"I am, Doctor. I ain't namin' no names, but I brought that pin t' you, thinkin' you could tell who owned it. Then, when it is knowed who was sneakin' around my barns, I may be able t' say who sot the fire!"
"Preposterous!" exclaimed Doctor Meredith. "I will not, for one moment, entertain a suspicion, even, against one of my lads on such flimsy evidence as this."
"'Tain't flimsy!" retorted the farmer. "There's been men convicted of serious crimes on less evidence than a gold pin. That's a school emblem, an' I know it!"
"True enough," agreed the head master.
"Then I ask you to say who owns it?" demanded the incensed farmer.
"That I cannot say," was the cool answer. "This is not a class pin—it is a hall emblem—that is, any lad in the school is entitled to wear it, and nearly every one does."
"Then call the roll, an' find out who's lost his pin!" suggested Mr.
Appleby eagerly. "That's an easy way to find out."
"I shall do nothing of the sort!" answered the doctor firmly.
"Then I'll go t' law about it. I tell you, Doctor Meredith, that pin was picked up near the stack before the hay was found t' be on fire. It belongs to one of your students, an' I demand an investigation."
"Well, you may demand as much as you please, Mr. Applesauce——"