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at how tall and large he was. When they told him what they wanted, he invited them to sit down and asked Daniel to explain.
    "It was Miss Edgerton who thought of going to the spot and search for more clues," Daniel told him. "She found a set of prints from boots leading from the road up to the edge of the clearing where the body was found. Here's a sketch I made of the prints, so you can see whether they match Rory's boots. The prints they left show pretty clearly that the person wearing these boots didn't go close to Reverend Hopewell that morning."
    Sheriff Grover sent the clerk off to bring back Rory's boots while Charlotte told him about finding the tracks. "They went from the road up toward the blueberry bushes where people were gathered, but it was muddy that morning and I could see that the prints stopped right behind the big chokecherry bush. There were a lot of prints right there, but then a line of them heading back to the road."
    "You think this proves that O'Connor was just an innocent passerby?" asked the Sheriff.
    "Yes, he wasn't close enough to where it happened" Daniel answered. "Besides, if he had killed Reverend Hopewell, why didn't he take the money that was in his pockets? He even had a gold pocket watch with a chain. No one could miss seeing that. Any thief would take it."
    "And where would he get a hoe?" Charlotte asked. "Mr. Platt didn't say anything about seeing the tramp carrying a hoe. Where did it get to?"
    By this time the clerk was back with the boots. They were pretty worn down and shabby, but the length was the same as Daniel's measurements. One of them had a hole in the sole that matched exactly the mark in the picture.
    Sheriff Grover looked over the picture and the boots carefully. He even carried them to the window to get the full light.
    "Yep, these look like the same boots all right," he finally agreed. "But I have to see for myself. First I have to go out there and take a look at these footprints for myself. It's curious that the money and the pocket watch weren't taken, but I have to be sure. We can't keep this man in jail much longer anyway. It costs us money to feed him. If I'm satisfied everything is the way you say it is, I'll see about setting bail. We'll still want to keep an eye on him though. You can't trust a tramp like that. They're always getting into trouble."
    Daniel gritted his teeth and said nothing more to the sheriff. When he and Charlotte got outside though, he muttered. "That sheriff would love to pin a crime on Rory. He doesn't care whether the man's guilty or not. As long as he can blame some Irish tramp everyone will be satisfied."
    "The only way we can be sure Rory isn't blamed," Charlotte answered, "is to find the person who is responsible. We just have to work twice as hard."
    "First of all I'm going to write up this story for Mr. Cabot and see whether he'll print it in tomorrow's paper," Daniel answered. "Then we'll see what we can do for the next step."
    Charlotte had agreed to meet Ellen at her aunt's house so she hurried there and found Ellen and Fred talking to Aunt Bridget and to another woman. Both women were making bonnets and scraps of bright colored fabric and velvet ribbon littered the table. As the women stretched the fabric over the bonnet frames and pulled it into place, the silk caught on their red, rough hands.
    The visitor, Maura O'Malley, was an older woman with wrinkled cheeks and gray-streaked hair. She held the sewing up close to her eyes and peered at it as she worked. Ellen's cousin Maureen was threading the needle for her, but no matter how weak her eyes were her stitches were quick and strong. She listened without saying anything while Fred talked about the events at Brook Farm.
    "Poor Mr. Hopewell," exclaimed Mrs. O'Malley when he had finished. "I remember when he was a young man he used to visit at the house where I worked. Handsome, he was, and so well-spoken. Old Miss Coffin and her niece loved having him come for tea, and he always