ll you
something. Elnora stopped at the case this morning, and somebody had
been into it in the night."

"Broke the lock?"

"No. Used a duplicate key. To-day I heard there was a man here last
night. I want to nose around a little."

Sinton went to the east end of the cabin and looked up at the window.
There was no way any one could have reached it without a ladder, for the
logs were hewed and mortar filled the cracks even. Then he went to the
west end, the willow faced him as he turned the corner. He examined the
trunk carefully. There was no mistake about small particles of black
swamp muck adhering to the sides of the tree. He reached the low
branches and climbed the willow. There was earth on the large limb
crossing Elnora's window. He stood on it, holding the branch as had
been done the night before, and looked into the room. He could see very
little, but he knew that if it had been dark outside and sufficiently
light for Elnora to study inside he could have seen vividly. He brought
his face close to the netting, and he could see the bed with its head
to the east, at its foot the table with the candles and the chair before
it, and then he knew where the man had been who had heard Elnora's
prayer.

Mrs. Comstock had followed around the corner and stood watching him.
"Do you think some slinking hulk was up there peekin' in at Elnora?" she
demanded indignantly.

"There is muck on the trunk, and plenty on the limb," said Sinton.
"Hadn't you better get a saw and let me take this branch off?"

"No, I hadn't," said Mrs. Comstock. "First place, Elnora's climbed from
that window on that limb all her life, and it's hers. Second place, no
one gets ahead of me after I've had warning. Any crow that perches on
that roost again will get its feathers somewhat scattered. Look along
the fence, there, and see if you can find where he came in."

The place was easy to find as was a trail leading for some distance west
of the cabin.

"You just go home, and don't fret yourself," said Mrs. Comstock. "I'll
take care of this. If you should hear the dinner bell at any time in the
night you come down. But I wouldn't say anything to Elnora. She better
keep her mind on her studies, if she's going to school."

When the work was finished that night Elnora took her books and went
to her room to prepare some lessons, but every few minutes she looked
toward the swamp to see if there were lights near the case. Mrs.
Comstock raked together