"Wal—ef they do, they don't admit of it," drawled Uncle Jason.
"What in tarnation is it, then, Dad?" demanded Marty.
"Why, they've made sech a to-do over findin' that gold piece in Hope Drugg's possession, that they don't dare go on an' prosercute the schoolmaster—nossir!"
"Bully!" exclaimed the thoughtless Marty. "That's all right, then."
"But—but," objected Janice, with trembling lip, "that doesn't clear
Nelson at all!"
"It answers the puppose," proclaimed Uncle Jason. "He ain't under arrest no more, and he don't hafter pay no lawyer's fee."
"Ye-es," admitted his niece, slowly. "But what is poor Nelson to do?
He's still under a cloud, and he can't teach school."
"And believe me!" growled Marty, "that greeny they got to teach in his place don't scu'cely know beans when the bag's untied."
It was true that the four committeemen had considered it wise to withdraw their charge against Nelson Haley. Without any evidence but that of a purely presumptive character, their lawyer had advised this retreat.
Really, it was a sharp trick. It left Nelson worse off, as far as disproving their charge went, than he would have been had they taken the case into court. The charge still lay against the young man in the public mind. He had no opportunity of being legally cleared of suspicion.