UNJUST SUSPICIONS.
WALTER was at work in good time the following morning, but the foreman
and Frank were both at the yard before him, and the foreman spoke
angrily to Walter as he entered the workshop. "If this is what is to
come of your going to the evening school, Walter, why I, for one,
should say the sooner you give it up the better."
As he spoke, he held up before Walter's astonished gaze a large chisel
and a fine saw, both of them covered with rust.
Walter and Frank took it by turns, for a week together, to put away
all the tools carefully before leaving the yard at night. It was then
Walter's week, and he felt sure that he had in no way neglected his
duty, and that he had left everything in proper order before going home
the previous evening.
The sight of the tools, rusted as they were by exposure to the damp
night air, puzzled him extremely.
[Illustration: He held up a large chisel and a fine saw, both covered
with rust.]
"I'm quite sure," he said, "that I did not leave those tools out last
night."
"Nay, nay, that is only making bad, worse. I found them myself lying on
the ground in the open shed yonder. You are generally such a careful
lad, that I was the more surprised when I learned that it was your
week. All I say is, be more particular for the future, or Mr. King will
find that your lessons will cost him dear."
"But, indeed," cried Walter, with a bewildered look, "indeed I put them
all away. I recollect perfectly doing so; and it is not so long ago
that I could be mistaken."
"I'll not hear another word," replied the foreman, angrily. "Facts
speak for themselves, and it is perfectly useless trying to make me
disbelieve my own eyes. Who do you think would come here and take the
tools out after you had put them away?"
"Who indeed?" thought Walter.
And at that moment he raised his eyes, and met those of Frank Hardy
fixed upon him with a malicious expression, as if rejoicing in his
trouble.
A strange thought flashed across Walter's mind: "What if Frank had done
it out of spite?" He looked him full in the face, almost inquiringly,
and Frank's eyes fell beneath the earnest gaze of his companion.
"Some one must have done it out of ill-feeling to me," said Walter
quietly.
"A very likely story!" said the foreman. "Did you never hear that a
bad excuse is worse than none? My advice to you is to hold your tongue
about the matter, and to be more careful for the future."
Walter saw that he was not believed; and when Mr. King came to the
yard, in the course of the day, he felt sure that the foreman had told
him about the tools being left out, as his master's manner to him was
not so cordial as usual.
"You be sure and see that all is straight before you leave this
evening," said Mr. King to Walter. "Your evening studies must not
interfere with your duty to me, remember."
Walter coloured deeply, knowing to what his master alluded.
"I never yet failed in my duty, sir, and I hope I never shall."
"The least said about that the better, Walter," said his master. "I am
quite ready, however, to make allowance for a first offence; only don't
let it happen again."
Mr. King left the yard as he uttered these words, and Walter turned
towards Frank with tears in his eyes.
"Do you know anything about the tools, Frank?"
"I! What should I know about them? It wasn't my business to put them
away."
"No, I know it wasn't; only I thought that perhaps you might have
wanted to use them after I had put them away; and, if you did so, I
would not say a word about it, Frank, if you would only just tell me;
for I feel so certain I put them all away, and it makes me feel so
unhappy to be suspected."
"I know nothing about them," said Frank, doggedly.
"What is the matter with you, Walter?" said his mother that evening, as
her son sat poring over the fire, and scarcely speaking a word.
"Nothing, mother, nothing; at least, nothing very particular," he added.
"Nay, Walter, it cannot be a mere trifle which has made you so
different from what you generally are. Tell me what it is, my son;
maybe I can help you."
"I never did yet keep anything from you, dear mother," said Walter;
"only, in this instance, I thought I might be mistaken, and I did not
like to say anything to you until I was quite certain."
Walter then told his mother all that had taken place at the yard that
morning, and ended by assuring her that he had left nothing undone when
he left work the previous evening.
"It is hard, mother, is it not, that both Mr. King and the foreman
suspect me?"
"And yet it is only one of the little daily crosses which, as servants
of Christ, we are called upon to bear," said Mrs. White. "If our
blessed Saviour, 'who did no sin,' suffered unjustly, we should think
it no strange thing that we should; and knowing how patiently and
meekly He bore insult and wrong, we should pray for His Spirit to
enable us to do so also."
Walter sighed; he felt that all his mother said was true.
"But yet 'Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust in Him, and He shall
bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the
light, and thy judgment as the noon-day' (Psalm xxxvii. 5-6). All will
come right, Walter, in God's own time; rest assured of that. Meanwhile
do your duty strictly to your master; bear no ill-will towards any one;
seek for no revenge, even if you come to be certain of the justice of
your suspicions; remember that Jesus Christ prayed for His enemies, and
that, in every action of His most sinless life, He left us an example
that we should follow in His steps."
"Mother, it always does me good to talk to you; and, indeed, I bear no
ill-will towards Frank."
"Would you go out of your way to do him a kindness, Walter?"
"I hope so, mother," replied Walter.
Several days passed by after the above conversation, and nothing
took place of any consequence in the yard. Mr. King and the foreman
appeared to have forgotten all about the tools, and behaved in their
usual cordial manner towards Walter, who regained all his former
cheerfulness, and had almost forgotten that anything unpleasant had
ever taken place.
They were very busy at the yard. Mr. King had a great deal of work
to do in the lower village, where several houses were being built
on the sea-shore, and they were working hard to get them completed
before the winter set in. Both Frank and Walter worked overtime every
evening, for which they were paid; but Walter never missed going to
the night school, although by so doing, he lost the extra pay he
would have received. His lessons were a pleasure to him, and he felt
sure they would hereafter be a profit as well. He was making great
progress in drawing, and also in mensuration and the higher branches of
arithmetic—all of which would tend to advance him in the trade he was
learning.
By degrees, all the boys and young lads of the neighbourhood had
joined the classes, with the exception of Frank and his brothers and
Tom Haines. Frank would often ridicule Walter for giving up all his
evenings to his lessons, and more than once, he mysteriously hinted
that he knew an easier way of making money than by fagging away at
books every spare moment, as Walter was doing.
Walter recalled to mind the fact that twice, within the past few weeks,
Frank had wanted to borrow money of him, although he was earning more
money than Walter, on account of working overtime. This did not look
as if Frank was very rich, and Walter told him so, adding—"I'm quite
contented with my path, Frank, and I wish I could have persuaded you to
follow it also."
"Thank you for your good wishes," said Frank, laughing, as he took up
his cap and left the yard.
Walter heard him the next moment talking to Tom Haines, who had been
waiting for him outside. There was something about Tom which made
Walter shrink from any companionship with him. Once it had not been
so; he remembered, when his mother had first cautioned him against
being intimate with Tom Haines, that he had thought it a little hard,
having been flattered, as a great many foolish boys are apt to be, by
the attention of one who was several years older than himself. He had
obeyed his mother, however, as he always tried to do; and now, in this
case, as in every other, he had come to feel how right she was in the
advice she had given him.
There was something in Tom Haines' manner to Frank which struck Walter
particularly. It seemed to the boy as if Tom felt that he had Frank in
his power in some way or other, and could make any use of him he liked.
The following day, Frank paid Walter the two small sums he had borrowed
from him, and rattled some money, which sounded like silver, in his
waistcoat pocket, to show that he had more remaining.
"Are you sure you can spare it, Frank?" said Walter, as he held the
money in his hand.
"Don't you hear I have plenty more?" replied his companion, rattling
his pocket again as he spoke.
"Yes; but is it your own, your very own, Frank?" And then, feeling
ashamed of the suspicions which arose in his mind, he added—"I beg your
pardon, Frank, only I thought that perhaps you had been borrowing money
in order to pay me, on account of what I said yesterday; and I am in no
hurry, and would rather wait than—"
Here Walter stopped again, and seemed at a loss what to say.
"Don't be afraid, Walter; I earned it all, I tell you. Didn't I tell
you yesterday that I had found an easy way of earning money and a
pleasant way enough as well?"
Frank spoke in such a cheerful tone that, Walter thought he must have
been mistaken in thinking that there was anything wrong in the matter.
So he took the money, and thought how nice it really must be to be able
to earn money so easily. His mother wanted a warm cloak against the
cold weather set in; what if he could get enough to buy her one? He
almost felt as though he should like to ask Frank something about the
way in which he earned his money.
The lads were preparing to leave work, and, as Walter was hesitating
whether to ask Frank about his "easy way," Tom Haines put his head
in at the door of the yards and beckoned to Frank. There was a bad
expression on Tom's face.
"Make haste," he muttered; "I've been waiting ever so long."
Walter glanced at Frank. The lively, boastful manner was all gone, and
he looked pale and nervous.
"I'll come in a minute; I did not know it was so late." And then,
turning to Walter, he asked him to help in putting away the tools.
Walter at once complied with Frank's request, although it was the
class-evening, and he wanted to be home early.
He was ready to do Frank a kindness, even at inconvenience to himself.
"You are a good-natured fellow," said Frank.
"Don't talk so," said Walter. "We should always be ready to help one
another."
Then, looking round to see that Tom was not within hearing, he said,
in a low voice, "Oh, Frank, I wish you would not be so much with Tom
Haines; I am sure it is not for your good, and—"
"It's too late now, Walter; I must go on with it."
There was a sad, reckless tone in Frank's voice, and Walter fancied he
saw tears in his eyes.
"It is never too late to do better whilst God spares our lives. Frank,
can I help you?" whispered Walter. "Or can mother? She would in a
minute, I know, and I will ask her this very evening."
"No, no; it's too late, Walter." And Frank darted out of the yard into
the darkness.
"It is not an 'easy way' after all," thought Walter. "Thank God, I have
never been tempted to try it, whatever it may be."