It appeared very much as if Dan suspected Joe of treachery even in this matter of reclaiming the princess, for he followed him to Mrs. Weber's home, and there stood within a few paces of the door, where he might overhear all that was said.

Now that the amateur detective was thoroughly alarmed concerning his own safety, he had ceased his grotesquely mysterious movements, and behaved very much like an ordinary boy.

Not until Joe had knocked twice at the door was his summons answered, and then the old German lady stood before him, with the princess in her arms.

He had hoped the child would recognise him, but was not prepared for such a hearty greeting as he received.

The princess, looking less dainty than when he first saw her, because of a coarse calico frock which the careful Mrs. Weber had put on, in the place of her more expensive garments, leaned forward in the old lady's arms, stretching out both tiny hands to Joe, as she twittered and chirped, after her own peculiar manner, what was evidently a greeting to the boy who had acted a guardian's part to the best of his ability.

"She really knows me!" Joe cried, in an ecstasy of joy, forgetting for a moment his own sorrow, and, as the child nestled her face against his neck, he kissed the curly brown hair again and again.

Mrs. Weber welcomed the princess's guardian in her own language, which was as unintelligible to Master Potter as the baby's cooing, and only served to arouse the amateur detective's suspicions.

"What's that old woman sayin'?" Dan asked, sharply. "You don't want to try any funny games with me, 'cause I won't stand it."

Joe did not hear the unkind words; his heart had been made so glad by the princess's joy at seeing him, that he would hardly have been conscious of the fact had the officers of the law come forward at that moment to make him a prisoner.

Mrs. Weber, observing Dan for the first time, addressed him in a kindly tone, which only served to deepen the frown on the amateur detective's face.

"I dunno what you're drivin' at, missis; but you won't pull wool over my eyes by jabberin' away in that lingo."

It so chanced that Joe heard this remark, and, turning quickly towards the boy who, he believed, held him in his power, he said, sharply:

"Now, don't make a bigger fool of yourself than you can help, Dan Fernald! Mrs. Weber can't talk our way, an' is only tryin' to treat you decent."

"I'm keepin' my eyes open, all the same, cause I don't count on gettin' left the same as I was yesterday."

Accepting the invitation given by gestures, Joe entered the house with the princess in his arms, and followed by the boy who considered himself his master.

Now a serious difficulty presented itself.

Mrs. Weber's grandson was not at home, and it would be necessary to dispense with the services of an interpreter.

"I don't know how I'm going to fix it," Joe said, speaking half to himself, and Master Fernald believed he was addressed.

"What is it you can't fix?"

"I want to get back some of the money I paid Mrs. Weber; but how am I goin' to tell her I'll carry the princess away for good?"

"She must know what you say, of course. Who ever heard of a woman what didn't understand how to talk?"

"But she's a German, you know."

"I can't help that. If you tell her right up an' down what you mean, she's bound to know it, 'less she's a dummy."

There was little in the way of advice to be gained from the alleged detective, and Joe began a pantomime which he intended should convey the idea.

He pointed to the princess's clothes, then out of the window; put on his hat, and, with the child in his arms, walked towards the door.

Then he opened the parcel aunt Dorcas had given him, displaying the food, and pointed up the street in the direction from which he had just come.

After a time, Mrs. Weber appeared to understand something of what he was trying to convey, and, with a volley of words which sounded very much like a protest, took the princess from him.

The child screamed violently, clinging to Joe with all her little strength, and the boy was seriously disturbed; but the smile on Mrs. Weber's face told that she did not consider the outburst as anything very serious.

"What's she goin' to do with the kid?" Dan asked, as the German woman disappeared in an adjoining room.

"I s'pose she's gone to put on the princess's other clothes, 'cause it seemed like as if she understood what I'd been tellin' her."

"It would be a precious good job if she didn't come back. That kid has got you into a heap of trouble, Joe Potter, an' it'll grow worse instead of better so long as you stick to her."

Joe made no reply. It is doubtful if he heard the words, for the princess was crying so loudly he feared she might do herself an injury.

Five minutes later, Mrs. Weber reëntered the room, bringing the princess clad in her own garments, and the little maid ran with outstretched arms to Joe, pressing her tear-stained face against his cheek in such a manner as went straight to his heart.

After a prolonged caress, Joe said to Dan, as if answering the remark which the amateur detective had made a few moments previous:

"No matter how much trouble she might get me into, I'd stick to this little thing as long as I lived, if she needed me."

"Course you've got the right to be jest as big a fool as you like; it ain't any of my business, so long's I don't have to starve to death on her account. What about the money you was goin' to try to get from the old woman?"

"I'll have to let that go, 'cause I can't make her understand what I mean. Will you carry the cakes?"

Master Fernald seized the parcel with avidity, and straightway began devouring its contents.

With the princess in his arms, Joe arose, put on his hat, and held out his hand in token of adieu.

Mrs. Weber looked at him in surprise an instant, and then, after saying something in German, hastened out of the room, returning a moment later with several silver coins in her hand.

Joe hesitated, and then took from the outstretched palm fifty cents, motioning that she keep the remainder.

The old lady shook her head, energetically, and literally forced him to take all the coins, which amounted in value to ninety cents.

"You've only kept a dime," he said, in protest, "an' it isn't enough to pay for takin' care of the princess two days."

Mrs. Weber smiled, kindly, patted Joe on the head, kissed the princess affectionately, and by opening the door signified that she would not accept further payment for her services.

"I'll come back some day an' square up for what you've done," Joe cried, as he stepped down on to the sidewalk, and then he remembered that if matters were arranged as seemed necessary, he would soon be in prison. "Anyway, I'll come back as soon as I can," he added to himself, and kissing the tiny hand which the princess had wilfully placed over his mouth, he set forward, resolutely, on the journey, followed by the boy who claimed the right to dictate as to his future movements.

During half an hour Joe walked steadily on towards aunt Dorcas's peaceful home, listening to the princess's childish prattle, and banishing all forebodings from his mind with the thought that the baby trusted and loved him.

Then Dan, who had been walking a few paces in the rear, came to his side, appearing a trifle more friendly than when they first met.

"At this rate you'll get back in time for dinner."

"It seems as though I ought to, but it's kind of hard work carryin' the princess. Aunt Dorcas gave me the cakes so's we wouldn't need to hurry on the road, an' – where are they?"

"Do you mean that little bunch of cakes you gave me?"

"Little bunch! Why, there was a stack of 'em!"

"It don't make any difference how many there was, 'cause I ate the whole lot."

Joe looked at the amateur detective as if about to make an angry reply; but checked himself, and Dan said, defiantly:

"The time's gone by when you can put on airs with me, Joe Potter. I ain't goin' to starve to death when there's anything 'round I can eat."

"No, you'd rather let a little baby like this one go hungry. I wouldn't have touched the cakes any sooner'n I'd cut my finger off, 'cause they was for her."

"You make me tired with your bloomin' princess. She's stuffed jest about as full as she can hold, an' I'm the same as starved."

Joe did not so much as look at the selfish boy, but walked more rapidly than before until fully one-half the distance from Mrs. Weber's to aunt Dorcas's had been traversed.

Light though the burden was, his arms ached from long carrying the child, and it seemed absolutely necessary to come to a halt.

The princess was more than willing to take advantage of the opportunity to search for flowers or wintergreen plums by the roadside, and Joe stretched himself out at full length on the cool grass, keeping jealous watch all the while over the happy little girl.

Dan seated himself near by, having once more assumed an air of injured innocence, and Master Potter could not longer delay having an understanding with this boy, who was bent on claiming even more than his right.

"So you're bound on goin' straight to aunt Dorcas's with me?" he said, after a brief pause.

"It's got to be that, or jail."

"I don't see why; there are other places 'round here besides hers."

"Yes; but I ain't sure of gettin' into 'em for nothin'. When you strike a house where Plums is so contented, it must be a pretty soft snap."

"It ain't certain you can get in there, an' it's dead sure you're drivin' the princess an' me away."

"I ain't doin' anything of the kind. You're gettin' on your ear 'cause I want to be treated decent, that's the size of it."

"You know very well we can't ask that poor little woman to take care of four, an' somebody must go, if you're comin'. Now, of course, I must take the princess with me, an' I don't want to leave the very minute I get there. Will you hang off a couple of days, an' give me a chance to find out how I can fix things?"

"I'd starve to death in two days, an' you know it."

"That's all foolishness; you've got plenty of money in your pocket that was borrowed from the fellers to help Plums an' me through."

"I haven't so much that I can go sportin' 'round the country like a swell, have I?"

"You've got enough to keep you from starvin' for a week."

"All the same, I'm goin' to live with you an' Plums," Dan replied, doggedly, and Joe remained silent while one might have counted twenty, after which he said, with the air of a boy who has suddenly decided upon a course of action:

"Mis' Weber gave me back ninety cents. Now I'll turn over seventy-five of it if you agree not to show up at aunt Dorcas's until three o'clock to-morrow afternoon."

"What kind of a game are you tryin' to play on me now?" Master Fernald asked, suspiciously.

"It ain't any game. I'm hirin' you to stay away, so I can stop there till that time, an' then I'll leave."

"Yes, an' you're goin' to tell her a whole lot of stuff 'bout me, so's she won't let me stop there."

"I'll promise never to speak your name except to tell her you come as far's this with us, an' was up behind the barn twice. Now with seventy-five cents you can live a good deal more swell somewhere else than at aunt Dorcas's, an' at three o'clock to-morrow afternoon you may do what you please."

"How do I know you'll keep your promise?"

"'Cause neither you nor anybody else can say I ever went back on my word, an' fix it any way you're a mind to, it's the best trade you can make. I'm certain she wouldn't take in four of us, an' the only show you've got is for me to leave."

"But where'll I find a chance to buy something to eat?"

"There are plenty of stores 'round here, an' you can get a lodging most anywhere, for twenty-five cents."

"Hand over your money."

"Do you 'gree not to show your nose 'round there till three o'clock to-morrow?"

"Of course I do."

Joe counted out the amount agreed upon, and said, warningly, as he gave it to Master Fernald:

"I'm reckonin' on your keepin' your word, same's I will mine; but don't make the mistake of goin' back on me, Dan Fernald, for if you come to aunt Dorcas's before the time we've 'greed on, I'll make it hot. You know I can do it, so be square, or you'll get into worse trouble than if the detectives found you."

"That's right; threaten a feller when you think you've got him in a hole!"

"I ain't doin' half so much threatenin' as you did, an' besides, I'm payin' for the privilege when I give you pretty nigh all the money I've got, an' you with a pocket full."

The amateur detective did not think it advisable to reply to this remark, and the two remained silent until Joe believed the time had come when the journey should be resumed.

The princess was weary with running to and fro, and willingly allowed the boy to take her in his arms again.

"The next time we stop it'll be at aunt Dorcas's," Joe said, as he set out, and then he halted suddenly, for Master Fernald was following close in the rear.

"Where you goin'?"

"With you, of course."

"Didn't I buy you off till three o'clock to-morrow afternoon?"

"Does that mean I can't so much as walk up the road when you're on it?"

"It means you mustn't follow me to aunt Dorcas's house, an', after all that's been said and done, I shouldn't think you'd want to do anything of the kind."

"I'll keep my promise, an' I'll do whatever else I please. You better not be too smart, 'cause I might back out of the trade."

"It would be a sorry job for you," Joe said, threateningly, and, turning once more, he continued the journey without heed to Master Fernald's movements.

It was not yet eleven o'clock when Joe and the princess arrived at aunt Dorcas's home, and the little woman cried, in delight, as Master Potter led the child towards her:

"What a sweet little darling! What a beautiful baby! Why, Joseph, I had no idea she was such a lovely child as this!" and the princess suffered aunt Dorcas to kiss her rapturously.

"There's no flies on her, anyhow," Joe said, with an air of pride.

It is doubtful if aunt Dorcas heard this last remark. She was as pleased with the princess as a child would have been with a doll, and behaved much after the same fashion.

Joe and Plums listened with greatest satisfaction to her words of praise.

The little maid and the little woman had apparently conceived a most violent admiration each for the other, and straightway it seemed as if the boys were entirely forgotten, for the two went into the house without so much as a backward glance.

"'Cordin' to the looks of things, I guess they'll get along pretty well together," Plums said, in a tone of satisfaction. "I'm mighty glad you've come back, 'cause aunt Dorcas kept me humpin' myself ever since you left. Why, I've finished up the whole garden, an' it seems to me as if I'd done the work of four men. Did you get the money from the German woman?"

"Yes; but it didn't do me any good;" and then Joe told in detail of the meeting with the amateur detective, and the bribe he had been forced to give.

"It seems as though Dan must be pretty smart if they're advertisin' for him, too," Plums said, reflectively. "I can't make out what them lawyers are up to, offerin' a whole hundred dollars for either one of us, an' when it comes right down to dots, I don't s'pose we're actually worth twenty-five cents."

"I can't understand it, either, and I expect aunt Dorcas will think I'm a terrible bad feller, when I tell her the story."

"But you ain't goin' to do anything like that?" Plums cried, in alarm.

"Yes, I am; I won't go away from here without tellin' her the truth, an' I've got to leave before three o'clock to-morrow afternoon."

"Now, look here, Joe, this ain't right to let Dan Fernald drive you off. Where'll we find another place like this?"

"I don't reckon we ever can; but it's got to be done. I'd be 'shamed enough to die if Dan should settle hisself down here, after we've brought the princess. That would make four of us for aunt Dorcas to feed, an' we know she has 'bout all she can do to pay her own bills. It seemed pretty tough when you an' I come; but I said to myself it was only for two or three weeks, an' we could patch it up somehow, after we got back to town."

"But Dan's a fool!" Master Plummer cried, excitedly. "It's no dead sure thing aunt Dorcas will take him in same's she has us, even if you do go away."

"But he thinks she will, so it 'mounts to the same thing."

"Where are you goin'?"

"I don't know," Joe replied, mournfully. "Perhaps it'll be better to go straight to town, an' let 'em arrest me. Aunt Dorcas will tell me what's best, an' I shall do as she says."

"You ain't goin' to talk to her to-night?"

"No, Plums, I'm countin' on holdin' out till to-morrow mornin', an' enjoyin' myself all I can, 'cause it ain't no ways likely I'll ever have the chance of stoppin' again in sich a place as this."

Master Plummer was silent for a moment, and then a different aspect of the case presented itself to him.

"Why, what's goin' to become of me?" he cried. "I don't believe aunt Dorcas'll keep me after you leave, an' what'll I do?"

"If I let the lawyers get hold of me, that'll ease up on you, 'cause I'm the only one they'd want to arrest, an' you can go back to town."

"Yes, perhaps I can; but I'll hate to, mightily. That shanty of mine won't seem half so nice, after we've lived here, an' I'll have to go to work sellin' papers!"

Master Plummer was now so absorbed in the contemplation of his own unfortunate position as to be wholly unable to sympathise with his friend, and the two sat on the greensward just outside aunt Dorcas's door, in painful silence.

CHAPTER XII.
A STRUGGLE IN THE NIGHT

During the remainder of this day it appeared to Joe and Plums as if they were abandoned by the little woman who had hitherto treated them with so much attention.

Immediately after Joe arrived with his charge, aunt Dorcas and the princess disappeared inside the house, and neither of them seemed to desire the companionship of the boys until, at an unusually late hour, they were summoned to dinner.

To Plums's great disappointment, the noonday meal was a lunch, rather than a dinner, and aunt Dorcas apologised, by saying:

"I was so interested in making the acquaintance of your princess, Joseph, that, for perhaps the first time in my life, I forgot my household duties, and it was half past eleven before I remembered we hadn't had dinner."

"'Cordin' to the slat of stuff you've got here on the table, I should think you'd been at work all the forenoon," Joe said, approvingly, but there was the faintest suspicion of jealousy in his heart because the princess no longer demanded his attention.

Aunt Dorcas had arrayed her in some plain garments which might once have belonged to herself or her sisters, and the little maid was so well content with this new friend that she had but curt greetings for the boy who considered himself her guardian.

Perhaps aunt Dorcas understood from the expression on Joe's face something of that which was in his mind, when the princess chattered and cooed to the little woman, paying no attention to the others at the table, for she said, in a kindly tone:

"It's to be expected, Joseph, that a baby like this one would take more readily to a woman than a boy."

"Oh, I know that, aunt Dorcas," Joe replied, with a poor assumption of carelessness, "an' I'm awful glad you like her."

"Indeed I do, Joseph. Even in the short time she has been here I have realised what a comfort it is to have a child around the house, and I believe God has been very good in sending you and her to me."

Aunt Dorcas made no mention of being grateful because Plums was a member of the family, but that young gentleman gave no apparent heed to the omission, so intent was he upon the pleasure of eating.

Joe had expected aunt Dorcas would question him closely concerning the journey, and want to know if the princess had eaten the cookies she sent. He feared he might not be able to answer her questions without revealing some of the disagreeable events of the morning; but, to his surprise, she never so much as referred to the subject. All her thoughts were centred upon the child; how she should amuse her; how provide her with new garments, and the little woman even went so far as to speculate upon the time when it would be necessary to send her to school.

Joe did not enjoy the food as he would have done but for having met with Dan, the detective.

A big lump came into his throat, with the thought that this might be the last dinner for him in the cottage, the last time he would see aunt Dorcas, and it was only with difficulty he could swallow.

He had said he would give himself wholly up to the pleasure of being there during the remainder of this day, and not until morning came should aunt Dorcas hear his story; but before the dinner was eaten, he began to question whether it might not be wiser to make the explanations at once, and have done with them, so painful was the suspense.

While the little woman washed the dishes, Joe was permitted to amuse the princess, but, as soon as aunt Dorcas was at leisure, she took the child in her arms, and said, preparatory to seating herself in the comfortable rocking-chair near the west window:

"The princess and I are going to have our nooning now, and you boys had better go out-of-doors, where you can't disturb us with your noise."

The lump in Joe's throat seemed to increase in size, but he forced it back bravely, as he asked:

"Isn't there any work we can do, aunt Dorcas? There's no reason why we should hang 'round here with our hands in our pockets."

"I'll venture to say George isn't eager to be doing anything, for I kept him busy this morning. It appears to me he isn't a great lover of hard work, and I am certain you need rest. A walk of six miles – and I dare say you carried the child a good deal more than half the distance – is as much as ought to be expected of a boy in one day."

"But I'm not so awful tired, an' I guess Plums can hold out a spell longer, so if there's anything you'll be wantin' done for the next week or two, I wish you'd let me know it now."

"I don't think of a thing, Joseph. Go into the orchard, and amuse yourself in almost any way except by throwing rocks at the birds, until the princess and I have had our nap."

Joe could do no less than obey, and, once they were out of the house, he said to Plums:

"Of course I'm a big fool to think any such things, but I can't help feelin' sorry because the princess had rather be with aunt Dorcas than me."

"I'd say it was a mighty lucky thing if we were goin' to stay here; but, in case you stick to what you said about goin' away to-morrow, it will be kinder tough on both of 'em."

"I wouldn't wonder if aunt Dorcas wanted us to go, after I tell her why I left the city. She's too good a woman to keep a feller 'round, if she thinks he's been doin' something wicked."

"But you say you haven't."

"An' it's the truth, Plums; but I can't make other folks believe it, not even you, on account of that advertisement. Everybody says I must have been up to something crooked, else the lawyers wouldn't try so hard to get hold of me."

Plums could give no consolation. Although he had never known Joe to do anything which was not absolutely just and honest, he was convinced that some wrong had been committed, otherwise the advertisement would never have appeared.

Joe lay down on the grass, under one of the apple-trees, and, despite the sorrow in his heart, the chirping of the birds, the soft murmur of the leaves as they were moved to and fro by the breeze, and the hum of insects, soon lulled him to sleep.

The sun was far down in the west when he awakened, and, leaping to his feet, surprised that he had spent nearly the entire afternoon in slumber, he looked around for Master Plummer.

That young gentleman was sitting with his back against the trunk of a tree, looking idly up at the fleecy clouds, while an expression of discontent overspread his face.

"I guess I must have had a pretty long nap," Joe said, as if to make an apology for his indolence. "I don't believe I ever did a thing like that before. Hasn't aunt Dorcas called us yet?"

"Not as I know," Master Plummer replied, curtly.

"Then she an' the princess must be sleepin' as sound as I was. Of course you'd heard if she'd called?"

"I haven't been here all the time."

"Where have you been?"

Master Plummer hesitated an instant, and then replied, speaking rapidly, as if to prevent Joe from interrupting him:

"I saw Dan Fernald sneakin' 'round down by the road, an' went to see him. We've been talkin' this thing over, Joe, an' it don't seem to me as though there was any need for you to go off with the princess. You might walk 'round the country for a week without findin' so good a place as this. I'm sure aunt Dorcas had rather keep half a dozen boys than let that youngster go, now she's begun to like her."

"I wish I'd known Dan Fernald had come here. It was in the agreement he should keep away, an' I'd 'a' pounded him if I'd caught him sneakin' 'round."

"But, say, why can't you keep quiet, an' let him do as he's a mind to? Perhaps aunt Dorcas won't take him in, after all."

"I ain't goin' to say a word against him; but I shall tell her the whole story to-morrow morning, an' then clear out."

"Even if she wants you to stay?"

"Yes; 'cause I'd be ashamed to own I was alive if I'd let her take care of such a crowd as ours."

Plums showed plainly that he was displeased by the stand his friend had taken, and walked in silence down the lane to the road.

"Any decent feller'd do the same's I'm countin' on." Joe said to himself, as he went slowly towards the cottage. "He wants to stay 'cause he gets plenty to eat an' no work to speak of, so he won't look at the thing the way he ought'er."

Arriving near the rear door of the cottage, he saw aunt Dorcas and the princess playing on the grass with two dolls made of aprons, and the little woman appeared to be enjoying herself as hugely as did the little maid.

"I declare, I'm almost ashamed of myself, Joseph, to be seen at such games; but I couldn't resist your princess's coaxing, and I believe I've really had a good time. We must find some more Christianlike name for her than princess. I think she calls herself Essie."

"I thought so, too; but I couldn't make out what kind of a name that was. Did you call us after you got through with your nap, aunt Dorcas?"

"Certainly I did, Joseph; but I suppose you were too far away to hear me."

Joe explained how he had spent the afternoon, whereat the little woman laughed merrily, and invited him to play with them at keeping house.

Not until fully half an hour after her usual time for preparing the evening meal, did aunt Dorcas cease her share in the childish sport, and then Joe had his princess all to himself until they were summoned to supper.

Meanwhile, Master Plummer had returned from his walk, but without having concluded his fit of the sulks, and he apparently gave no heed to anything around him until he was called to partake of supper.

On this night aunt Dorcas's prayer was one of thanksgiving rather than supplication; there was a cheery ring in her voice which the boys had never heard before, and Joe wondered at it, without once guessing that the coming of the princess had made the little woman more womanly and younger.

When the boys were in their room, Joe, who had almost forgotten, since the moment he joined in the game of "keeping house," that, on the morrow, he was to leave this pleasant abiding-place, realised even more keenly than before how hard it would be to carry out the purpose he had formed; but yet he did not falter for a single moment.

"I'll do it in the mornin', sure, an' I wish I'd told her to-night; then the hardest part would be over," he said to himself, as he crept into bed by the side of the yet indignantly silent Master Plummer.

Owing to his long sleep during the afternoon, and also the unpleasant thoughts in his mind, Joe's eyes refused to close in slumber. He tossed to and fro on the rest-inviting bed, while Plums slept audibly, until it seemed to him as if the night must have passed and the morning was near at hand.

This belief was strengthened when he heard a noise as if the kitchen window was being raised, and he leaped out of bed, vexed with himself because he had not gone down sooner to build the fire.

It was yet dark in the room, and he turned to pull aside the curtain, when he found that it was already raised at full height.

"It ain't mornin', that's certain," he said to himself. "I wonder what aunt Dorcas is doin'? Perhaps the princess is sick."

He went to the door and listened. A certain faint rustling, as if some one was moving around in the room below, came to his ears; but it was so indistinct he questioned whether it might not be fancy.

One, two, three minutes he stood silent and motionless, and then, not satisfied that everything was as it should be, crept softly down the stairs.

On nearing the kitchen he became positive some one was moving around the room; but since no ray of light appeared from beneath the door when he stood at the foot of the stairs, the startling thought came into his mind that an evil-disposed person had effected an entrance.

It seemed preposterous burglars should come to the cottage in the hope of finding anything of very great value, and yet Joe felt convinced there was an intruder in the house.

Then it was that he believed he knew the person who was moving so stealthily in the adjoining room.

"Dan has broken in here to steal something to eat," he said to himself. "He thinks neither Plums nor I would dare do anything to him, for fear he'd tell the detectives where we are, and knows aunt Dorcas couldn't make much of a row if she wanted to."

Determined to punish the amateur detective soundly for his misdemeanour, Joe crept softly to the door until his hand was on the latch, and at that instant it was suddenly opened from the inside.

Not anticipating any such movement as this, the boy, who had been partially leaning against the door, was precipitated into the room.