exclaimed Leo, his face turning red. "I never saw them, and didn't know
they were there."

[Illustration: LEO ANSWERS FOR HIMSELF.--Page 248.]

"I am satisfied," interposed Mr. Checkynshaw.

"So am I," added Mr. Clapp.

The truth as it was had been correctly discerned.

"Maggie, I offered a reward of five hundred dollars for those papers,"
continued the banker. "I would have given five thousand rather than not
have had them."

"Then I am very glad you have found them," replied the fair girl, now
entirely relieved of all her fears on account of her brother.

"But you found them, Maggie, and you are entitled to the reward. Here
is my check for the amount. Your father can draw the money for you."

"I don't deserve the reward!" exclaimed Maggie, blushing deeply, as she
took the check. "It is reward enough for me to find that Leo is as good
as I always believed him to be."

"You found the papers, and I am indebted to you for their preservation.
Another might have destroyed them."

"But I only took them out of the chest. I didn't know what they were. I
almost made up my mind that they were good for nothing, and that Leo
had saved them from the dirt barrels to learn how to write such papers
from. I didn't know what to do, and I sent for Mr. Wittleworth to tell
me whether they were good for anything or not. He said they were very
valuable, and told me it was fortunate I sent for him, and then kindly
undertook to return them to you."

"Very kindly!" sneered the banker. "He claimed this reward."

"He did?"

"Yes; but I am very glad it goes to you, instead of to him."

Maggie objected to taking such a vast sum of money for so slight a
service; but Mr. Checkynshaw's mandate was imperative, and he departed,
leaving her bewildered at the sudden fortune which had come down like
an avalanche upon her. Leo went back to school, as delighted at her
good luck as his own in finding himself entirely freed from the charge
of being concerned in the robbery.

As usual, Mr. Wittleworth was the only person who was not satisfied. He
had again been "left out in the cold." He wanted to know what had
happened at the house of Andre, and after dinner he called there; but
Maggie had gone to the barber's shop with her father's noonday meal,
and he found the door locked. In the evening he went again, when both
Andre and Leo were at home.

CHAPTER XXI.

MR. WITTLEWORTH's WRONGS.

Maggie, fluttering with delight, had taken Mr