genuity worthy of a better cause.

They were in the full tide of this talk when, as they rounded the curve
of the shore where they were walking, they came upon Agnes herself,
coming rapidly towards them.

"Oh, girls, I've been looking for you everywhere. I've got something I
want to show you," she exclaimed excitedly. "Come up here and sit down;"
and she led the way to a little cluster of rocks.

Dora and Amy glanced at each other rather apprehensively. Was Agnes
going to tell them something else about the Smith girl,--going to say.
"Did you notice this?" or "Did you see that?" in reference to some
detail that displeased her? They had worked themselves up into quite a
state of indignation against Tilly and the boys, and of increased
sympathy with Agnes; but they were so tired of hearing, "Did you notice
this?" "Did you see that?" when there had been such uninteresting little
things to "notice," to "see."

With these apprehensions flitting through their minds, the two girls
seated themselves to listen with very languid interest. But what was
that Agnes was unfolding,--a newspaper? And what was it she was saying
as she pointed to a certain column? She wanted them to read that! The
cousins looked at each other in a dazed, inquiring fashion; and Agnes,
starting forward, impatiently thrust the paper into Dora's hand and
cried sharply,--

"Read that; read that!"

Dora in a bewildered way read aloud this sentence, which in big black
letters stared her in the face,--

"Smithson, alias Smith."

"Well, go on, go on; read what is underneath," urged Agnes, as Dora
stopped; and Dora went on and read,--

"It seems that that arch schemer and swindler Frank Smithson, who got
himself out of the country so successfully with his ill-gotten gains
from the Star Mining Company, has dropped the last syllable from his too
notorious name, and is now figuring in South America under the name of
Smith. His wife and young son are with him, and the three are living
luxuriously in the suburbs of Rio, where Smithson has rented a villa. An
older child, a daughter of fourteen or fifteen, was left behind in this
country with Smithson's brother's widow, who has also taken the name of
Smith. They are staying at a summer resort not far from Boston."

The bewildered look on Dora's face did not disappear as she came to the
end of this statement.

"What did you want me to read this for?" she asked Agnes.

"What did I want you to read it for? Is