house at Sandy Rim. He really had business which would have
taken him in that direction, but made a detour of five miles rather
than go near his abandoned and discredited sweetheart.

But George Tryon was wisely distrustful of his own impulses. Driving
one day along the road to Clinton, he overhauled a diminutive black
figure trudging along the road, occasionally turning a handspring by
way of diversion.

"Hello, Plato," called Tryon, "do you want a lift?"

"Hoddy, Mars Geo'ge. Kin I ride wid you?"

"Jump up."

Plato mounted into the buggy with the agility to be expected from a lad
of his acrobatic accomplishments. The two almost immediately fell into
conversation upon perhaps the only subject of common interest between
them. Before the town was reached, Tryon knew, so far as Plato could
make it plain, the estimation in which the teacher was held by pupils
and parents. He had learned the hours of opening and dismissal of the
school, where the teacher lived, her habits of coming to and going from
the schoolhouse, and the road she always followed.

"Does she go to church or anywhere else with Jeff Wain, Plato?" asked
Tryon.

"No, suh, she don' go nowhar wid nobody excep'n' ole Elder Johnson er
Mis' Johnson, an' de child'en. She use' ter stop at Mis' Wain's, but
she's stayin' wid Elder Johnson now. She alluz makes some er de
child'en go home wid er f'm school," said Plato, proud to find in Mars
Geo'ge an appreciative listener,--"sometimes one an' sometimes anudder.
I's be'n home wid 'er twice, ann it'll be my tu'n ag'in befo' long."

"Plato," remarked Tryon impressively, as they drove into the town, "do
you think you could keep a secret?"

"Yas, Mars Geo'ge, ef you says I shill."

"Do you see this fifty-cent piece?" Tryon displayed a small piece of
paper money, crisp and green in its newness.

"Yas, Mars Geo'ge," replied Plato, fixing his eyes respectfully on the
government's promise to pay. Fifty cents was a large sum of money.
His acquaintance with Mars Geo'ge gave him the privilege of looking at
money. When he grew up, he would be able, in good times, to earn fifty
cents a day.

"I am going to give this to you, Plato."

Plato's eyes opened wide as saucers. "Me, Mars Geo'ge?" he asked in
amazement.

"Yes, Plato. I'm going to write a letter while I'm in town, and want
you to take it. Meet me here in half an hour, and I'll give you the
letter. Meantime, keep your mouth shut."

"Yas, Mars G