"Come on, let's all go off and have some cream," proposed Phil. "Come along, Sid, you and Miss Harrison----" He paused in confusion, for he had, for the moment, forgotten the cloud between the two. Mabel Harrison blushed, and was about to turn away, but Sid stepped forward. "I will only be too happy," he said, "if Miss Harrison will----" "You know--you know----" she stammered in confusion. The six were somewhat by themselves now, for the crowd had surged away. "It's all right!" exclaimed Sid, and there was a joyous look on his face. "I can, and I'm going, to explain everything, now. You needn't hesitate about coming with me, Miss Harrison. See this," and he held out a duplicate of the newspaper clipping that had been fraught with such results. "I don't wonder you fellows thought I was going the pace," continued Sid, "nor do I blame you, Miss Harrison, for not believing in me. This is the first chance I've had to explain. I was in that gambling raid told of here." "You were?" and the girl recoiled a pace. "Yes," resumed Sid, with a little smile, "I went there to rescue my cousin. His name is Guy Norton, and he is the same flashily-dressed young man you saw me with at the picnic. Guy's father died a short time ago, leaving him a fortune, which he proceeded to get rid of as quickly as possible. He took to gambling, and fast company, though his widowed mother never knew it. She supposed him attending to business in Dartwell, but, instead, Guy was dissipating. His sister, Clara, knew of it, however, and wrote to me to try to save her brother. She came to Dartwell to help look after him, and boarded with him. I had considerable control over Guy, for we used to be little chaps together, and I once saved him from drowning, so he would generally do as I said. So I promised his sister I would save him, and gave my word not to tell anything about it, as she wanted to keep all knowledge from her mother, who had a weak heart, and who, she knew, would die if she ever knew her son was a gambler. "My first service was to take Guy out of a gambling hall, his sister having written me a hasty note to the effect that he had gone there with a large sum of money." "That piece of paper, with the word 'trouble' on it must have been from her note," remarked Phil. "We picked it up in the room, after you went out so quickly that rainy night, Sid."