Oscar found the agent had departed for parts unknown—­perhaps to trail the escaped Colonel—­but the hotel keeper furnished him with other wisps of information and, bunching all the rumors together and sifting the wheat from the chaff, the editor evolved a most thrilling tale to print in the Wednesday paper.  Some of the material his own imagination supplied; much else was obtained from irresponsible gossips who had no foundation for their assertions.  Miss Stearne was horrified to find, on receiving her copy of the Wednesday “Beacon” that big headlines across the front page announced:  “Beverly Harbors a Criminal in Disguise!  Flight of Colonel James Weatherby when a Federal Officer Seeks to Arrest him for a Terrible Crime!”

Then followed a mangled report of the officer’s visit to Beverly on government business, his recognition of Colonel Weatherby—­who was none other than the noted criminal, James J. Hathaway—­on the street in front of Cooper’s Hotel, how the officer wired Washington for instructions and how Hathaway, alias Weatherby, escaped in the dead of night and had so far successfully eluded all pursuit.  What crime Hathaway, alias Weatherby, was accused of, the officer would not divulge, and the statements of others disagreed.  One report declared the Colonel had wrecked a New York bank and absconded with enormous sums he had embezzled; another stated he had been president of a swindling stock corporation which had used the mails illegally to further its nefarious schemes.  A third account asserted he had insured his life for a million dollars in favor of his daughter, Mrs. Burrows, and then established a false death and reappeared after Mrs. Burrows had collected the insurance money.

Having printed all this prominently in big type, the editor appended a brief note in small type saying he would not vouch for the truth of any statement made in the foregoing article.  Nevertheless, it was a terrible arraignment and greatly shocked the good citizens of Beverly.

Miss Stearne, realizing how humiliated Mary Louise would be if the newspaper fell into her hands, carefully hid her copy away where none of the girls could see it; but one of the day scholars brought a copy to the school Thursday morning and passed it around among the girls, so that all were soon in possession of the whole scandalous screed.

Mable Westervelt, after feasting upon the awful accusations, cruelly handed the paper to Mary Louise.  The girl’s face blanched and then grew red, her mouth fell open as if gasping for breath and her eyes stared with a pained, hopeless expression at the printed page that branded her dearly loved Gran’pa Jim a swindler and a thief.  She rose quickly and left the room, to the great relief of the other girls, who wanted to talk the matter over.

“The idea,” cried Mable indignantly, “of that old villain’s foisting his grandchild on this respectable school while he ran away to escape the penalty of his crimes!”