"How did she happen to lul-lose it?"
"I can't tell. She doesn't quite know herself. She put it in a drawer in the house, and when she went to look for it, it was gone."
"That sounds like a robbery instead of a loss."
"But it couldn't be a robbery," protested Hooker quickly and earnestly. "Nobody would come into the house and take money out of that drawer—nobody around here. You never hear of such a thing happening around this town. Perhaps mother mislaid it somewhere. Anyhow, it's gone, and I'm going to try to earn enough to replace it."
"Well, say, Hooker," exclaimed Phil, "you're all right! I didn't suppose you'd stoop to work, even under such circumstances. Do you know, lots of times we're liable to misjudge some one until something happens to show us just the sort of a person he is."
"Yes; I suppose that's right," said Roy. But he did not look Phil in the eyes.
CHAPTER XV.
PLAIN TALK FROM ELIOT.
"How's your cold, Phil?"