o as to be able to give her sick charges their fill."

"She does look thinner than before, that's a fact!" exclaimed the
indignant Thad. "What a burning shame all this is, Hugh! Surely
there must be some remedy for it. I've got a good notion to have
a talk with Dominie Pettigrew, and spin him the whole painful story.
He might find a way to separate Brother Lu from his quarry."

"Take my advice, Thad, and wait a little longer," Hugh told him.
"Tomorrow will be Saturday and we play Belleville again in the
afternoon. Besides, didn't he tell us it was going to be Matilda's
birthday, and that he and Andrew had fixed it to surprise her a
little? Well, don't say anything to the Parson until next week,
and by that time perhaps we'll know a heap more than we do now."

Thad looked keenly at the speaker, but Hugh kept a straight face. If
a glimmering suspicion that Hugh might know of something he was
averse to confiding to even his best chum darted through Thad's mind
just then he allowed it to slip past.

"All right, Hugh, I guess it won't do any harm to hold up a few more
days. Matilda has stood it so long now that it isn't going to hurt
her to endure another week or so of her brother's company, and his
appetite in the bargain. I'll try and forget all about it in
thinking of our game with Belleville. We've just got to clinch that,
as sure as anything, if we hope to have a look-in at that pennant."

"We're going to do it, Thad," said Hugh, with set teeth. "Once
we put Belleville in the soup for keeps we can devote our undivided
attention to Allandale. They have the jump on us, of course, owing
to hard luck. But, thank goodness, Alan Tyree is all right again,
and he told me this morning he felt that his arm was better than ever
before. That means Belleville won't be able to do anything with
his delivery tomorrow afternoon."

"This time we play on our own grounds," suggested Thad, "and the
advantage is all in our favor. Everybody seems to think we should
have an easy snap."

"I rather think everybody stands for Ivy Middletown, Sue Barnes
and Peggy Nolan," jeered Hugh, causing his chum to give a confused
little laugh, as though the shot had gone home. "But what do girls
know about baseball? It's a game of uncertainties all the way through.
Many a time a pitcher, believing himself safe and invincible, because
his club is away ahead, has eased up a trifle, and the other fellows
start a batting bee that nearly p