m that spoiled her chance. Mrs. Dexter
feels that she's under obligations, and so has sent for you in order to
find what she can do in the place of buying uniforms."

"Do you think that's it?" questioned young Prescott, looking bothered.

"I'm sure of it."

"Then I wish I weren't going up there to-night."

"Have you got to?" asked Darrin.

"It would hardly look polite if I didn't go. But I'll tell you what,
Dave."

"What?"

"You come along with me."

"Not much!"

"Why not?"

"First place, I'm not invited. Second place, I'm not dressed up, and you
are. Extra, I don't want to look as though I were trotting up there
after a reward."

"I'm not, either," Dick retorted with considerable spirit.

"I know you're not, but you can say 'no' for both of us, and for Greg
thrown in."

"Then you won't come with me?"

"I'll feel more comfortable down here on Main Street," laughed Dave. "If
you get back early enough you can tell me about it."

"If Mrs. Dexter doesn't want anything except to talk about rewarding
us," grunted Prescott, "I can promise you that I'll be back bright and
early."

"So long, then, and good luck!"

"What?"

"Good luck in getting away, I mean."

So Dick pursued his course alone, and feeling a good deal more
uncomfortable, now that he had a suspicion of Mrs. Dexter's business.

Up at the pretty little Dexter cottage things had been moving serenely
of late. Ab. Dexter had not been heard from, and his wife imagined that
the fellow had gone to other parts. For weeks she had kept a special
policeman in the house at night. On this particular evening the man
wanted to be away at a lodge meeting, and Mrs. Dexter had felt that it
was wholly safe to let him go, more especially, as resourceful Dick
Prescott would put in part of the evening there.

When the bell rang, Jane being upstairs with little Myra, Mrs. Dexter
herself opened the front door.

Then she sprang back suddenly, stifling a dismayed little scream, for
Abner Dexter stood facing her.

"Didn't expect me, did you?" jeered the fellow, pushing his way into the
hall. "Jennie, I'm at the end of my rope, and of my patience, too. I'm
broke--have hardly a dollar in the world, and now you've got to do your
duty and provide for me in the way that a rich wife should. In there
with you!"

Ab. pushed her into a little room just beyond the parlor, and stepped in
after her.

"Nice, comfortable place you have here, while I'm wondering where my