n, ain't it now?"

They made an obligatory and superficial search through the coal cellar.
Martin jocularly inquiring:

"Did ye look in the furnace, Mike? Here Osaki, me lad, ye're small. Take
a crawl oop the poipes and see if the ghost ain't hidin' there."

They opened the door of the property-room and glanced inside. The
burglar ducked his head and held his breath, while Patty struggled with
an ill-timed desire to giggle. Martin was in a facetious mood. He
whistled in the manner of calling a dog.

"Here, Ghostie! Here, Burgie! Come here, old fellow!"

They banged the door shut and their footsteps receded. Patty was rocking
back and forth in a species of hysterics, stuffing the corner of the
sheet into her mouth to keep from laughing audibly. The burglar's teeth
were chattering.

"Lord!" he breathed. "It may be funny for you, Miss. But it means the
penitentiary for me."

Patty interrupted her hysterics and regarded him with disgust.

"It would mean expulsion for me, or at least something awfully
unpleasant. But that's no reason for going all to pieces. You're a nice
sort of a burglar! Brace up and be a sport!"

He mopped his brow and removed another portion of icing.

"You must be an awful amateur to break into a house like this," she said
contemptuously. "Don't you know the silver's plated?"

"I didn't know nuthin' about it," he said sullenly. "I see the window
open over the shed roof and I clum up. I was hungry and was lookin' for
somethin' to eat. I ain't had nothin' since yesterday mornin'."

Patty reached to the floor beside her.

"Have some pie."

The man ducked aside as it was poked at him.

"W-what's that?" he gasped.

He was as nervous as a mouse in a cage.

"Lemon pie. It looks a little messy but it's all right. The only thing
the matter with it is that it has lost its meringue top. That's mostly
on your head. The rest of it is spread over me and the laundry floor and
Evalina Smith's bed and the clothes chute."

"Oh!" he murmured in evident relief, as he rubbed his hand over his hair
for the fourth time. "I was wonderin' what the blame stuff was."

"But the lemon's all here," she urged. "You'd better eat it. It's quite
nourishing, I believe."

He accepted the pie and fell to eating it with an eagerness that carried
out the truth of his assertion as to yesterday's breakfast.

Patty watched him, her natural curiosity struggling with her acquired
politeness. The curiosity triumphed.