Here was a revelation, indeed. Their important{241} secret had been discovered, and neither knew what to say.

Mrs. Brackett was the first to recover her wits.

“Who told you we had any money in the savings² bank, George?” she demanded.

“Nobody.”

“He only guessed it. He doesn’t know,” she thought. “I can deceive him yet.”

“I wish we had money in the bank,” she said; “but farming is a poor business. It doesn’t pay, and all that Jeremiah and I have been able to do has been to make both ends meet.”

“Lucinda, I admire your ready invention—or, shall I say, your ready forgetfulness of facts?” said her brother, with a provoking smile; “but you ought not to try it on me. You must remember that I have been around the world a little; I have a slight knowledge of men, and women, too. You have five hundred dollars in the savings bank, and you know it; and, what’s more, I know it.”

“Who told you?” demanded his sister, desperately³.

A smile passed over her brother’s features, as he fixed⁴ his eyes on his sister’s agitated⁵ countenance⁶, and answered, simply:

“I have seen the book.”

“Have you dared to go to my bureau drawer?” exclaimed Mrs. Brackett, angrily.

“There it comes out!” said White, laughing. “No, I have not been to your bureau drawer.”

“Then, how could you see my bank book?”{242}

“Then it seems you have one, Lucinda. So I thought.”

“I have a small account in the bank, I admit,” said Mrs. Brackett. “But it’s only a few dollars.”

“Didn’t I tell you I had seen the book? Why do you try to deceive me?”

“Then you have been to my bureau.”

“It isn’t in your bureau.”

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