"Did they say they got it from me?" she questioned. "They said they were on the right track and would have the diamonds back to Miss Schenk in one day. Then, when I heard them say your name, and that they had got the box out here, I just rubbered fer fair, I did." "Now, are you sure, Andy, that you understood just what they said?" asked Cora, to whom the actual report of the detectives to Miss Schenk meant so much. "Try to tell me word for word." "Oh, I heard them all right," replied the lad, "fer I crawled straight under the window, and I was as close as if I was in the old rocking chair under Mrs. Ramsy's arm. The thin fellow said he had found the box. Mrs. Ramsy asked where, and I thought she would swallow her new teeth the way she--gulped. Then the fellow said he had got them from a young lady out in Chelton. This was like a firecracker to the women, and they both went off at such a rate, that the fellows had to stop until they cooled off. Then, when they had said about all they could think of about girls in automobiles, and girls that came out makin' believe to buy berries, and just to steal--then, the other fellow--he has young whiskers--he said, that he couldn't say any more just then, but he did have to say that he got the box from Miss Cora Kimball." This was a very long, and trying explanation for a boy like Andy, and he showed how the effort affected him. He jabbed his hands into his pockets, crossed and recrossed his sunburned legs, then at last, with one final attempt at self-possession, he got up and deliberately chased the cat off the porch. "Was that your cat?" he asked sheepishly, realizing that he had no right to interfere even with a cat on another person's stoop. "Why, yes," replied Cora, "but it is too early for his breakfast, and he knows he is not fed--here. So it's all right." Then Andy sat down again, a little shy from his error, for he suddenly remembered a story his mother used to tell him of a rich young lady and her pet cat. "But you were saying," Cora reminded him, her voice kinder if possible than before, "that these detectives claimed I gave them the box. Or did you say they claimed to have taken it from me?" Andy scratched his head, right at the left ear which always served as a cue to the forgotten thing. "They didn't say neither one," he replied finally. "They--said--they got the box in Chelton--off a young lady!" Cora never before realized what an error in speech might involve, but she knew it was useless to question the boy further. "Well, don't worry about it," she said, "and I think now you ought to be ready for breakfast. Come, I guess Mary has something ready." The boy stood up beside Cora, then, following an impulse that he plainly could not resist, he stepped between her and the door to the dining room. "I ain't hungry, miss," he said, "but I want to warn you. You better git out of the state!"