156 THE CHERRY-STONES.

“T do not quite know,” said Walter ;
“but Juno was very busy looking at it
when we found it on the wall.”

Warbeck looked steadily at Walter, to
see whether he was making game of him.
But there was an expression of ingenu-
ous honesty in the boy’s face, that it was
impossible to mistake. He was evidently
in earnest. Some strange mystery W ar-
beck thought. there must be about these
cherry-stones ; but he could get no clue
to it; and whatever it might be, it was
no business of his. Moreover, the time
for his class to be called up was approach-
ing, and he had not yet finished prepar-
ing his Homer. So, for the present, dis-
missing the subject from his thoughts, he
re-entered the school-room, and seating him-
self at his desk, was soon deeply absorbed
in the mysteries of moods and tenses.