Mrs. Benton’s eyebrows rose a trifle. “Bless me, but you wouldn’t expect me to keep my house cluttered up with all sorts of other people’s odds and ends, would you?” “No, ma’am,” Sam hastened to assure her. “But--but did it stay in the can?” Mrs. Benton met question with question. “Why? Was it yours?” “Oh, no,” said Sam. “It wasn’t mine, but I--I--well, I was sort of--sort of interested in it. Do you know what became of it?” “That’s just what I don’t know.” “Oh!” said Sam again. The lady did not miss the disappointment in his tone. “Somebody took it out of the can,” she explained. “It wasn’t the garbage collector, for that wasn’t his day to come ’round. But I remember that I disposed of the cap after breakfast, and that, when I carried out some potato peelings an hour or two later, the cap had disappeared. There often are people prowling through the alley, you know--tramps, some of ’em--and it was a pretty good cap, after all, if a body wasn’t over-particular. And you say it wasn’t yours?” “No, ma’am,” said Sam, and rose a bit hastily. “But I’m very much obliged for the information.” Mrs. Benton followed him to the door. “You’re thanking me for very little,” she remarked. “But if it’ll be any help to you, in whatever you are after, I can add that the cap was taken out of the can somewhere between nine and ten o’clock that morning.” And in the hour mentioned, as Sam was quite aware, Tom Orkney was fully accounted for, having been in his place in school! Sam’s step was slow as he moved away from the house, and his brow was furrowed. Undeniably the case against Orkney was weakening. Equally the case for the Safety First Club was tottering. There came to Sam unhappy recollections of talk about the chain of proofs and its various links, among them the cruelty to Little Perrine. Well, there was nothing for it but to go on with the inquiry he had begun. Little Perrine, he was told, was very much better, and would be glad to see him. The convalescent was sitting up in bed, and was in excellent spirits. “Hullo, Sam!” he called out gaily. “Gee, but it’s good of you to look me up! Sit down, and tell me all about how you pulled Tom Orkney and me out of the pond. The folks won’t tell me half enough.” Sam drew a chair close to the bed. “Oh, it isn’t much of a yarn,” he said modestly. “I happened to have a plank, so it was no trick at all.”