“Wa’al, if ye will go back I s’pose I can’t stop ye,” said the farmer.  “I’ll have Hank drive ye in, though.”

Mr. Appleby’s nature seemed to have undergone a sudden change.  He was no longer mean and inhospitable.  In a short time Tom and Ray were on their way in a covered carriage to Elmwood Hall.

CHAPTER XXV

EXPLANATIONS

“Look who’s here!”

“Back again!”

“Tom Fairfield, what in the name of the seven sacred scribes has happened, anyhow?”

Thus Tom’s chums—­George, Jack, and Bert, greeted him about an hour later when he entered his room in the borrowed garments of the farmer.  Ray Blake followed him into the apartment, a trifle embarrassed.  The boys had managed, through the friendly offices of Demy Miller, the studious janitor, to enter the dormitory unseen by the proctor or any of his scouts.

“Yes, I’m here,” said Tom with a smile, as he limped to an easy chair.  “Ray, have a seat.  Boys, allow me to introduce my cousin, Ray Blake.”

“Your—­your cousin!” gasped Jack.

“Yes.  He’s the one who had my sweater,” went on Tom.

“Your sweater?” gasped George.

“Yes—­that rather brilliant one that connected me with the horse-poisoning case.”

“But—­but,” stammered Bert.  “Did he—­your cousin—?”

“No, he didn’t use any cyanide,” said Tom quickly.  “Now for some explanations.  But first shake hands, and then maybe we’d better stuff our keyhole so the light won’t show.  No use being interrupted.”

“That’s already been attended to,” said Jack.  “We always take those precautions,” and in turn he and the others shook hands with Ray.

“To begin at the beginning,” said Tom, “this is my cousin—­a son of my mother’s sister.  I haven’t seen him in some years, for he went West, where his parents died.  How he managed to come to work as a hired man for Appleby I don’t know, but he did——­”

“It was just chance,” cut in Ray.  “Suppose you let me explain, Tom.”

“All right, go ahead.  I’m going to rub some liniment on my ankle.  It’s got to be treated, if I’m to play football again.”

“I might as well own up to it first as last,” went on Ray, “that I haven’t been altogether what I should be.  When my mother died—­I—­I sort of went to the bad.”  He choked up for a moment and then resumed.

“I got in with a lot of tough characters in the West and I lived a fast life.  Then I drifted East, lost what money I had and went to work for Mr. Appleby.  I didn’t know Tom was going to school here or I wouldn’t have run the chance of disgracing him.”

“If you had only let me know earlier that you were here,” said Tom, “everything might have been all right.”

“Well, I didn’t,” said Ray, with a smile at his cousin.  “Things went from bad to worse.  Appleby wasn’t the best man in the world to work for.  Then Jake Crouse happened along.  I had known him out West.  He came of a good family, but he went to the bad and became a common tramp, though he had a good education.  Crouse isn’t his right name, I guess.