"I don't care," snapped Sarah, "if he knowed the Archon of Swat! _I_ know that Uncle Jonah is too much a Hand to let money or precious stones lie around idle. 'All cats must ketch mice' is our fam'ly's motter. He'll be drawin' dividends an' int'rest on ev'ry dollar he can. You leave it to me, Orrin Petty. I'll find out what Uncle Jonah's fortune is invested in--an' how much it 'mounts to." But after all it was Tom, the lout, to whom the mystery was the more intimately revealed. Orrin fairly sweated all through dinner time, unable to speak a word for fear he would blurt out some question about the strong box, but Sarah's eye quelled him. Cap'n Jonah never mentioned the mystery. But he seemed more cheerful than of late. To Pearl he was always kind--even fatherly. He and Mr. Helmford chatted most companionably. The three Pettys felt themselves rather out of it. Even Sarah's thoughts were so much engrossed by the matter of the strong box from the bank, that she could not give her mind to any ordinary conversational topic. The captain was already "paying 'em back," as he had expressed it to his crony, 'Liphalet Truitt, and to Cap'n Abe. The more Orrin fidgeted, and Sarah held herself in by main force, the more cheerful Cap'n Jonah grew. There was a settled seriousness in Joe Helmford's manner that the captain did not notice. Only Pearl saw this, and feared the boarder had by no means recovered from his indignation of a few nights before. He had been uniformly kind to her since the evening Sarah Petty had driven Pearl so ignominiously from his room. But they had never renewed the intimacy which preceded that unfortunate occasion. Pearl had continued to borrow books, however, in spite of Mrs. Petty's command to the contrary. As for Sarah and Orrin, their treatment of the girl seemed to infer a change of heart. For the first time since Pearl could remember, peace--or, at least, an armistice--reigned in the Petty household. Yet the girl was by no means happy. She felt a positive loss of something. Helmford's attitude seemed to hold her at a distance. She could not imagine what she had done to displease him, if displeasure was the cause of his changed mood. The girl, simple-minded though she was, was not shallow. She began to examine her own heart. Why should she care so much about Helmford's attitude? Aside from her love for books and interest in his library and conversation, just what hold had Joe Helmford upon Pearl Holden's mind and heart? Of course she had felt a certain delight in having a well-dressed, well-mannered young man, so different from the loutish Tom, about the house. She responded to a man's attentions just as any other girl might. But she had held no foolish thoughts in her heart--or so she imagined--until now. She respected Mr. Helmford. Did she, indeed, have another and heretofore unsuspected feeling for him?