“And ‘Reform’s’ your special fear, eh?” Carlton Conne asked, blinking his eyes.
“Yeah, I was scareda that like anythin’,” Skippy admitted with a shudder at the memory. “When my father was on trial I shivered in my boots afraid they’d send me there.”
Carlton Conne brought his feet down onto the softly carpeted floor and pulling up his chair, scrutinized a letter that lay open on his desk. After a moment’s silence he glanced up at the boy and swiftly surveyed him.
“Suppose I were to tell you that I want you to go to Reform School!” he said enigmatically.
“Huh?” Skippy asked, wide-eyed.
“Sit down!” Carlton Conne said briskly. “I want to talk to you!”
Skippy did as he was told.
CHAPTER III
A BARGAIN
Carlton Conne took the letter in his hand and manoeuvered the cigar back and forth in his mouth. At length he said, “Don’t be scared, kid. I want you to go, but not for anything you’ve done—it’s for me!”
Skippy gasped. “Gee, you mean you’re gonna lemme be a detec——”