"I'm with you, Mr. Haley," the boy responded, quite recovered from his first disturbance of mind. "You can bank on me."
"Great boy!" Nelson said, patting him on the shoulder again. "Janice has done so much—so much for the town, so much for us all! We should be able to do something to secure her peace of mind, Marty."
"Hi tunket! I believe you, Mr. Haley."
"Then, come on! It may prove to be a false alarm as before. We'll save her all the anxiety possible."
"Sure we will!" agreed the boy again with emphasis.
They re-entered the house; Marty was even able to call up a giggle and winked broadly at Nelson as he hung up his hat and looked up the parchesi board and the rest of the outfit for that popular game.
"What's a-goin' on now 'twixt you two boys?" asked Aunt Almira comfortably, for she looked upon Nelson, when he came to the house, as she would had he been Marty's brother. "D'ye know what's up, Janice?"
"I haven't an idea," her niece said happily. "I fancy Marty has a joke on somebody."
"'Joke!'" repeated her cousin in such an unconsciously tragic tone that the schoolmaster hastened to say:
"He thinks he is going to beat Walky playing parchesi. Come on, Walky. Show him you have all your wits about you."