"Marty Day?"
"Yep. That's the young scalawag."
"He has been absent from school—yes."
"Oh! he has? D'ye know where he's gone to?"
"Why, no."
"And neither does nobody else," declared the expressman excitedly. "Unless he's gone off with Janice—an' she never said a thing about him, I understand."
The expressman's word's amazed Nelson quite as much as Walky could have wished.
"What are you talking about? What do you mean by saying Janice has gone away?"
"Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky. "Ain't you hearn a thing about it?"
"No."