"Have you ever seen this paper before?" asked the doctor.
"No, sir, never."
"Knew nothing of it?"
"No, sir."
"You little realized, then, how near you came to being waylaid and----"
but the doctor didn't finish the sentence.
"I never had the slightest suspicion of it."
"It was a bold plot."
"And a wicked one," added Mrs. Dutton, who had now joined the group in
the library.
"But what kept you out so late that night?" asked the doctor.
Fred examined the date of Mr. Simmons' paper.
"It was the night of Grace Bernard's party."
"Yes, so it was--I remember the date now; but in going from Mr.
Bernard's to your home you could not pass the old Booker barn."
Fred's face grew suddenly red. The temperature of the room seemed to him
suffocatingly warm. He stood on one foot, embarrassed, trying to think
how to explain.
His color very strangely seemed to be reflected upon Nellie's cheeks.
Just then she appeared to be much interested in the evening paper, and
held it much nearer to her eyes than was her custom.
"You shouldn't ask so many questions," said Mrs. Dutton to her husband,
smiling at the young folks' embarrassment.
"Ah, ha! I see now. Jealousy, was it?"
"It looks like it," answered Fred comically, whereupon the doctor and
his wife laughed heartily, and, the ice being broken, Nellie and Fred
joined in the merriment, though it was at their own expense.
"Well," said the doctor seriously, "this paper records a very grave
matter. The boys should be punished."
"Why, I wonder, didn't Mr. Simmons have them punished?" asked Nellie.
"The case looks suspicious," answered her father.
"He has never reported it, or we should have heard of it," said Mrs.
Dutton.
Fred rested his head on his hand in deep thought.
"He must have had some object in getting this paper," he at length
answered. "It looks to me as though he had been bribed--been paid to
keep the matter a secret."
"That seems very probable," answered the doctor.
"Would Matthew's father have paid Mr. Simmons anything for such a
purpose?"
"No, indeed. He would be the last man imaginable to allow himself to be
fleeced in such a way."
"I thought so; but now, supposing our theory of the bribing is the
correct one, how and where could the boys have got the money to pay
him?"
"They couldn't have got it at home."
"Do you feel sure of that?"
"I am almost certain."
"Mr. Simmons could have brought a strong pressure to bear upon them."
"However strong, Mr. De Vere would never have paid one cent. But he
would have punished Matthew unmercifully."
"You have never known of his being punished?"
"No."
"Would any one outside of the family probably have known it?"
"I think so."
A theory concerning this matter had suggested itself to Fred, and he was
working it out like a young logician.
"Suppose," he continued, "Mr. Simmons should have forced the boys to do
something toward paying him, and Matthew dare not speak to his father
and mother about it, what would have been the result?"
"I can hardly imagine," returned the doctor.
"I think they would have got it from some other source by some other
means," said Nellie.
Fred's face brightened. This was the answer that seemed natural to him,
and he was pleased that Nellie should be the one to give it.
"That is my idea," he replied.
"Why, Fred, you talk exactly like a lawyer," remarked Mrs. Dutton.
"Oh, I don't know about that," he laughed, "but this paper has
strengthened a suspicion that I have had for a little time--strengthened
it so much that I feel almost convinced I am right since hearing what
the doctor says about this matter."