. Cyril couldn't play or write;
and--and everything was different because I was there. But I didn't
blame you--no, no!" she assured him hastily. "It was only that I--found
out."

"And may I ask HOW you obtained this most extraordinary information?"
demanded Bertram, savagely.

Billy shook her head. Her round little chin looked suddenly square and
determined.

"You may ask, but I shall not tell," she declared firmly.

If Bertram had known Billy just a little better he would have let the
matter drop there; but he did not know Billy, so he asked:

"Was it anything I did--or said?"

The girl did not answer.

"Billy, was it?" Bertram's voice showed terror now.

Billy laughed unexpectedly.

"Do you think I'm going to say 'no' to a series of questions, and then
give the whole thing away by my silence when you come to the right one?"
she demanded merrily. "No, sir!"

"Well, anyhow, it wasn't I, then," sighed the man in relief; "for
you just observed that you were not going to say 'no to a series of
questions'--and that was the first one. So I've found out that much,
anyhow," he concluded triumphantly.

The girl eyed him for a moment in silence; then she shook her head.

"I'm not going to be caught that way, either," she smiled. "You
know--just what you did in the first place about it: nothing."

The man stirred restlessly and pondered. After a long pause he adopted
new tactics. With a searching study of her face to note the slightest
change, he enumerated:

"Was it Cyril, then? Will? Aunt Hannah? Kate? It couldn't have been
Pete, or Dong Ling!"

Billy still smiled inscrutably. At no name had Bertram detected so
much as the flicker of an eyelid; and with a glance half-admiring,
half-chagrined, he fell back into his chair.

"I'll give it up. You've won," he acknowledged. "But, Billy,"--his
manner changed suddenly--"I wonder if you know just what a hole you left
in the Strata when you went away."

"But I couldn't have--in the whole Strata," objected Billy. "I occupied
only one stratum, and a stratum doesn't go up and down, you know, only
across; and mine was the second floor."

Bertram gave a slow shake of his head.

"I know; but yours was a freak formation," he maintained gravely. "It
DID go up and down. Honestly, Billy, we did care--lots. Will and I were
inconsolable, and even Cyril played dirges for a week."

"Did he?" gurgled Billy, with sudden joyousness. "I'm so glad!"

"Thank you," murmured Bertr