“He’s afraid of being licked!” taunted Sam.
“I am not!” cried Bert. “I’ll snowball fight you any time I feel like it, Sam Todd, but I don’t feel like it. And you needn’t go around saying I broke that church window, for I didn’t!”
“It looked just like you did it,” Sam said, not quite so sure of himself as he had been.
“Aw, stop talking about it,” advised Danny Rugg. “And say, Bert, if you find my gold ring I’ll give you a reward.”
“All right,” answered Bert in a low voice, and passed on. He did not feel much like talking to Danny and Sam.
“I’ll give you twenty-five cents!” Danny called after him. But Bert did not turn his head or answer.
On reaching home, Nan told her mother why Bert had been kept in. Mrs. Bobbsey felt sorry for her son, but she knew he had not broken the window, and she felt sure that in time the truth would be known.
So when Bert finally reached home, half an hour later than usual, he found his mother waiting for him. She asked him what had happened, and Bert told her.
“Do you really think Danny did it?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
“I’m almost sure of it,” Bert answered. “If I could only prove it I’d be glad, for then everybody would know I didn’t do it.”