The detective at the boarding house table having satisfied himself that nobody had observed him, folded up his magnifying glass and put it back in his pocket.
"Yes," he said to himself, "they've got the same girl they had when I was here two years ago. I recognize her thumb print in the butter."
"Pa, what branches did you take when you went to school?"
"I never went to high school, son, but when I attended the little log school-house they used mostly hickory and beech and willow."
"Did you ever consider the case of the boy who stood on the burning deck?"
"Not particularly. Why?"
"Well, the game was poker and the hand had been dealt from the burning deck was a corker; so, as he didn't want to lose any chances, he—but you see?"
"I don't know as I do."