"I tell you what I have been doin'," vouchsafed the lout, his voice trembling, his face inflamed. "I've been listenin' to Cap'n Cheatin' Jonah and Abram Silt chucklin' over the way they've fooled us all--an' ev'rybody else 'round here. You might have known when this old sea-devil was so almighty thick with Abe Silt that they'd cook up something----" "What do you mean, Tom Petty?" Sarah's voice rose almost to a shriek. She started for Tom, her green eyes snapping, her fingers crooked like talons. Her rage was that of the feline. Tom actually retreated from her threatening front. "I mean that old scoundrel ain't got scurce a cent to bless himself with. I heard him say it!" Tom panted. "Goshamighty!" gasped Orrin. "What d'ye mean? Them securities you told us about?" demanded Sarah. "Was phony--make-believe. He just said so. He an' Cap'n Abe hatched it all up to fool you--so you'd treat him nice, an' treat Pearly nice." "I can't believe it!" wailed Orrin weakly. "If you air tryin' to fool us, Tom Petty, with one o' your silly jokes," declared his mother, "I'll near 'bout kill you!" "I tell you we've been done--an' done good. That box was sent over from the bank for a joke. Cap'n Abe engineered it all, you bet! And you give this old sea-robin your parlor, and fed him up, and made much of him, and showed him off to Uncle 'Poley and Uncle Perse, an' the rest----" "You shet your mouth!" commanded Sarah. Her face was as inflamed as his own. Her sharp features threatened dire work. Her lips, drawn back from her ragged teeth, were sprayed with foam like those of a maddened wolf. Pearl, who had been doing the upstairs work, entered the kitchen on this tableau. With one accord the three Pettys turned upon her. Tom, in a single stride, reached the girl's side and seized her by the wrist with a grip that brought a cry of pain from her lips. "Here's one that knew it all the time, I bet my hat!" growled the son. "The ungrateful little baggage!" snarled Sarah, coming at Pearl from the other side. Orrin had risen, and now leaned over the table, his hairy fists clenched and resting on it, his eyes glaring under penthouse brows. Their attack was so sudden--so unexpected after the recent treatment they had accorded her--that Pearl was made speechless. She had been about to slip into her coat, throw a hood over her hair, and venture up to the chapel to see if the committee on decorations had gathered there. She had not forgotten that Helmford had promised to help, and the girl hoped to meet him. "Let me go, Tom Petty!" she demanded, dropping her outdoor garments and trying to break away from his rough grasp. Sarah seized the girl's other arm and twisted it spitefully. "Tell me!" hissed the woman. "Have you knowed this all along, you little viper, you? Tell me!" She shook Pearl one way. Tom shook her another. Orrin demanded from across the table: