words sound all right, boy," he finally remarked coldly, "but I
am not so easily deceived. You want time to cover up your tracks.
Perhaps you even hope I may invite you and your rowdy companions to
my house, and that the occasion will allow you to satisfy your vulgar
curiosity to the bent."

These cruel words struck the boys severely. Bluff was heard to mutter
half under his breath, while Jerry frowned and bit his lip as though
he found it very hard to keep from telling Aaron Dennison what he
thought of him.

Frank himself had to hold back the angry words that tried to escape
his lips; the insult was so uncalled for, so unjust, he thought.

"Of course, sir, if you have that sort of opinion of all boys," he
went on to say, deliberately, and with considerable dignity for a mere
lad, "you wouldn't want us bothering around. I only meant to show you
how ready we are to lend a hand. I am sure that if the cup you speak
of wasn't simply mislaid it must have been taken by some one belonging
to your own household, and may be returned again."

The angry man chose to see some hidden meaning back of Frank's words,
which were after all only natural, considering the circumstances.

"There, straws show which way the wind blows!" he exclaimed, turning
toward the constable; "and you can see, Mr. Jeems, how these boys have
been talking over my private affairs among themselves. They are really
consumed by a curiosity to know about matters that do not concern
them; and in prowling around my place have perhaps been tempted to
take things that did not belong to them."

"But Mr. Dennison, if this prize gold cup was so precious why did you
leave it around so that it could be easily taken?" asked Will,
suddenly, as though this idea had struck him as strange.

"Because in the first place," replied the old man, "I was fool enough
to believe my people were as honest as the day was long; and the
thought that any outsider would ever try to enter my house never came
to me until lately. In fact, it was after meeting you boys in my
grounds that I began to feel uneasy, since I saw it would be possible
for a robbery to occur, once desperate men conceived the plan to break
in."

"And even then you did not put the golden cup away in some place of
security--you continued to leave it out where servants and others
could reach it, did you, sir?" Frank continued, with something of a
lawyer's skill at cross questioning.

"It was beginning to worry me,