Gray-haired, kindly-faced Doctor Guerin shook hands cordially, and
kept a friendly arm across Bob's thin shoulders.

"Friends of yours coming home next Tuesday," he said, smiling as one
who knows he brings pleasant news. "The Benders are due in Laurel
Grove. Mrs. Guerin had a postal card last night."

Betty was glad to hear this, for she did not want Bob to leave
Bramble Farm without seeking the advice of the fine young police
recorder who had been so good to them and whose friendship both she
and Bob valued as only those can who need real friends.

"I came to bid on a secretary," Doctor Guerin confided presently.
"It's the only good thing in the whole house. Rest of the stuff is
nothing but trash. That antique dealer from Petria is here, too, and
I suspect he has his eye on the same piece. Don't you want to bid for
me Bob, to keep him in the dark?"

Bob was delighted to do the doctor a service, and when the mahogany
secretary was put up for sale the few other bidders soon dropped out,
leaving the field to the Petria dealer and the lad in the faded
overalls. The dealer, of course, knew that Bob must represent some
buyer, but he could not decide for whom he was bidding, and so was in
the dark as to how high his opponent would go. Had he known that
Doctor Hal Guerin was bidding against him, he would have been
enlightened, for the doctor's collection of antiques was really
famous and the envy of many a professional collector.

"I suppose some rube wants the desk for his sitting room," thought