimed the schoolmaster, stopping short, +and shaking his head at her. "_That's_ certainly not your personal +trouble." + +"Oh, but, Nelson," she said shyly. "Whatever troubles _you_ must +trouble _me_ quite as though it were my really, truly own!" + +What Nelson might have said, right there on Hillside Avenue, too--even +what he might have _done_!--will never be known; for here Marty +suddenly appeared running wildly and shrieking at the top of his lungs +for them to stop. + +"Hi! hi! what's the matter wi' you folks?" he yelled, his face red, and +his breath fairly gasping in his throat. "I been yellin' after ye all +down High Street. Look what I found!" + +"Looks like a newspaper, Marty," said Nelson, calmly. + +"_But what is in it?_" cried Janice, turning pale. + +Nelson seized the paper and held it open. He read rapidly: + + +"'Great battle fought southwest of Chihuahua. Federal forces +thoroughly whipped. Rebels led by the redoubtable General Juan +Dicampa, whose reported death last Spring was only a ruse to blind the +eyes of the Federals to his movements. At the head of a large force of +regular troops and Yaqui Indians, Dicampa fell upon the headquarters of +General Cesta, capturing or killing his entire command, and becoming +possessed of quantities of munition and a great store of supplies. A +telling blow that may bring about the secure establishment of a _de +facto_ government in our ensanguined sister Republic." + + +"Goodness me, Janice! what do you think of that? There is a lot more +of it, too." + +"Then--if Juan Dicampa is not dead----" began the girl. + +"Sure, Uncle Brocky ain't dead!" finished Marty. + +"At least, dear girl," said Nelson, sympathetically, "there is every +reason to believe that what Marty says is true." + +"Oh, I can hope! I can hope again!" she murmured. "And, perhaps--who +knows, Nelson?--perhaps my own great trouble is going to melt away and +be no more, just like last Winter's snow! Perhaps daddy is safe, and +will come home." + +"I wish my difficulties promised as quick a solution, Janice," said +Nelson, shaking his head. "But I am glad for you, my dear." + +Marty ran ahead with the paper to spread the good news of Uncle +Brocky's probable safety. Janice and Nelson were not destined to be +left to their own devices for long, however. As they slowly mounted +the pleasant and shady street there was the rattle of wheels behind +them, and a masterful voice said: + +"Whoa! That you, Schoolmaster? How-do, Janice." + +"Dr. Poole!" they cried, as one. + +"Bad news for you, Janice," said the red-faced doctor, in his brusk +way. "Know you're interested in that Narnay youngster. I've just come +from there. I've got to go half way to Bristol to set a feller's leg. +They telephoned me. Before I could get there and back that Narnay baby +is going to be out of the reach of all my pills and powders." + +He did not say it harshly; it was Dr. Poole's way to be brusk. + +"Oh, Doctor! Will it surely die?" + +"Not two hours to live--positively," said the physician, gathering up +the reins. "I'm sorry for Jim. If the fellow is a drunkard, he is +mighty tender-hearted when it comes to kids--and he's sober," he added, +under his breath. + +"Is he there?" asked Janice, quickly. + +"No. Hasn't been in town for two weeks. Up in the woods somewhere. +It will break him all up in business, I expect. I told you, for I +didn't know but you'd want to go down and see the woman." + +"Thank you, Doctor," Janice said, as the chaise rattled away. But she +did not turn back down the hill. Instead, she quickened her steps in +the opposite direction. + +"Well! I am glad for once you are not going to wear yourself out with +other people's troubles," said Nelson, looking sideways at her. + +"Poor Mr. Narnay," said the girl. "I am going after him. He must see +the baby before she dies." + +"Janice!" + +"Yes. The car is all ready, I know. It will take only half an hour to +run up there where those men are at work. I took Elder Concannon over +there once. The road isn't bad at all at this time of year." + +"Do you mean you are going clear over the mountain after that drunken +Narnay?" demanded Nelson, with some heat. + +"I am going after the baby's father, Nelson," she replied softly. "You +may go, too, if you are real good," and she smiled up at him so +roguishly that his frown was dissipated and he had to smile in return. + +They reached the Day house shortly and Janice hurried in for her +dust-coat and goggles. Marty offered his own cap and "blinders," as he +called them, to the schoolmaster. + +"You'll sure need 'em, Mr. Haley, if you go with Janice, and she's +drivin'. I b'lieve she said she was in a hurry," and he grinned as he +opened the garage door and ran the Kremlin out upon the gravel. + +The automobile moved out of the yard and took the steep hill easily. +Once on the Upper Road, Janice urged the car on and they passed Elder +Concannon's in a cloud of dust. + +The camp where the baby's father was at work was easily found. Jim +Narnay seemed to know what the matter was, for he flung down the axe he +was using and was first of the three at the side of the car when Janice +stopped. Mr. Trimmins sauntered up, too, but the sullen Jack Besmith +seemed to shrink from approaching the visitors. + +"I will get you there if possible in time to see the baby once more, +Mr. Narnay, if you will come right along as you are," said Janice, +commiseratingly, after explaining briefly their errand. "Dr. Poole +told me the time was short." + +"Go ahead, Jim," said Trimmins, giving the man's hand a grip. "Miss +Day, you sartain sure are a good neighbor." + +Janice turned the car as soon as Narnay was in the tonneau. The man +sat clinging with one hand to the rail and with the other over his face +most of the way to town. + +Speed had to be reduced when they turned into High Street; but +Constable Poley Cantor turned his back on them as they swung around the +corner into the street leading directly down to Pine Cove. + +Janice left Nelson in the car at the door, and ran into the cottage +with the anxious father. Mrs. Narnay sat with the child on her lap, +rocking herself slowly to and fro, and weeping. The children--even +Sophie--made a scared little group in the corner. + +The woman looked up and saw her husband. "Oh, Jim!" she said. "Ain't +it too bad? She--she didn't know you was comin'. She--she's jest +died." + + +Janice was crying frankly when she came out of the house a few minutes +afterward. Nelson, seeing her tears, sprang out of the car and +hastened up the ragged walk to meet her. + +"Janice!" he exclaimed and put his arm around her shoulders, stooping a +little to see into her face. "Don't cry, child! Is--is it dead?" + +Janice nodded. Jim Narnay came to the door. His bloated, bearded face +was working with emotion. He saw the tenderness with which Nelson +Haley led the girl to the car. + +The heavy tread of the man sounded behind the young folk as Nelson +helped Janice into the car, preparing himself to drive her home. + +"I say--I say, Miss Janice," stammered Narnay. + +She wiped her eyes and turned quickly, in sympathy, to the broken man. + +"I will surely see Mr. Middler, Mr. Narnay. And tell your wife there +will be a few flowers sent down--and some other things. I--I know you +will remain and be--be helpful to her, Mr. Narnay?" + +"Yes, I will, Miss," said Narnay. His bleared eyes gazed first on the +young girl and then on Haley. "I beg your pardon, Miss," he added. + +"What is it, Mr. Narnay?" asked Janice. + +"Mebbe I'd better tell it ter schoolmaster," said the man, his lips +working. He drew the back of his hand across them to hide their +quivering. "I know something mebbe Mr. Haley would like to hear." + +"What is it, Narnay?" asked Nelson, kindly. + +"I--I----I hear folks says ye stole them gold coins out of the +schoolhouse." + +Nelson looked startled, but Janice almost sprang out of her seat. "Oh, +Jim Narnay!" she cried, "can you clear Mr. Haley? Do you know who did +it?" + +"I see you--you and schoolmaster air fond of each other," said the man. +"I never before went back on a pal; but you've been mighty good to me +an' mine, Miss Janice, and--and I'm goin' to tell." + +Nelson could not speak. Janice, however, wanted to cry aloud in her +delight. "I knew you could explain it all, Mr. Narnay, but I didn't +know that you _would_," she said. + +"You knowed I could tell it?" demanded the startled Narnay. + +"Ever since that five dollar gold piece rolled out of your +pocket--yes," she said, and no more to Narnay's amazement than to +Nelson's, for she had told the schoolmaster nothing about that incident. + +"My mercy, Miss! Did _you_ git that five dollar coin?" demanded Narnay. + +"Yes. Right here on your porch. The Sunday you were at home." + +"And I thought I'd lost it. I didn't take the whiskey back to the +boys, and Jack's been sayin' all the time I double-crossed him. Says I +must ha' spent the money for booze and drunk it meself. And mebbe I +would of--if I hadn't lost the five," admitted Narnay, wagging his head. + +"But I don't understand," broke in Nelson Haley. + +Janice touched his arm warningly. "But you didn't lose the ten dollar +coin he gave you before that to change at Lem Parraday's, Mr. Narnay?" +she said slyly. + +"I guess ye do know about it," said the man, eyeing Janice curiously. +"I can't tell you much, I guess. Only, you air wrong about me passin' +the first coin. Jack did that himself--and brought back to camp a two +gallon jug of liquor." + +"_Jack Besmith!_" gasped the school teacher, the light dawning in his +mind. + +"Yes," said Narnay. "Me and Trimmins has knowed it for a long time. +We wormed it out o' Jack when he was drunk. But he was putting up for +the stuff right along, so we didn't tell. He's got most of the money +hid away somewhere--we don't know where. + +"He told us he saw the stuff up at Massey's the night before he stole +it. He went there to try to get his job back, and seen Massey puttin' +the trays of coin into his safe. He knowed they was goin' down to the +schoolhouse in the mornin'. + +"He got drunk," pursued Narnay. "He didn't go home all night. Early +in the mornin' he woke up in a shed, and went back to town. It was so +early that little Benny Thread (that's Jack's brother-in-law) was just +goin' into the basement door of the schoolhouse to 'tend to his fire. + +"Jack says he slipped in behind him and hid upstairs in a clothes +closet. He thought he'd maybe break open the teacher's desk and see if +there wasn't some money in it, if he didn't git a chance at them coins. +But that was too easy. The committee left the coins right out open in +the committee room, and Jack grabbed up the trays, took 'em to the +clothes room, and emptied them into the linin' of his coat, and into +his pants' pockets. They was a load! + +"So, after the teacher come into the buildin' and went out again, Jack +put back the trays, slipped downstairs, dodged Benny and the four +others, and went out at the basement door. Benny's always swore that +door was locked; but it's only a spring lock and easy enough opened +from inside. + +"That--that's all, I guess," added Narnay, in a shamefaced way. "Jack +backed that load of gold coin clean out to our camp. And he hid 'em +all b'fore we ever suspected he had money. We don't know now where his +_cache_ is----" + +"Oh, Nelson!" burst out Janice, seizing both the schoolmaster's hands. +"The truth at last!" + +"Ye--ye've been so good to us, Miss Janice," blubbered Narnay, "I +couldn't bear to see the young man in trouble no longer--and you +thinkin' as much as you do of him----" + +"If I have done anything at all for you or yours, Mr. Narnay," sobbed +Janice, "you have more than repaid me--over and over again you have +repaid me! Do stay here with your wife and the children. I am going +to send Mr. Middler right down. Let's drive on, Nelson." + +The teacher started the car. "And to think," he said softly when the +Kremlin had climbed the hill and struck smoother going, "that I have +been opposed to your doing anything for these Narnays all the time, +Janice. Yet because _you_ were kind, _I_ am saved! It--it is +wonderful!" + +"Oh, no, Nelson. It is only what might have been expected," said +Janice, softly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +MARM PARRADAY DOES HER DUTY + +It was on the day following the burial of the Narnay baby that the +mystery surrounding Mr. Broxton Day's situation in Mexico was quite +cleared up, and much to his daughter's satisfaction. Quite a packet of +letters arrived for Janice--several delayed epistles, indeed, coming in +a single wrapper. + +With them was a letter in the exact script of Juan Dicampa--that +mysterious brigand chief who was Mr. Day's friend--and couched in much +the same flowery phraseology as the former note Janice had received. +It read: + + +"Senorita:-- + +"I fain would beg thy pardon--and that most humbly--for my seeming +slight of thy appeal, which reached my headquarters when your humble +servant was busily engaged elsewhere. Thy father, the Senior B. Day, +is safe. He has never for a moment been in danger. The embargo is now +lifted and he may write to thee, sweet senorita, as he may please. The +enemy has been driven from this fair section of my troubled land, and +the smile of peace rests upon us as it rests upon you, dear senorita. +Adios. + +"Faithfully thine, + + "JUAN DICAMPA." + + +"Such a strangely boyish letter to come from a bloodthirsty bandit--for +such they say he is. And he is father's friend," sighed Janice, +showing the letter to Nelson Saley. "Oh, dear! I wish daddy would +leave that hateful old mine and come home." + +Nevertheless, daddy's return--or his abandonment of the mine--did not +appear imminent. Good news indeed was in Mr. Broxton Day's most recent +letters. The way to the border for ore trains was again open. For six +weeks he had had a large force of peons at work in the mine and a great +amount of ore had been shipped. + +There was in the letter a certificate of deposit for several hundred +dollars, and the promise of more in the near future. + +"You must be pretty short of feminine furbelows by this time. Be good +to yourself, Janice," wrote Mr. Day. + +But his daughter, though possessing her share of feminine vanity in +dress, saw first another use for a part of this unexpected windfall. +She said nothing to a soul but Walky Dexter, however. It was to be a +secret between them. + +There was so much going on in Polktown just then that Walky could keep +a secret, as he confessed himself, "without half trying." + +"Nelson Haley openin' aour school and takin' up the good work ag'in +where he laid it daown, is suthin' that oughter be noted a-plenty," +declared Mr. Dexter. "And I will say for 'em, that committee +reinstated him before anybody heard anythin' abeout Jack Besmith havin' +stole the gold coins. + +"Sure enough!" went on Walky, "that's another thing that kin honestly +be laid to Lem Parraday's openin' that bar at the Inn. That's where +Jack got the liquor that twisted his brain, that led him astray, that +made him a thief---- Jefers-pelters! sounds jest like 'The Haouse That +Jack Built,' don't it? But poor Jack Besmith has sartainly built him a +purty poor haouse. And there's steel bars at the winders of it--poor +feller!" + +However, it was Nelson Haley himself who used the story of Jack Besmith +most tellingly, and for the cause of temperance. As the young fellow +had owned to the crime when taxed with it, and had returned most of the +coins of the collection, he was recommended to the mercy of the court. +But all of Polktown knew of the lad's shame. + +Therefore, Nelson Haley felt free to take the incident--and nobody had +been more vitally interested in it than himself--for the text of a +speech that he made in the big tent only a week or so before Town +Meeting Day. + +Nelson stood up before the audience and told the story simply--told of +the robbery and of how he had felt when he was accused of it, sketching +his own agony and shame while for weeks and months he had not been +under suspicion. "I did not believe the bad influence of liquor +selling could touch _me_, because I had nothing to do with _it_," he +said. "But I have seen the folly of that opinion." + +He pointed out, too, the present remorse and punishment of young Jack +Besmith. Then he told them frankly that the blame for all--for Jack's +misdeed, his own suffering, and the criminal's final situation--lay +upon the consciences of the men who had made liquor selling in Polktown +possible. + +It was an arraignment that stung. Those deeply interested in the cause +of prohibition cheered Nelson to the echo. But one man who sat well +back in the audience, his hat pulled over his eyes, and apparently an +uninterested listener, slipped out after Nelson's talk and walked and +fought his conscience the greater part of that night. + +Somehow the school teacher's talk--or was it Janice Day's scorn?--had +touched Mr. Cross Moore in a vulnerable part. + +Had the Summer visitors to Polktown been voters, there would have been +little doubt of the Town Meeting voting the hamlet "dry." But there +seemed to be a large number of men determined not to have their +liberties, so-called, interfered with. + +Lem Parraday's bar had become a noisy place. Some fights had occurred +in the horse sheds, too. And on the nights the railroad construction +gang came over to spend their pay, the village had to have extra police +protection. + +Frank Bowman was doing his best with his men; but they were a rough set +and he had hard work to control them. The engineer was a never-failing +help in the temperance meetings, and nobody was more joyful over the +clearing up of Nelson Haley's affairs than he. + +"You have done some big things these past few months, Janice Day," he +said with emphasis. + +"Nonsense, Frank! No more than other people," she declared. + +"Well, I guess you have," he proclaimed, with twinkling eyes, "Just +think! You've brought out the truth about that lost coin collection; +you've saved Hopewell Drugg from becoming a regular reprobate--at +least, so says his mother-in-law; you've converted Walky Dexter from +his habit of taking a 'snifter'----" + +"Oh, no!" laughed Janice. "Josephus converted Walky." + +Save at times when he had to deliver freight or express to the hotel, +the village expressman had very little business to take him near Lem +Parraday's bar nowadays. However, because of that secret between +Janice and himself, Walky approached the Inn one evening with the +avowed purpose of speaking to Joe Bodley. + +Marm Parraday had returned home that very day--and she had returned a +different woman from what she was when she went away. The Inn was +already being conducted on a Winter basis, for most of the Summer +boarders had flitted. There were few patrons now save those who hung +around the bar. + +Walky, entering by the front door instead of the side entrance, came +upon Lem and his wife standing in the hall. Marm Parraday still had +her bonnet on. She was grimly in earnest as she talked to Lem--so much +in earnest, indeed, that she never noticed the expressman's greeting. + +"That's what I've come home for, Lem Parraday--and ye might's well know +it. I'm a-goin' ter do my duty--what I knowed I should have done in +the fust place. You an' me have worked hard here, I reckon. But you +ain't worked a mite harder nor me; and you ain't made the Inn what it +is no more than I have." + +"Not so much, Marm--not so much," admitted her husband evidently +anxious to placate her, for Marm Parraday was her old forceful self +again. + +"I'd never oughter let rum sellin' be begun here; an' now I'm a-goin' +ter end it!" + +"My mercy, Marm! 'Cordin' ter the way folks talk, it's goin' to be +ended, anyway, when they vote on Town Meeting Day," said Lem, +nervously. "I ain't dared renew my stock for fear the 'drys' might git +it----" + +"Lem Parraday--ye poor, miser'ble worm!" exclaimed his wife. "Be you +goin' ter wait till yer neighbors put ye out of a bad business, an' +then try ter take credit ter yerself that ye gin it up? Wal, _I_ +ain't!" cried the wife, with energy. + +"We're goin' aout o' business right now! I ain't in no prayin' mood +terday--though I thank the good Lord he's shown me my duty an' has give +me stren'th ter do it!" + +On the wall, in a "fire protection" frame, was coiled a length of hose, +with a red painted pail and an axe. Marm turned to this and snatched +down the axe from its hooks. + +"Why, Marm!" exploded Lem, trying to get in front of her. + +"Stand out o' my way, Lem Parraday!" She commanded, with firm voice and +unfaltering mien. + +"Yeou air crazy!" shrieked the tavern keeper, dancing between her and +the barroom door. + +"Not as crazy as I was," she returned grimly. + +She thrust him aside as though he were a child and strode into the +barroom. Her appearance offered quite as much excitement to the +loafers on this occasion as it had the day of the tempest. Only they +shrank from her with good reason now, as she flourished the axe. + +"Git aout of here, the hull on ye!" ordered the stern woman. "Ye have +had the last drink in this place as long as Lem Parraday and me keeps +it. Git aout!" + +She started around behind the bar. Joe Bodley, smiling cheerfully, +advanced to meet her. + +"Now, Marm! You know this ain't no way to act," he said soothingly. +"This ain't no place for ladies, anyway. Women's place is in the home. +This here----" + +"Scat! ye little rat!" snapped Marm, and made a swing at him--or so he +thought--that made Joe dance back in sudden fright. + +"Hey! take her off, Lem Parraday! _The woman's mad!_" + +"You bet I'm mad!" rejoined Marm Parraday, grimly, and _smash!_ the axe +went among the bottles on the shelf behind the bar. Every bottle +containing anything to drink was a target for the swinging axe. Joe +jumped the bar, yelling wildly. He was the first out of the barroom, +but most of the customers were close at his heels. + +"Marm! Yeou air ruinin' of us!" yelled Lem. + +"I'm a-savin' of us from the wrath to come!" returned the woman, +sternly, and swung her axe again. + +The spigot flew from the whiskey barrel in the corner and the next blow +of the axe knocked in the head of the barrel. The acrid smell of +liquor filled the place. + +Not a bottle of liquor was left. The barroom of the Lake View Inn +promised to be the driest place in town. + +Up went the axe again. Lem yelled loud enough to be heard a block: + +"Not that barrel, Marm! For the good Land o' Goshen! don't bust in +_that_ barrel." + +"Why not?" demanded his breathless wife, the axe poised for the stroke. + +"Cause it's merlasses! If ye bust thet in, ye will hev a mess here, +an' no mistake." + +"Jefers-pelters!" chuckled Walky Dexter, telling of it afterward, "I +come away then an' left 'em erlone. But you kin take it from me--Marm +Parraday is quite in her us'al form. Doc. Poole's a wonderful +doctor--ain't he? + +"But," pursued Walky, "I had a notion that old fiddle of Hopewell's +would be safer outside than it was in Marm Parraday's way, an' I tuk it +down 'fore I fled the scene of de-vas-ta-tion! Haw! haw! haw! + +"I run inter Joe Bodley on the outside. 'Joe,' says I, 'I reskered +part of your belongin's. It looks ter me as though yeou'll hev time +an' to spare to take this fiddle to the city an' raffle it off. But +'fore ye do that, what'll ye take for the fiddle--lowest cash price?' + +"'Jest what it cost me, Walky,' says Joe. 'One hundred dollars.' + +"'No, Joe; it didn't cost ye that,' says I. 'I mean what _yeou_ put +into it yerself. That other feller that backed out'n his bargain put +in some. How much?' + +"Wal," pursued the expressman, "he hummed and hawed, but fin'ly he +admitted that he was out only fifty dollars. 'Here's yer fifty, Joe,' +says I. 'Hopewell wants his fiddle back.' + +"I reckon Joe needed the money to git him out o' taown. He can take a +hint as quick as the next feller--when a ton of coal falls on him! +Haw! haw! haw! He seen his usefulness in Polktown was kind o' passed. +So he took the fifty, an' here's the vi'lin, Janice Day. I reckon ye +paid abeout forty-seven-fifty too much for it; but ye told me ter git +it at _any_ price." + +To Hopewell and 'Rill, Janice, when she presented the storekeeper with +his precious fiddle, revealed a secret that she had _not_ entrusted to +Walky Dexter. By throwing the strong ray of an electric torch into the +slot of the instrument she revealed to their wondering eyes a peculiar +mark stamped in the wood of the back of it. + +"That, Mr. Drugg," the girl told him, quietly, "is a mark to be found +only in violins manufactured by the Amati family. The date of the +manufacture of this instrument I do not know; but it is a genuine +Cremona, I believe. At least, I would not sell it again, if I were +you, without having it appraised first by an expert." + +"Oh, my dear girl!" cried 'Rill, with streaming eyes, "Hopewell won't +ever sell it again. I won't let him. And we've got the joyfulest +news, Janice! You have doubled our joy to-day. But already we have +had a letter from Boston which says that our little Lottie is in better +health than ever and that the peril of blindness is quite dissipated. +She is coming home to us again in a short time." + +"Joyful things," as Janice said, were happening in quick rotation +nowadays. With the permanent closing of the Lake View Inn bar, several +of the habitues of the barroom began to straighten up. Jim Narnay had +really been fighting his besetting sin since the baby's death. He had +found work in town and was taking his wages home to his wife. + +Trimmins was working steadily for Elder Concannon. And being so far +away from any place where liquor was dispensed, he was doing very well. + +Really, with the abrupt closing of the bar, the cause of the "wets" in +Polktown rather broke down. They had no rallying point, and, as Walky +said, "munitions of war was mighty scurce." + +"A feller can't re'lly have the heart ter _vote_ for whiskey 'nless +ther's whiskey in him," said Walky, at the close of the voting on Town +Meeting Day. "How about that, Cross Moore? We dry fellers have walked +over ye in great shape--ain't that so?" + +"I admit you have carried' the day, Walky," said the selectman, grimly. + +"He! he! I sh'd say we had! Purty near two ter one. Wal! I thought +ye said once that no man in Polktown could best ye--if ye put yer mind +to it?" + +Cross Moore chewed his straw reflectively. "I don't consider I have +been beaten by a man," he said. + +"No? Jefers-pelters! what d'ye call it?" blustered Walky. + +"I reckon I've been beaten by a girl--and an idea," said Mr. Cross +Moore. + + +"Wal," sighed Aunt 'Mira, comfortably, rocking creakingly on the front +porch of the old Day house in the glow of sunset, "Polktown does seem +rejoovenated, jest like Mr. Middler preached last Sunday, since rum +sellin' has gone out. And it was a sight for sore eyes ter see Marm +Parraday come ter church ag'in--an' that poor, miser'ble Lem taggin' +after her." + +Janice laughed, happily. "I know that there can be nobody in town as +glad that the vote went 'no license' as the Parradays." + +"Ya-as," agreed Aunt 'Mira, rather absently. "Did ye notice Marm's new +bonnet? It looked right smart to me. I'm a-goin' ter have Miz Lynch +make me one like it." + +"Say, Janice! want anything down town?" asked Marty coming out of the +house and starting through the yard. + +"It doesn't seem to me as though I really wanted but one thing in all +this big, beautiful world!" said his cousin, with longing in her voice. + +"What's that, child?" asked her aunt. + +"I want daddy to come home." + +Marty went off whistling. Aunt 'Mira rocked a while, "Ya-as," she +finally said, "if Broxton Day would only let them Mexicaners alone an' +come up here to Polktown----" + +Janice suddenly started from her chair; her cheeks flushed and her eyes +sparkled. "Oh! here he is!" she murmured. + +"Here _who_ is? Who d'ye mean, Janice Day? _Not yer father?_" gasped +Aunt 'Mira, staring with near-sighted eyes down the shadowy path. + +Janice smiled. "It's Nelson," she said softly, her gaze upon the manly +figure mounting the hill. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW JANICE DAY WON*** + + +******* This file should be named 23208.txt or 23208.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/2/0/23208 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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