"Did you break the bowl, Arthur?"
"No, mother, I didn't."
And then, boy of eleven though he was, and with his older brothers looking on, he began to cry.
"Pshaw!" exclaimed Raymond, "don't be a baby, Art! If you did it, why don't you own up?"
"Because I didn't do it," said Arthur. "I didn't do it, and I wish I'd never seen the old bowl!"
"Why, Arthur," said Theodora, "I thought— Are you sure you didn't do it?"
"Of course I'm sure; just as sure as you are, or anybody else."
"Do you know anything about it?" asked Mrs. Hoyt. "Do you know who did do it?"
To this there was no reply whatever.
"It is very strange," said Miss Joanna, grimly. "Theodora and Arthur both had something to do with the calamity, for Arthur acknowledges that he was there, and Theodora carried away the fragments. One of them must be guilty of it. Is your boy truthful, Mrs. Hoyt?"