Lassie and Alva fled into their room.
"I feel like a burglar myself," exclaimed the young girl, as she shut their door.
Mrs. Ray was going down the stairs in the hall outside. "There," she exclaimed, "did you hear that? That's the way it goes when you harbor criminals. They're very catching."
"Oh, do you really think they're criminals?" Mrs. O'Neil asked, in great distress.
"Well, Nellie, put the case-knives and Sammy Adams together, and then the way they pick up other folks' chestnuts and having no comb and only half a brush for the two of 'em—it looks bad in my eyes."
"But what shall I do?" Mrs. O'Neil asked.
"Ask Jack if they pay their board regularly; that'll help you to know some," propounded the postmistress solemnly, and then she returned to her government duties forthwith.
CHAPTER XII
ANOTHER PATH