Contrary to his usual custom, Philip spent the evening at home; and, as
he must have something to occupy him, he spent it in reading. Usually,
he cared very little for reading, and was prone to spend the evening
out.
Mrs. Ross regarded her son with approval, as she saw him steadily
reading all the evening.
“I do believe you’re getting studious, Phil,” she said.
“I’m interested in a story,” remarked Phil.
“How much better it is to spend the evening at home reading than to be
gadding about?” said his mother.
“Well, you know a boy can’t be always reading,” observed Philip.
If Mrs. Ross had been a close observer, she might have noticed that
Philip got over wonderfully few pages. Indeed, he sometimes held the
book open at the same place for half an hour together. The fact was
that Philip cared very little for reading, unless he could get hold of
some highly sensational story about highwaymen or pirates. He simply
used the book as a cover.
The Colonel, his father, was sitting in a room which he called his
office, opening out of the family sitting-room, and Philip had seated
himself so that he could look into that room, and watch what his father
was doing.
Near his desk, Colonel Ross kept a small, iron-bound trunk, which he
used as a sort of safe, or a repository for valuable papers, and
sometimes for bonds and securities. It was imprudent, for anyone might
readily have carried it off; but the Colonel didn’t think of this, or,
at any rate, didn’t feel inclined to go to the expense of a safe.
Indeed, most of his bonds and securities were deposited in the strong
room of the county bank, and, therefore, his imprudence was less.
Philip’s eager attention was roused when he saw his father rise from
his desk, take up the trunk and open it, as it lay on the desk where he
placed it.
“Now, I may find out what he has inside,” thought Philip.
Colonel Ross opened it, as I have said, and took out several envelopes.
Opening one of these, he drew therefrom what Philip recognized to be
government bonds, and spread them out before him.
What was the object of this examination, Philip could not divine, nor
did he particularly care, though he might had he known that his father
was considering the expediency of selling them, and buying another
security—the stock of a certain railroad—which would pay larger
dividends. His main interest was to ascertain whether his father had
any government bonds, and this question he was now able to answer in
the affirmative.
After a brief inspection, Colonel Ross replaced in the trunk the
securities he had taken from it, and locked the trunk. The bunch of
keys, one of which opened the trunk, he laid on the desk,
unconsciously, probably.
“I hope he’ll forget ’em,” said Philip to himself. “It’ll save me a
good bit of trouble.”
It seemed likely that the keys would be forgotten, for Colonel Ross, as
though his business were ended, took the lamp from his desk, and
entered the sitting-room, where his wife and son were seated.
“I don’t know how it is, wife,” he said, “but I feel sleepy.”
“It isn’t your bed hour yet. It is only half-past nine.”
“That is true, but I shall go to bed earlier than usual to-night.”
“All the better for me,” thought Philip. “Now, if mother would only go,
too!”
It seemed as if everything was turning out favorably for his plan, for
his mother answered:
“Well, I think I will accompany you—that is, if Philip won’t feel
lonely.”
Philip’s heart beat with eager satisfaction. He had expected that he
would be obliged to go to bed, and wait there till his father and
mother were asleep, then steal downstairs, running the risk of
detection, light a lamp, and commit the theft. Now it looked as if he
could do it much more easily.
He answered, in as indifferent a voice as he could assume:
“I am not at all sleepy. I’ll stay up a little longer and read.”
Mrs. Ross nodded, in a satisfied way, to her husband.
“I do believe Phil’s getting fond of reading,” she said.
“I hope he is,” returned the father.
“Phil,” said his mother, “the servant is out tonight. A cousin of hers
is sick, and I gave her permission to stay with her all night. Are you
willing to close up the house?”
“Oh, yes,” answered Phil, briskly. “I’m glad she’s away,” he thought.
“She won’t be spying round and see what I’m about. Besides, I can leave
the door open, so that it will be easier to accuse Harry Gilbert.”
“Good-night,” said his mother.
“Good-night, mother.”
“Don’t stay up too late reading.”
“No, I won’t.”
“How many more pages are there, Philip?” asked his father.
“About four hundred,” answered Phil, looking over to the end.
“Then I wouldn’t advise you to sit up till you’ve finished the book,”
he said, jocosely.
“I guess not. I shan’t sit up more than half an hour.”
So Colonel and Mrs. Ross went upstairs, and the coast was clear.
When he was left alone, and felt that the hour so long anticipated had
come, Philip’s heart beat fast.
“Come; it’s easier than I hoped,” he said to himself. “And father left
his keys, too, on the desk. I hope he won’t think of them, and come
downstairs after them. That might upset my plans, though I’ve got a lot
of old keys in my pocket, and one of them might answer. However,
there’s none so good as the real thing.”
Philip had to consider whether he would wait till his father and mother
were asleep, or act sooner. He at length decided, in the words of
Shakespeare, though he was not familiar with them:
“If ’twere done with when ’tis done, Then, ’twere well it were done
quickly.”
The argument was this: If he acted soon, he could make use of his
father’s keys, and that would save him trouble. On the other hand,
there was some risk that his father might think of them, and, coming
downstairs, surprise him. However, Philip didn’t think this was likely,
and, in any event, he resolved to take the risk. He could pretend that
he had just caught sight of his keys, and was going to carry them
upstairs for safekeeping.
Indeed, Philip did not wait more than ten minutes.
“Father must be in bed by this time,” he said to himself.
He took the small lamp by which he was reading, and entered his
father’s office.
There lay the keys, and there stood the trunk.
He took the bunch of keys and selected a small one, which he thought
likely to fit the trunk.
It did.
The lid was lifted, and Philip, with eager hand, took the envelope
which he knew contained the government bonds. It was a bulky envelope,
and contained probably eight or ten bonds.
Of course, Philip didn’t venture to take all. He selected two, of one
hundred dollars each, and replaced the others in the envelope, and
afterward in the trunk.
He put the bonds in his inside coat pocket, and, hastily refastening
the trunk, replaced the keys on his father’s desk.
He breathed a sigh of relief to think the thing was done, and walked
over to the window.
What was his gratification to see Harry Gilbert walking by on the other
side of the street.
“All happens right,” he said. “Now, Harry can’t say he was at home.
I’ll fix him. I’ll say I saw him at the window, looking in, and his
denial won’t amount to much, when he admits, as he will, that he was
near the house.”
He would have felt differently had he seen the face of Tom Calder
peering in at one of the side windows. Tom had spent the evening in the
village, and was now on his return to his chamber, on the second floor
of the stable. His attention was attracted by the light in the room,
and, as the curtain was partly raised, he took the liberty of peering
in, unobserved.
“By gracious!” he exclaimed, in amazement. “Phil is stealing gov’ment
bonds from his father. He’s a bad one, but I didn’t think that of him.”
Tom slipped out, resolved to consider at his leisure what he had better
do about imparting his secret information. It was well he did, for Phil
himself almost immediately came to the same window.