ber 17th, 187--.

Matthew De Vere and me was waitin' near the old Booker barn
to club Fred Worthington. Matthew hired me to help him. We
both had a club. 'Twas 'bout twelve o'clock in the night I
gess. Matthew sed he was goin' to get square with Fred.
Matthew told me to strike him on the leg, and he sed he would
do the efecktive work and fix him so he wouldn't interfear
with him any more. When you come along we darted on you
thinking you was Fred. I hit you a hard clip on the leg.
Matthew was reddy to strike you on the head, but saw his
mistake and stopped jest in time and ran away.

(Signed) TIM SHORT.

The above statement is true.

MATTHEW DE VERE.

"Have you ever seen this paper before?" asked the doctor.

"No, sir, never."

"Knew nothing of it?"

"No, sir."

"You little realized, then, how near you came to being waylaid and----"
but the doctor didn't finish the sentence.

"I never had the slightest suspicion of it."

"It was a bold plot."

"And a wicked one," added Mrs. Dutton, who had now joined the group in
the library.

"But what kept you out so late that night?" asked the doctor.

Fred examined the date of Mr. Simmons' paper.

"It was the night of Grace Bernard's party."

"Yes, so it was--I remember the date now; but in going from Mr.
Bernard's to your home you could not pass the old Booker barn."

Fred's face grew suddenly red. The temperature of the room seemed to him
suffocatingly warm. He stood on one foot, embarrassed, trying to think
how to explain.

His color very strangely seemed to be reflected upon Nellie's cheeks.
Just then she appeared to be much interested in the evening paper, and
held it much nearer to her eyes than was her custom.

"You shouldn't ask so many questions," said Mrs. Dutton to her husband,
smiling at the young folks' embarrassment.

"Ah, ha! I see now. Jealousy, was it?"

"It looks like it," answered Fred comically, whereupon the doctor and
his wife laughed heartily, and, the ice being broken, Nellie and Fred
joined in the merriment, though it was at their own expense.

"Well," said the doctor seriously, "this paper records a very grave
matter. The boys should be punished."

"Why, I wonder, didn't Mr. Simmons have them punished?" asked Nellie.

"The case looks suspicious," answered her father.

"He has never reported it, or we should have heard of it," said Mrs.
Dutton.

Fred rested h