They were soon settled down and relating the particulars of some of the things that had happened at Brill.  None of the boys cared to tell of the coldness that had sprung up between themselves and the girls.  They simply said they knew the girls had gone home.

“That was an outrage,” said Mr. Rover with considerable warmth.

“An outrage?” repeated Dick doubtfully.  “What do you mean?”

“Perhaps you didn’t hear the report that was circulated at Hope Seminary concerning them.”

“We heard no report, excepting that they had been called home.”

“Somebody circulated a story that they were going to school on money that did not belong to them—­that their folks had confiscated a fortune belonging to others.  Grace wrote to her mother that the story was being whispered about everywhere, and it was making them all miserable; and that’s the main reason for their going home.”

“What a contemptible thing to do!” cried Tom.  “Who do you suppose is guilty—­Tad Sobber?”

“I can think of nobody else.  He is so angry he would do anything to injure them and us.”

“And what of the case?” asked Sam.  “Will it come up in court soon?”

“Some time next Spring.”

“And what do the lawyers think of our side winning?” questioned Dick eagerly.

“They say it depends largely upon the evidence the other side submits.  It is possible that the case may drag on for years.”

“What a shame!” murmured Dick.

It continued to snow all that night and the next day, and Christmas found the family all but snowbound at Valley Brook.

“Merry Christmas!” was the cry, early in the morning, and the boys tumbled out of bed and dressed in a hurry.  Then they went below, to find a stack of presents awaiting them.  They quickly distributed the gifts they had brought and then looked at their own.  They had almost everything their hearts could desire.

Yet each youth felt a pang of disappointment, for among all the gifts there were none for them from the Stanhopes or the Lanings.

“We are out of it,” said Dick laconically to his brothers.

“So it appears,” answered Tom soberly.  For once, all the fun was knocked out of him.

“Well, I am glad I didn’t forget them, anyway,” said Sam bravely.  But he wondered how it was Grace could treat him so shabbily.

The boys passed the day as best they could in reading and playing games, and in snowballing each other and Jack Ness and Aleck Pop.

“My! my!  But dis am lik old times at Putnam Hall!” said the colored man, grinning from ear to ear when Tom hit him on the head with a snowball.  “Hab yo’ fun while yo’ am young, Massa Tom.”

“That’s my motto, Aleck,” answered Tom.  “Have another.”  And he landed a snowball on the colored man’s shoulder.

“I move we go down to the post-office for mail,” said Dick toward evening.  “We don’t know what we may be missing.”