Philip was far from being a model boy—as we have seen, he didn’t shrink
from meanness—but it was not without reluctance that he assented to
James Congreve’s proposal. He did not feel that abhorrence of theft
that a better principled boy would have done, but the thought of
resorting to it gave him a sense of humiliation. Besides, the fear of
detection inspired in him a certain uneasy feeling. In fact, he
retraced his steps, and sought Congreve in his room again.
“What! back again?” asked James, in surprise.
“Yes,” replied Philip. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to do what
you proposed to me.”
“Don’t want to do it?” repeated Congreve, frowning. “What nonsense is
this?”
“No nonsense at all,” retorted Philip, not liking his friend’s tone. “I
don’t want to be a thief.”
“You won’t be. It’s all in the family, you know.”
“What if it is? Father won’t take that view of it.”
“That won’t matter to you.”
“Why not?”
“Because he won’t know you took the bonds. You’re not going to tell
him.”
“He may find out.”
“Look here, Phil. You’re the biggest coward I ever met!”
“If you think so, suppose you do it yourself,” said Philip. “That’ll
show whether you are a coward or not.”
“That’s absurd. It wouldn’t be in the family then. The bonds don’t
belong to my father. There wouldn’t be any excuse for me.”
“You want me to do what you are unwilling to do.”
“You already explained why. Besides, I’ve no object in taking them. As
for you, why they are part yours already; and, besides, you need the
money you can raise out of them to pay your debts.”
“I haven’t any debts, except to you.”
“So much the better for you,” answered Congreve, coolly. “You won’t
have any one to pay except me.”
“I wish I’d never made your acquaintance,” said poor Philip.
“Very complimentary, upon my word!” replied Congreve, with a sneer. “It
strikes me that you have got as much pleasure out of the acquaintance
as I.”
“I haven’t got you into my debt.”
“It isn’t my fault if I am a better player at cards than you. However,
that’s neither here nor there. I don’t propose to play any more with
you. I ought not to have let you run up such a score. Just pay that
off, and I won’t trouble you any more.”
“I’ve told you I can’t pay you.”
“Except in one way, and that way is an easy enough one. Listen to
reason, Phil,” he said, dropping his sneer. “Don’t you see it is going
to benefit you as well as me? You’ll have a good deal of money left for
your own use, after paying me, provided you take two hundred-dollar
bonds. It will be convenient to have fifty or sixty dollars in your
pocket, eh?’
“Yes,” assented Philip, more cheerfully.
“Of course it will, and it will be fun to see Harry Gilbert hauled up
for stealing them. Ho! ho! ho!”
Philip echoed the laughter. This phase of the transaction certainly did
please him.
“If it can be brought about,” he said, doubtfully.
“Of course it can. Listen, and I’ll tell you how. You can tell your
father you saw Harry acting suspiciously near the house the evening it
is done.”
“But the door would be locked.”
“You can unlock it, and leave it unlocked all night. It will be found
so in the morning; and, even if the bonds are not immediately missed,
the circumstance will be remembered.”
Philip’s mind changed again. The plan looked more feasible and
attractive as Congreve represented it.
“Well, I don’t know but I’ll try it,” he said.
“I thought you’d be sensible,” said Congreve, inwardly rejoiced. “Now,
let me give you one piece of advice.”
“What is that?”
“Strike while the iron’s hot. If you want to know what that means,
never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.”
“You don’t mean I should go right home and do it?” said Philip,
nervously.
“No; wait till to-night—when everybody is in bed. Then steal downstairs
and do the job. The sooner it’s over, the better!”
“I’ll see about it,” replied Philip, hesitatingly.
“He’s a little coward,” said Congreve to himself; “but I guess I can
bring him to it.”