"I was going over to Sally a little--" this was Bevy. "I saw him." Bevy indicated her prisoner with a contemptuous gesture. "He was digging in the hole, and I--" "You didn't!" contradicted Alvin. "You didn't!" "What hole?" asked the squire. "Do you dare to say I didn't take you by the ear?" cried Bevy with threatening fingers lifted toward that aching member. "The hole where Katy had her money," explained Edwin. "It was stolen," cried Aunt Sally. "I didn't!" protested Alvin again, his face green with fright. He blamed his own greediness for the discovery. On Sunday evening he had taken all Katy's hoard; why had he been so mad as to return to seek more? "A mule is a mule," proclaimed Bevy Schnepp. "A Koehler is a Koehler. They steal; you cannot better them by education; they are all the time the same, they--" "Be still, Bevy!" commanded the squire. But Bevy would not be still. She gave another scream and began to dance up and down in her grasshopper-like fashion. "Look at him, once! He says he didn't, does he? Look once what he has in his hand!" At once all eyes turned with closer scrutiny upon Alvin. He still held in his hand the implement with which he had coaxed Katy's dollars and half-dollars from the depths of the putlock hole. It was only a bit of twisted wire, but it had done its work well. "Like father, like son!" screamed Bevy again. "What did I say? Where did he get the money to get educated? Where--" "Bevy, be still!" commanded the squire in a sterner tone. "Katy, did you keep your money in the putlock hole?" "Yes," answered Katy in a low voice. Here, face to face with Alvin, she remembered all the past, her long vigils on the porch when she watched for him, his kiss in the shadow, his later, different kisses, his ingratitude, her shame. Katy's head sank lower and lower on her breast. "Why did you select such a place for a bank, Katy?" "I used to keep things there when I was a little girl. Into the deep part nobody could put a hand but me. That is why I thought it was safe." The squire looked more and more angry. His voice sank deeper and deeper in his throat. "You didn't count on bent wire, did you? How much money did you have there, Katy?" Katy answered so faintly that the squire could not hear. "She said forty-two dollars," answered Uncle Edwin for her. Uncle Edwin had now stationed himself behind Alvin; at Alvin's slightest motion he put forth a hand to seize him. The Gaumers had not been able to defend their kinswoman from her own incomprehensible foolishness, but from such bold assault from without they were amply able to protect her. "Is this so, Katy?" asked the squire. Katy's head sank on her breast. "Yes, sir." "Alvin, look at me!"