"Another plot to ruin us," whispered the boy, as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. "Oh, Marcy, it is just what I was afraid of," replied Mrs. Gray. "Who is at the bottom of it this time?" "The same old rascal, Lon Beardsley; but he's got backing I don't like. There's Colonel Shelby for one, the postmaster for another, and Major Dillon for a third." "The most influential men in the neighborhood," gasped Mrs. Gray, sinking into the nearest chair. "And the best." "They used to be the best, but they are anything but that now. When men will stoop as low as they have, they are mean enough for anything. I suppose you ought to hear what that fellow said to me, but I don t know how I can tell it to you." "Go on," said his mother, trying to bear up bravely. "I must hear every word." Marcy knew that it was right and necessary that his mother should be kept fully informed regarding the plots that were laid against them, and that she should know what the planters were thinking and saying about her; for if she were kept in ignorance, she would be at a loss how to act and speak in a sudden emergency. She might be surprised into saying something in the presence of a secret enemy that would be utterly ruinous. So he drew a chair to her side and told her everything that had passed between Kelsey and himself. He did not try to smooth it over, but repeated the conversation word for word; and when he came to the end, his mother was as much in the dark as Marcy was himself. She said she couldn't understand it. "There are but two things about it that are plain to me," answered Marcy, "perhaps three. One is that the house is watched by somebody, and that the neighbors knew I was at home almost as soon as you knew it yourself. Another is that the suspicions aroused in the minds of some of our watchful neighbors are so strong that they amount to positive conviction. They are as certain that there is money in this house as they would be if they had caught you in the act of hiding it." "Doesn't that prove that the overseer is not the only spy there is on the place?" said Mrs. Gray. "And I was so careful." "I never will believe that anybody watched you at night," said Marcy quickly. "The neighbors saw you when you went away and came back." "But I brought goods with me on purpose to allay their suspicions." "I am really afraid you didn't succeed. The other thing I know is, that you need not think yourself safe out of Captain Beardsley's reach even when he is at sea. As I said before, he has friends ashore to work for him while he is absent." "What can we do? What do you advise?" asked his mother, after she had taken time to think the matter over.