yourself into unnecessary
excitement."

"And he shall use all his spending money for your tobacco, Teddy, for
the entire year," cajoled Hall, "and black your boots and brush your
clothes, into the bargain, and besides you will get a chance to get even
at the Freshmen's Banquet," he whispered.

"Gentlemen," he concluded, turning with a winning smile upon the
assembled society, "we have five new members in the 'Cranium'
Fraternity."

CHAPTER X

Minister Graves' city home, the Rectory, was a magnificent house,
covered with a thick growth of ivy; one bay window ornamenting it on the
west, another looking on the street.

The first evening in November, the family was seated about the table,
the minister reading the evening paper. "Babe" was arguing with her
mother that all little girls should be allowed to roller skate upon the
pavement; that "there wasn't a bit of danger in it."

Frederick was silently eating his dinner--Teola following his example.
Suddenly the minister ejaculated:

"Ah, that's good."

"What's good, father?" inquired Mrs. Graves.

"Skinner is brought to trial to-morrow. The paper says there isn't the
slightest hope for him to escape. And listen to this:

"Of all the happenings in the annals of the Ithaca courts the following
is the most extraordinary. Orn Skinner, the squatter, who is to be tried
this week for the murder of Emery Stebbins, the game warden, is the
father of a girl some fifteen years old. The day after his incarceration
the girl presented herself at the office of the sheriff, asking
permission to see her father. The sheriff thought wiser not and refused
the request. But the night before last the girl was discovered
ascending, like a squirrel, the thick growth of ivy that covers the
stone structure of the jail. For nearly a month she has been tramping
the Lehigh Valley railroad tracks after dark, reaching the jail at
midnight, and holding converse with her father on the stone sill of his
cell window, two stories above the ground. The girl was closely
questioned but refused to answer, probably fearing the consequences of
visiting a prisoner without the consent of the sheriff. Skinner has been
removed to an inner cell, the authorities fearing some plan of escape.
The girl is very pretty, with long red hair, and brown eyes, and those
who have seen her say that she is like a frightened rabbit, refusing to
talk with any, save a few of her kind."

The Dominie grunted, as he f