"Hester Grimes?" cried Jess.

"Yes. Your dear friend. Well, Dan was up all night that night with a raging
toothache. He said the Grimes' had a party. Purt was there with his car.
Dan knows the car was taken away from the house and was gone more than an
hour that evening, and that Purt did not go with the car.

"See? He's shielding somebody--the poor fish!" added Chet. "That is what
Short and Long has been saying. Now, what do you know about that?"




CHAPTER XXII

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST PURT


The news Chet had divulged was so exciting that the girls quite forgot for
the time being the wreck that Hester Grimes seemed to have made of the
forthcoming performance of "The Rose Garden."

Their chattering tongues mentioned Hester more than once, however, as they
discussed Chet's news. Whether Purt Sweet's car had run down the man from
Alaska or not, what did Hester know about it?

"Can it be possible that Purt is shielding Hester in this matter?" Laura
queried gravely.

"Oh, it couldn't be! She wasn't in that car that knocked down Mr. Nemo of