something of the sort turned out to be the case, for somehow I have
taken a great interest in Owen Dugdale. I mean later on to find an
opportunity to meet that wonderful grandfather of his, for somehow I
suspect he may turn out to be an exile of note who has taken this means
for hiding his identity. I have known eminent Russians to do that from
fear of the Czar's secret agents."

Hugh could not but remember how some of the people chose to believe old
Mr. Dugdale was keeping in hiding from some far less honorable cause;
but of course he did not say anything about that. He went out of
Madame Pangborn's big house with a sense of having undertaken a great
responsibility; and realizing that an up-hill task lay upon his young
shoulders which might test his utmost abilities to carry through.




CHAPTER IV

IN FOR A FROLIC

The high-school boys and girls of Scranton, like those of most other
communities, delighted in getting up occasional entertainments so dear
to the hearts of young people. A straw-ride late in the summer; it
might be a class-spread under difficult conditions on account of the
envy of the other grades at school; and once in a while a jolly barn
dance was engineered by a committee composed of both sexes.

There was just such a pleasant outing arranged for this same Friday
night. Some of the fellows had made up a party to go out several miles