Captain Shadrach's eyes and mouth opened simultaneously. He made a dive for the hooks on the bedroom wall. “Jumpin' fire of brimstone!” he roared. “Give me my clothes!” A half-hour later an interested person--and, so far as that goes, at least every second person in South Harniss would have been interested had he or she been aware of what was going on--an interested and, of course, unscrupulous person peeping in under the shades of Hamilton and Company's window would have seen a curious sight. This person would have seen two elderly men sitting one upon a wooden chair and the other upon a wooden packing case and wearing guilty, not to say hang-dog, expressions, while a young woman standing in front of them delivered pointed and personal remarks. Captain Shadrach and Zoeth, following their niece to the store, had peeped in and seen her sitting at the desk, the safe open, and account books and papers spread out before her. A board in the platform creaked beneath the Captain's weighty tread and Mary looked up and saw them. Before they could retreat or make up their minds what to do, she had run to the door, thrown it open, and ordered them to come in. Neither answered--they could not at the moment. The certainty that she knew what they had tried so hard to conceal kept them tongue-tied. “Come in!” repeated Mary. “Come in! And shut the door!” They came in. Also Captain Shadrach shut the door. Just why he obeyed orders so meekly he could not have told. His niece gave him little time to think. “I did not exactly expect you,” she said, “but, on the whole, I am glad you came. Now sit down, both of you, and listen to me. What do you mean by it?” Zoeth sat, without a word. Shadrach, however, made a feeble attempt to bluster. “What do WE mean by it?” he repeated. “What do YOU mean, you mean! Perusin' up here in the middle of the night without a word to your Uncle Zoeth and me, and--and haulin' open that safe--and--” Again Mary interrupted. “Be still, Uncle Shad!” she commanded. “Sit down! Sit down on that box and listen to me! That's right. Now tell me! Why have you been telling me fibs for almost a year? Answer me! Why have you?” Zoeth looked at Shadrach and the latter looked at him. “Fibs?” stammered Mr. Hamilton. “Fibs? Why--why, Mary-'Gusta!” “Yes, fibs. I might use a stronger word and not exaggerate very much. You have led me to think that business was good, that you were doing as well or better than when I was here with you. I asked you over and over again and you invariably gave me that answer. And now I know that during all that time you have scarcely been able to make ends meet, that you have been worrying yourselves sick, that you--” Captain Shad could stand it no longer. “We ain't, neither!” he declared. “I never was better in my life. I ain't had a doctor for more'n a year. And then I only had him for the heaves--for the horse--a horse doctor, I mean. What are you talkin' about! Sick nothin'! If that swab of an Isaiah has--”