oth teachers and
scholars, it was not so with Theodore, and there was a strong prejudice
against him, especially among the boys. There seemed to be no
particular cause of offence or instance of wrong-doing to be brought
against him, but there it was; and neither masters nor schoolmates
seemed to place any confidence in him.

As far as trade went, Jim was certainly making a good thing out of the
school; for, owing to his persuasions, to say nothing of that leaning
toward peanuts which is a marked feature of every boyish mind, the
calls at Matty's stand on the way to and from the school were very
frequent; and while pennies and nickels flowed in upon the small
vender, peanut-shells were scattered all over the building and
playground, until at last they called forth a remonstrance from the
janitor. Finding this of no avail, he threatened an appeal to the
higher authorities; but, as he was a good-natured old soul, he
hesitated to draw reproof upon the boys, when about this time an
incident occurred which made complaint unnecessary, as peanuts became
prohibited altogether within school bounds.

"Jim," said a boy, coming to him one morning before the school-bell
rang, "do you see the lot of peanuts Theodore Yorke has?"

"I don't pay much heed to Theodore Yorke or his havin's," answered Jim
scornfully. "It's no odds to me if he has bushels of peanuts or nary a
one."

"But maybe it is odds to you," answered the other boy. "I ain't a
telltale; but Theodore Yorke's always buyin' peanuts off of your stand,
an' you can bet he comes away from that stand with a lot more peanuts
for two cents or five cents than any one of the rest of us does."

Jim turned sharply upon him.

"You don't mean Matty gives him over measure, Rob?" he said.

"She don't _give_ him over measure, but he gets over measure," replied
Rob; "an' I tell you 'cause I think it's a shame to be cheatin' you an'
the girl."

"What is it, then? Out with it!" exclaimed Jim. "I can see how she can
cheat him givin' him short measure if she likes, but I can't see how he
can cheat her gettin' _over_ measure."

"S'pose when she's measurin' out what he's asked for, he puts his hand
into the big basket on her other side, maybe more than once, too;
how'll that do for helping himself to long measure, hey?" said Robert.

"How do you know?" asked Jim, trying to control his rising fury until
he had all the facts.

"I've seen him do it more than once, an' more than twice,"