Jed came forward, the roll of bills in his hand. He seemed quite
oblivious of the Babbitt stare, or, for that matter, of the
complete silence which had so suddenly fallen upon the group in the
shop. He came forward, smoothing the crumpled notes with fingers
which shook a little. He stopped in front of Captain Hunniwell.
The captain was gazing at him and at the money. Jed did not meet
his friend's eye; he continued to smooth the banknotes. Captain
Sam spoke first.
"What's that?" he demanded. "What money's that?"
Jed's fingers moved back and forth across the bills and he answered
without looking up. He seemed much embarrassed.
"Sam," he faltered. "Sam--er--you remember you told me you'd--er--
lost some money a spell ago? Some--er--money you'd collected over
to Wapatomac. You remember that, don't you?"
Captain Sam looked at him in puzzled surprise. "Remember it?" he
repeated. "Course I remember it. Gracious king, 'tain't likely
I'd forget it, is it?"
Jed nodded. "No-o," he drawled, solemnly. "No, course you
couldn't. 'Twas four hundred dollars you was short, wan't it?"
The Captain's puzzled look was still there.
"Yes," he replied. "What of it?"
"Why--why, just this, Sam: I--I want it to be plain, you
understand. I want Major Grover and Phineas here to understand
the--the whole of it. There's a lot of talk, seems so, around town
about money bein' missin' from the bank--"
Captain Sam interrupted. "The deuce there is!" he exclaimed.
"That's the first I've heard of any such talk. Who's talkin'?"
"Oh, a--a good many folks, I judge likely. Gabe Bearse asked
Babbie about it, and Phin here he--"
"Eh?" The captain turned to face his old enemy. "So you've been
talkin', have you?" he asked.
Mr. Babbitt leaned forward. "I ain't begun my talkin' yet, Sam
Hunniwell," he snarled. "When I do you'll--"
He stopped. Grover had touched him on the shoulder.
"Sshh!" said the Major quietly. To the absolute amazement of
Captain Sam, Phineas subsided. His face was blazing red and he
seemed to be boiling inside, but he did not say another word. Jed
seized the opportunity to continue.
"I--I just want to get this all plain, Sam," he put in, hastily.
"I just want it so all hands'll understand it, that's all. You
went over to Sylvester Sage's in Wapatomac and he paid you four
hundred dollars. When you got back home here fourteen hundred of
it was missin'. No, no, I don't mean that. I mean you couldn't
find fourteen hundred--I mean--"
The captain's patience was, as he himself often said, moored with a
short cable. The cable parted now.
"Gracious king!" he snapped. "Jed, if that yarn you're tryin' to
spin was wound in a ball and a kitten was playin' with it you
couldn't be worse snarled up. What he's tryin' to tell you," he
explained, turning to Grover, "is that the other day, when I was
over to Wapatomac, old Sylvester Sage over there paid me fourteen
hundred dollars in cash and when I got back here all I could find
was a thousand. That's what you're tryin' to say, ain't it?"
turning to Jed once more.
"Yes--yes, that's it, Sam. That's it."
"Course it's it. But what do you want me to say it for? And what
are you runnin' around with all that money in your hands for?
That's what I want to know."
Jed swallowed hard. "Well, Sam," he stammered, "that--that's what
I was goin' to tell you. You see--you see, that's the four hundred
you lost. I--I found it."
Major Grover looked surprised. Phineas Babbitt looked more
surprised. But, oddly enough, it was Captain Sam Hunniwell who
appeared to be most surprised by his friend's statement. The
captain seemed absolutely dumbfounded.
"You--you WHAT?" he cried.
Jed smoothed the bills in his hand. "I found it, Sam," he
repeated. "Here 'tis--here."
He extended the bundle of banknotes. The captain made no move to
take them. Jed held them a little nearer.
"You--you'd better take it, Sam," he urged. "It might get lost
again, you know."
Still Captain Sam made no move. He looked from the bills in Jed's
hands to Jed's face and back again. The expression on his own face
was a strange one.
"You found it," he repeated. "YOU did?"
"Yes--yes, I found it, Sam. Just happened to."
"Where did you find it?"
"Over yonder behind that pile of boards. You know you said the
money was in your overcoat pocket and--and when you came in here on
your way back from Sylvester's you hove your coat over onto those
boards. I presume likely the--the money must have fell out of the
pocket then. You see, don't you, Sam?"
The tone in which the question was asked was one, almost, of
pleading. He appeared very, very anxious to have the captain
"see." But the latter seemed as puzzled as ever.
"Here's the money, Sam," urged Jed. "Take it, won't you?"
Captain Sam took it, but that is all he did. He did not count it
or put it in his pocket. He merely took it and looked at the man
who had given it to him.
Jed's confusion seemed to increase. "Don't you--don't you think
you'd better count it, Sam?" he stammered. "If--if the Major here
and Phin see you count it and--and know it's all right, then
they'll be able to contradict the stories that's goin' around about
so much bein' stolen, you know."
The captain grunted.
"Stolen?" he repeated. "You said folks were talkin' about money
bein' lost. Have they been sayin' 'twas stolen?"
It was Grover who answered. "I haven't heard any such rumors," he
said. "I believe Lieutenant Rayburn said he heard some idle report
about the bank's having lost a sum of money, but there was no hint
at dishonesty."
Captain Sam turned to Mr. Babbitt.
"YOU haven't heard any yarns about money bein' stolen at the bank,
have you?" he demanded.
Before Phineas could answer Grover's hand again fell lightly on his
shoulder.
"I'm sure he hasn't," observed the Major. The captain paid no
attention to him.
"Have you?" he repeated, addressing Babbitt.
The little man shook from head to foot. The glare with which he
regarded his hated rival might have frightened a timid person. But
Captain Sam Hunniwell was distinctly not timid.
"Have you?" he asked, for the third time.
Phineas' mouth opened, but Grover's fingers tightened on his
shoulder and what came out of that mouth was merely a savage
repetition of his favorite retort, "None of your darned business."
"Yes, 'tis my business," began Captain Sam, but Jed interrupted.
"I don't see as it makes any difference whether he's heard anything
or not, Sam," he suggested eagerly. "No matter what he's heard, it
ain't so, because there couldn't have been anything stolen. There
was only four hundred missin'. I've found that and you've got it
back; so that settles it, don't it?"
"It certainly would seem as if it did," observed Grover.
"Congratulations, Captain Hunniwell. You're fortunate that so
honest a man found the money, I should say."
The captain merely grunted. The odd expression was still on his
face. Jed turned to the other two.
"Er--er--Major Grover," he said, "if--if you hear any yarns now
about money bein' missin'--or--or stolen you can contradict 'em
now, can't you?"
"I certainly can--and will."
"And you'll contradict 'em, too, eh, Phin?"
Babbitt jerked his shoulder from Grover's grasp and strode to the
door.
"Let me out of here," he snarled. "I'm goin' home."
No one offered to detain him, but as he threw open the door to the
outer shop Leonard Grover followed him.
"Just a moment, Babbitt," he said. "I'll go as far as the gate
with you, if you don't mind. Good afternoon, Jed. Good afternoon,
Captain, and once more--congratulations. . . . Here, Babbitt, wait
a moment."
Phineas did not wait, but even so his pursuer caught him before he
reached the gate. Jed, who had run to the window, saw the Major
and the hardware dealer in earnest conversation. The former seemed
to be doing most of the talking. Then they separated, Grover
remaining by the gate and Phineas striding off in the direction of
his shop. He was muttering to himself and his face was working
with emotion. Between baffled malice and suppressed hatred he
looked almost as if he were going to cry. Even amid his own
feelings of thankfulness and relief Jed felt a pang of pity for
Phineas Babbitt. The little man was the incarnation of spite and
envy and vindictive bitterness, but Jed was sorry for him, just as
he would have been sorry for a mosquito which had bitten him. He
might be obliged to crush the creature, but he would feel that it
was not much to blame for the bite; both it and Phineas could not
help being as they were--they were made that way.
He heard an exclamation at his shoulder and turned to find that
Captain Sam had also been regarding the parting at the gate.
"Humph!" grunted the captain. "Phin looks as if he'd been eatin'
somethin' that didn't set any too good. What's started him to
obeyin' orders from that Grover man all to once? I always thought
he hated soldierin' worse than a hen hates a swim. . . . Humph! . . .
Well, that's the second queerest thing I've run across to-day."
Jed changed the subject, or tried to change it.
"What's the first one, Sam?" he hastened to ask. His friend looked
at him for an instant before he answered.
"The first one?" he repeated, slowly. "Well, I'll tell you, Jed.
The first one--and the queerest of all--is your findin' that four
hundred dollars."
Jed was a good deal taken aback. He had not expected an answer of
that kind. His embarrassment and confusion returned.
"Why--why," he stammered, "is--is that funny, Sam? I don't--I
don't know's I get what you mean. What's--what is there funny
about my findin' that money?"
The captain stepped across the shop, pulled forward a chair and
seated himself. Jed watched him anxiously.
"I--I don't see anything very funny about my findin' that money,
Sam," he said, again. Captain Sam grunted.
"Don't you?" he asked. "Well, maybe my sense of humor's gettin'
cross-eyed or--or somethin'. I did think I could see somethin'
funny in it, but most likely I was mistaken. Sit down, Jed, and
tell me all about how you found it."
Jed hesitated. His hand moved slowly across his chin.
"Well, now, Sam," he faltered, "there ain't nothin' to tell. I
just--er--found it, that's all. . . . Say, you ain't seen that new
gull vane of mine lately, have you? I got her so she can flop her
wings pretty good now."
"Hang the gull vane! I want to hear how you found that money.
Gracious king, man, you don't expect I'm goin' to take the gettin'
back of four hundred dollars as cool as if 'twas ten cents, do you?
Sit down and tell me about it."
So Jed sat, not with eagerness, but more as if he could think of no
excuse for refusing. His companion tilted back in his chair, lit a
cigar, and bade him heave ahead.
"Well," began Jed, "I--I--you see, Sam, I happened to look behind
that heap of boards there and--"
"What made you think of lookin' behind those boards?"
"Eh? Why, nothin' 'special. I just happened to look. That's
where your coat was, you know. So I looked and--and there 'twas."
"I see. There 'twas, eh? Where?"
"Why--why, behind the boards. I told you that, you know."
"Gracious king, course I know! You've told me that no less than
ten times. But WHERE was it? On the boards? On the floor?"
"Eh? . . . Oh, . . . oh, seems to me 'twas on the floor."
"Don't you KNOW 'twas on the floor?"
"Why . . . why, yes, sartin."
"Then what made you say 'seems as if' it was there?"
"Oh, . . . oh, I don't know. Land sakes, Sam, what are you askin'
me all these questions for?"
"Just for fun, I guess. I'm interested, naturally. Tell me some
more. How was the money--all together, or kind of scattered 'round?"
"Eh? . . . Oh, all together."
"Sure of that?"
"Course I'm sure of it. I can see it just as plain as day, now I
come to think of it. 'Twas all together, in a heap like."
"Um-hm. The band that was round it had come off, then?"
"Band? What band?"
"Why, the paper band with '$400' on it. That had come off when it
fell out of my pocket, I presume likely."
"Yes. . . . Yes, I guess likely it did. Must have. . . . Er--
Sam, let me show you that gull vane. I got it so now that--"
"Hold on a minute. I'm mighty interested about your findin' this
money. It's so--so sort of unexpected, as you might say. If that
band came off it must have broke when the money tumbled down behind
the boards. Let's see if it did."
He rose and moved toward the pile of boards. Jed also rose.
"What are you goin' to look for?" he asked, anxiously.
"Why, the paper band with the '$400' on it. I'd like to see if it
broke. . . . Humph!" he added, peering down into the dark crevice
between the boards and the wall of the shop. "Can't see anything
of it, can you?"
Jed, peering solemnly down, shook his head. "No," he said. "I
can't see anything of it."
"But it may be there, for all that." He reached down. "Humph!" he
exclaimed. "I can't touch bottom. Jed, you've got a longer arm
than I have; let's see if you can."
Jed, sprawled upon the heap of lumber, stretched his arm as far as
it would go. "Hum," he drawled, "I can't quite make it, Sam. . . .
There's a place where she narrows way down here and I can't get my
fingers through it."
"Is that so? Then we'd better give up lookin' for the band, I
cal'late. Didn't amount to anything, anyhow. Tell me more about
what you did when you found the money. You must have been
surprised."
"Eh? . . . Land sakes, I was. I don't know's I ever was so
surprised in my life. Thinks I, 'Here's Sam's money that's missin'
from the bank.' Yes, sir, and 'twas, too."
"Well, I'm much obliged to you, Jed, I surely am. And when you
found it-- Let's see, you found it this mornin', of course?"
"Eh? Why--why, how--what makes you think I found it this mornin'?"
"Oh, because you must have. 'Cause if you'd found it yesterday or
the day before you'd have told me right off."
"Yes--oh, yes, that's so. Yes, I found it this mornin'."
"Hadn't you thought to hunt for it afore?"
"Eh? . . . Land sakes, yes . . . yes, I'd hunted lots of times,
but I hadn't found it."
"Hadn't thought to look in that place, eh?"
"That's it. . . . Say, Sam, what--"
"It's lucky you hadn't moved those boards. If you'd shifted them
any since I threw my coat on 'em you might not have found it for a
month, not till you used up the whole pile. Lucky you looked afore
you shifted the lumber."
"Yes . . . yes, that's so. That's a fact. But, Sam, hadn't you
better take that money back to the bank? The folks up there don't
know it's been found yet. They'll be some surprised, too."
"So they will. All hands'll be surprised. And when I tell 'em how
you happened to see that money lyin' in a pile on the floor behind
those boards and couldn't scarcely believe your eyes, and couldn't
believe 'em until you'd reached down and picked up the money, and
counted it-- That's about what you did, I presume likely, eh?"
"Yes. . . . Yes, that's just it."
"They'll be surprised then, and no wonder. But they'd be more
surprised if I should bring 'em here and show 'em the place where
you found it. 'Twould surprise 'most anybody to know that there
was a man livin' who could see down a black crack four foot deep
and two inches wide and around a corner in that crack and see money
lyin' on the floor, and know 'twas money, and then stretch his arm
out a couple of foot more and thin his wrist down until it was less
than an inch through and pick up that money. That WOULD surprise
em. Don't you think 'twould, Jed?"
The color left Jed's face. His mouth fell open and he stared
blankly at his friend. The latter chuckled.
"Don't you think 'twould surprise 'em, Jed?" he repeated. "Seems
likely as if 'twould. It surprised me all right enough."
The color came surging back. Jed's cheeks flamed. He tried to
speak, but what he said was not coherent nor particularly
intelligible.
"Now--now--now, Sam," he stammered. "I--I-- You don't understand.
You ain't got it right. I--I--"
The captain interrupted. "Don't try so hard, Jed," he continued.
"Take time to get your steam up. You'll bust a b'iler if you puff
that way. Let's see what it is I don't understand. You found this
money behind those boards?"
"Eh? Yes . . . yes . . . but--"
"Wait. And you found it this mornin'?"
"Yes . . . yes . . . but, Sam--"
"Hold on. You saw it layin' on the floor at the bottom of that
crack?"
"Well--well, I don't know as I saw it exactly, but--but-- No, I
didn't see it. I--I felt it."
"Oh, you felt it! Thought you said you saw it. Well, you reached
down and felt it, then. How did you get your arm stretched out
five foot long and three-quarters of an inch thick? Put it under
the steam roller, did you?"
Jed swallowed twice before replying. "I--I--" he began. "Well--
well, come to think of it, Sam, I--I guess I didn't feel it with my
fingers. I--I took a stick. Yes, that was it. I poked in behind
there with a stick."
"Oh, you felt it with a stick. And knew 'twas money? Tut, tut!
You must have a good sense of touch, Jed, to know bills when you
scratch across 'em with the far end of a five foot stick. Pick 'em
up with a stick, too, did you?"
Mr. Winslow was speechless. Captain Sam shook his head.
"And that ain't the most astonishin' part either," he observed.
"While those bills were in the dark at the bottom of that crack
they must have sprouted. They went in there nothin' but tens and
twenties. These you just gave me are fives and twos and all sorts.
You'd better poke astern of those boards again, Jed. The roots
must be down there yet; all you've scratched up are the sprouts."
His only answer was a hopeless groan. Captain Sam rose and,
walking over to where his friend sat with his face buried between
his hands, laid his own hand on the latter's shoulder.
"There, there, Jed," he said, gently. "I beg your pardon. I'm
sorry I stirred you up this way. 'Twas mean of me, I know, but
when you commenced givin' me all this rigmarole I couldn't help it.
You never was meant for a liar, old man; you make a mighty poor
fist at it. What is it all about? What was you tryin' to do it
for?"
Another groan. The captain tried again.
"What's the real yarn?" he asked. "What are you actin' this way
for? Course I know you never found the money. Is there somebody--"
"No! No, no!" Jed's voice rose almost to a shout. He sprang to
his feet and clutched at Captain Sam's coat-sleeve. "No," he
shouted. "Course there ain't anybody. Wh-what makes you say such
a thing as that? I--I tell you I did find the money. I did--I
did."
"Jed! Of course you didn't. I know you didn't. I KNOW. Gracious
king, man, be sensible."
"I did! I did! I found it and now I give it back to you. What
more do you want, Sam Hunniwell? Ain't that enough?"
"Enough! It's a darned sight too much. I tell you I know you
didn't find it."
"But I did."
"Rubbish! In the first place, you and I hunted every inch behind
those boards the very day the money was missin', and 'twa'n't there
then. And, besides, this isn't the money I lost."
"Well--well, what if 'tain't? I don't care. I--I know 'tain't.
I--I spent your money."
"You SPENT it? When? You told me you only found it this mornin'."
"I--I know I did, but 'twan't so. I--I--" Jed was in an agony of
alarm and frantic haste. "I found your money two or three days
ago. Yes, sir, that's when I found it. . . . Er. . . er . . ."
"Humph! Why didn't you tell me you found it then? If you'd found
it what made you keep runnin' into the bank to ask me if I'D found
it? Why didn't you give it back to me right off? Oh, don't be so
ridiculous, Jed."
"I--I ain't. It's true. I--I didn't give it back to you because--
because I--I thought first I'd keep it."
"Keep it? KEEP it? Steal it, do you mean?"
"Yes--yes, that's what I mean. I--I thought first I'd do that and
then I got--got kind of sorry and--and scared and I got some more
money--and now I'm givin' it back to you. See, don't you, Sam?
That's the reason."
Captain Sam shook his head. "So you decided to be a thief, did
you, Jed?" he said, slowly. "Well, the average person never'd have
guessed you was such a desperate character. . . . Humph! . . .
Well, well! . . . What was you goin' to do with the four hundred,
provided you had kept it? You spent the money I lost anyway; you
said you did. What did you spend it for?"
"Oh--oh, some things I needed."
"Sho! Is that so? What things?"
Jed's shaking hand moved across his chin.
"Oh--I--I forget," he faltered. Then, after a desperate struggle,
"I--I--I bought a suit of clothes."
The effort of this confession was a peculiar one. Captain Sam
Hunniwell put back his head and roared with laughter. He was still
laughing when he picked up his hat and turned to the door. Jed
sprang from his seat.
"Eh? . . . You're not GOIN', are you, Sam?" he cried. The
captain, wiping his eyes, turned momentarily.
"Yes, Jed," he said, chokingly, "I'm goin'. Say, if--if you get
time some of these days dress up in that four hundred dollar suit
you bought and then send me word. I'd like to see it."
He went out. The door of the outer shop slammed. Jed wiped the
perspiration from his forehead and groaned helplessly and
hopelessly.
The captain had reached the gate when he saw Phillips coming along
the road toward him. He waited until the young man arrived.
"Hello, Captain," hailed Charles. "So you decided not to come back
to the bank this afternoon, after all?"
His employer nodded. "Yes," he said. "I've been kept away on
business. Funny kind of business, too. Say, Charlie," he added,
"suppose likely your sister and you would be too busy to see me for
a few minutes now? I'd like to see if you've got an answer to a
riddle."
"A riddle?"
"Um-hm. I've just had the riddle sprung on me and it's got MY head
whirlin' like a bottle in a tide rip. Can I come into your house
for a minute and spring it on you?"
The young man looked puzzled, which was not surprising, but his
invitation to come into the house was most cordial. They entered
by the front door. As they came into the little hall they heard a
man's voice in the living-room beyond. It was Major Grover's voice
and they heard the major say:
"It doesn't matter at all. Please understand I had no thought of
asking. I merely wanted you to feel that what that fellow said had
no weight with me whatever, and to assure you that I will make it
my business to see that he keeps his mouth shut. As for the other
question, Ruth--"
Ruth Armstrong's voice broke in here.
"Oh, please," she begged, "not now. I--I am so sorry I can't tell
you everything, but--but it isn't my secret and--and I can't.
Perhaps some day-- But please believe that I am grateful, very,
very grateful. I shall never forget it."
Charlie, with an anxious glance at Captain Hunniwell, cleared his
throat loudly. The captain's thoughts, however, were too busy with
his "riddle" to pay attention to the voices in the living-room. As
he and Phillips entered that apartment Major Grover came into the
hall. He seemed a trifle embarrassed, but he nodded to Captain
Sam, exchanged greetings with Phillips, and hurried out of the
house. They found Ruth standing by the rear window and looking out
toward the sea.
The captain plunged at once into his story. He began by asking
Mrs. Armstrong if her brother had told her of the missing four
hundred dollars. Charles was inclined to be indignant.
"Of course I haven't," he declared. "You asked us all to keep
quiet about it and not to tell a soul, and I supposed you meant
just that."
"Eh? So I did, Charlie, so I did. Beg your pardon, boy. I might
have known you'd keep your hatches closed. Well, here's the yarn,
Mrs. Armstrong. It don't make me out any too everlastin'
brilliant. A grown man that would shove that amount of money into
his overcoat pocket and then go sasshayin' from Wapatomac to Orham
ain't the kind I'd recommend to ship as cow steward on a cattle
boat, to say nothin' of president of a bank. But confessin's good
for the soul, they say, even if it does make a feller feel like a
fool, so here goes. I did just that thing."
He went on to tell of his trip to Wapatomac, his interview with
Sage, his visit to the windmill shop, his discovery that four
hundred of the fourteen hundred had disappeared. Then he told of
his attempts to trace it, of Jed's anxious inquiries from day to
day, and, finally, of the scene he had just passed through.
"So there you are," he concluded. "I wish to mercy you'd tell me
what it all means, for I can't tell myself. If it hadn't been so--
so sort of pitiful, and if I hadn't been so puzzled to know what
made him do it, I cal'late I'd have laughed myself sick to see poor
old Jed tryin' to lie. Why, he ain't got the first notion of how
to begin; I don't cal'late he ever told a real, up-and-down lie
afore in his life. That was funny enough--but when he began to
tell me he was a thief! Gracious king! And all he could think of
in the way of an excuse was that he stole the four hundred to buy a
suit of clothes with. Ho, ho, ho!"
He roared again. Charlie Phillips laughed also. But his sister
did not laugh. She had seated herself in the rocker by the window
when the captain began his tale and now she had drawn back into the
corner where the shadows were deepest.
"So there you are," said Captain Sam, again. "There's the riddle.
Now what's the answer? Why did he do it? Can either of you guess?"
Phillips shook his head. "You have got me," he declared. "And the
money he gave you was not the money you lost? You're sure of that?"
"Course I'm sure of it. In the first place I lost a packet of
clean tens and twenties; this stuff I've got in my pocket now is
all sorts, ones and twos and fives and everything. And in the
second place--"
"Pardon me, just a minute, Captain Hunniwell. Where did he get the
four hundred to give you, do you think? He hasn't cashed any large
checks at the bank within the last day or two, and he would
scarcely have so much on hand in his shop."
"Not as much as that--no. Although I've known the absent-minded,
careless critter to have over two hundred knockin' around among his
tools and chips and glue pots. Probably he had some to start with,
and he got the rest by gettin' folks around town and over to
Harniss to cash his checks. Anthony Hammond over there asked me a
little while ago, when I met him down to the wharf, if I thought
Shavin's Winslow was good for a hundred and twenty-five. Said Jed
had sent over by the telephone man's auto and asked him to cash a
check for that much. Hammond said he thought 'twas queer he hadn't
cashed it at our bank; that's why he asked me about it."
"Humph! But why should he give his own money away in that fashion?
And confess to stealing and all that stuff? I never heard of such
a thing."
"Neither did anybody else. I've known Jed all my life and I never
can tell what loony thing he's liable to do next. But this beats
all of 'em, I will give in."
"You don't suppose--you don't suppose he is doing it to help you,
because you are his friend? Because he is afraid the bank--or you--
may get into trouble because of--well, because of having been so
careless?"
Captain Sam laughed once more. "No, no," he said. "Gracious king,
I hope my reputation's good enough to stand the losin' of four
hundred dollars. And Jed knows perfectly well I could put it back
myself, if 'twas necessary, without runnin' me into the poorhouse.
No, 'tain't for me he's doin' it. I ain't the reason."
"And you're quite sure his story is ALL untrue. You don't imagine
that he did find the money, your money, and then, for some reason
or other, change it with smaller bills, and--"
"Sshh, sshh, Charlie, don't waste your breath. I told you I KNEW
he hadn't found the four hundred dollars I lost, didn't I? Well, I
do know it and for the very best of reasons; in fact, my stoppin'
into his shop just now was to tell him what I'd heard. You see,
Charlie, old Sylvester Sage has got back from Boston and opened up
his house again. And he telephoned me at two o'clock to say that
the four hundred dollar packet was layin' on his sittin'-room table
just where I left it when he and I parted company four days or so
ago. That's how I KNOW Jed didn't find it."
From the shadowy corner where Ruth Armstrong sat came a little gasp
and an exclamation. Charles whistled.
"Well, by George!" he exclaimed. "That certainly puts a crimp in
Jed's confession."
"Sartin sure it does. When Sylvester and I parted we was both
pretty hot under the collar, havin' called each other's politics
about every mean name we could think of. I grabbed up my gloves,
and what I thought was my money from the table and slammed out of
the house. Seems all I grabbed was the two five hundred packages;
the four hundred one was shoved under some papers and magazines and
there it stayed till Sylvester got back from his Boston cruise.
"But that don't answer my riddle," he added, impatiently. "What
made Jed act the way he did? Got the answer, Charlie?"
The young man shook his head. "No, by George, I haven't!" he
replied.
"How about you, Mrs. Armstrong? Can you help us out?"
Ruth's answer was brief. "No, I'm afraid not," she said. There
was a queer note in her voice which caused her brother to glance at
her, but Captain Hunniwell did not notice. He turned to go.
"Well," he said, "I wish you'd think it over and see if you can spy
land anywheres ahead. I need a pilot. This course is too crooked
for me. I'm goin' home to ask Maud; maybe she can see a light. So
long."
He went out. When Charles returned, having accompanied his
employer as far as the door, he found Ruth standing by her chair
and looking at him. A glance at her face caused him to stop short
and look at her.
"Why, Ruth," he asked, "what is it?"
She was pale and trembling. There were tears in her eyes.
"Oh, Charlie," she cried, "can't you see? He--he did it for you."
"Did it for me? Did what? Who? What are you talking about, Sis?"
"Jed. Jed Winslow. Don't you see, Charlie? He pretended to have
found the money and to have stolen it just to save you. He thought
you--he thought you had taken it."
"WHAT? Thought I had taken it? I had? Why in the devil should he
think--"
He stopped. When he next spoke it was in a different tone.
"Sis," he asked, slowly, "do you mean that he thought I took this
money because he knew I had--had done that thing at Middleford?
Does he know--about that?"
The tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Yes, Charlie," she
said, "he knows. He found it out, partly by accident, before you
came here. And--and think how loyal, how wonderful he has been!
It was through him that you got your opportunity there at the bank.
And now--now he has done this to save you. Oh, Charlie!"