I didn’t know what to say so I said, “Are you waiting for them?”
He said, “No, I was waiting for you, Roy. I wanted to speak to you.”
Then he said how I never made him worry any but how he had been worrying
that day. He said, “I was hoping you would be here to take a little
stroll this afternoon.”
I said, “I was helping clear up—at Slausens.” Lots of times I go for a
walk with him Sundays, because he doesn’t care about the machines.
Then he said how he had been worrying a lot because nobody belonging to
him had ever been arrested. He said that morning was the first time he
had ever seen inside the police station and it made him feel ashamed. He
said, “You know you’re under arrest, you and Westy, just the same as if
you were in a cell.” He said, “You understand that, don’t you, Roy?”
I said, “Yes, sir.”
He said, “It’s only because I’m a rich man and they know who I am and
trust me that you have been free to-day. The same with Westy.” He said,
“I would rather have bought Mr. Slausen’s shop, I would rather have
bought the whole field from Mr. Downing, than to think that you——”
“You don’t think that, do you?” I asked him.
He said, “I do not, Roy. I would rather have thrown up a bungalow for
you scouts down by the river than to think so. And you know I would have
done it, too, gladly. No son of mine needs to burn down property——”
I said, “Then why do you talk about it?” I just started to cry, I
couldn’t help it. “It isn’t a question of needing to,” I said. “We
wouldn’t do it, anyway—we wouldn’t.”
He said, “I’m glad to hear you say that, Roy.”
“Mr. Ellsworth knows we wouldn’t,” I said. “Fellows that have good names
don’t need to worry,” I told him. “They’re safe. It’s only in crazy
stories that scouts get suspected of committing crimes and things. We
should worry. It’s the people that haven’t got good names that have to
look out. Suppose I told you a lie once, then you’d think I was telling
you one now, and that wouldn’t be fair.”
He said, “It would be natural, Roy.”
I said, “Well, if a fellow doesn’t tell lies, then people have got a
right to believe him, haven’t they? Like Mr. Ellsworth does. If you say
I have to tell what we were doing in the garage, then I have to tell.
Gee, I admit that. But I’ve got a reason not to tell and you’ll know
tomorrow. Chief O’Day isn’t as smart as he thinks he is, I know that
much.”
For about a minute my father didn’t say anything and I could hear the
big clock ticking. I could hear the crickets outside, too, so that’s a
sign school would be closing soon. No wonder everybody likes crickets.
Then my father said, “Roy, I want you to know I trust you.” He said, “I
waited here for you to tell you that.” Then he said how I never told him
a lie and how that was like putting money in the bank, kind of. Because
now I could draw on that. He said now he had to believe me and believe
everything was all right, just because I had a right to be trusted. And
he said when I asked for him to let me keep still about it, he had to
say yes because my credit was good. He said he had to trust me and
believe me now. He said even _if_ he wanted to know why we were in
Slausen’s, still he’d have to do the way I wanted, and let me keep
still, because I had kind of like a lot of honor saved up. When he
talked like that it made me feel awful sorry for Charlie Slausen. But
anyway, one thing, my father wouldn’t think a fellow ought to get in
trouble for something he didn’t do, even if that fellow wasn’t much
good. He’s fair and square, my father is.
He said, “I’m going to leave everything to you, Roy, because we’ve
always been on the square with each other.” That’s just what he said.
Then he said, “Only I want you to remember that you must tell the full
truth to Judge Van Wort.” He said, “You will be under oath. You must
tell all you know. To try to protect the guilty is a crime. You know
that, don’t you?”
Gee whiz, I wondered how much he knew about Charlie Slausen. Everybody
in town seemed to have it in for him.
Then my father said, “You and Westy will clear yourselves, of course.
I’m not worrying about that. But I want you to stand up bravely and tell
everything you know. I don’t want you to be nervous. I’ll be there. I
couldn’t go to the city till this thing is settled.”
“It’ll be settled all right,” I told him.
He said, “Remember, you must tell _the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth_.”
I said, “Believe me, they’ll get the biggest dose of the truth they ever
had.”
Then he said he was going to bed and that he wasn’t going to worry about
it at all, and he wasn’t going to think about it, because I was a scout
and maybe I knew what was best, and anyway he knew I’d tell the truth,
so he should worry about that.
But just the same he stayed downstairs there in the dark for a couple of
hours. Because a long time after, I could hear him winding the big
grandfather’s clock down in the hall. Then I could hear his footsteps on
the stairs. He came up awful slow like.