the English
master's reply, he gave no sign. "I agree with you," he declared. "But I
want to tell you about a puzzling incident that happened last night."

Briefly, but omitting no important detail, Doctor Wells told Mr. Stevens
of the unsigned letter that accused Teeny-bits, of his conference with
the newcomer and of the visit to Gannett Hall. When the Head described
the discovery of the stolen property beneath the floor of Teeny-bits'
closet, the expression on Mr. Stevens' face changed.

"You actually found those things in his room!" exclaimed the English
master. He was sitting in the same chair in which Teeny-bits had sat
just twelve hours before.

Doctor Wells, sitting opposite, smiled slightly at the surprise in Mr.
Stevens' voice; he had heard just such a quality of surprise mingled
with indignation in the voice of Teeny-bits.

"It astonishes you as much as it did me," said the Head. "What do you
think of it?"

Mr. Stevens sat and looked into the fire and did not answer the
question. The room became so quiet that the clock on the mantel seemed
to raise its voice,--as if suddenly it had become animate and wished to
make itself heard. It ticked out a full minute and sixty seconds more
and then--as it were--became silent, for the voice of the English master
drowned it out.

"That put a real problem up to me," he said. "I didn't know at first
what to do, but I think I see clearly now. Something happened last
night--something I couldn't quite explain; I've been puzzling over it.
Unless I were sure--well sure that you know just what weight to give to
outward appearances, I shouldn't tell you this; everything considered,
however, I think you ought to know it. The incident happened last night
only a few minutes before you asked me to send Holbrook over to you."

While Doctor Wells listened with an intentness that was revealed by the
lines of his contracted brows, Mr. Stevens described how he had found
Teeny-bits crouching in the shrubbery behind Gannett Hall and mentioned
the newcomer's confusion at being discovered.

"I've always believed that character inevitably expresses itself in a
person's face," said Doctor Wells, "and I have come gradually into the
conviction that I can read faces. I _thought_ I had made no mistake in
this case--and I think so still. But they say there _are_ exceptions to
the general rule. I don't know--well, for the present, the only thing to
do is to wait. Time is a great revealer of s