he exclaimed, as his quick ears caught a

faint sound. "Oh, I know your light step, Mrs. Silverskin; come in."

Mrs. Silverskin appeared in her usual timid manner. "I have heard something I thought you would be pleased to know," she said in her little weak voice. "I was hiding behind the kitchen door yesterday, where I picked up a few crumbs the children had dropped from their lunch, and I heard Hannah tell Mrs. Winton that Nancy was a thief, and had stolen Posy's amber necklace and Hannah's silver thimble and the cat's collar."

"Good!" exclaimed Graywhisker, with a disagreeable chuckle that displayed his broken front tooth very unpleasantly; "nothing could be better! and what did Mrs. Winton say?"

"She said she didn't believe it,—that she should believe her innocent until she had proof of her guilt."