UNDER SUSPICION
The theft of the medal was of course the all-absorbing topic at all
places where students came together. Hal’s explanation of his intended
flight and the causes which made him want to know where the pawnshop
was, brought to an end the clew which the authorities had thought would
quickly locate the thief. There seemed to be absolutely no way to trace
the culprit.
A week passed and Hal’s foot became better and he was able to resume
his practice with the team.
On Friday evening Hal was in his room doing his studies, in order to
have them out of the way, so that he could enjoy himself fully on
Saturday and Sunday, without having to think of college work, when he
received a note from Mr. Williams, the treasurer of the University,
asking him if he could come down for a few minutes. The note was
delivered by a blue-coated messenger boy. After reading it, he said he
would go and the messenger left.
Hal went into Hans’ room to tell where he was going, found that he was
not in his room and as they had planned to do some studying together
later in the evening he started to write a note on the pad on the
writing desk. Then he thought Hans would understand better what was up
if he left the treasurer’s note on Hans’ desk. He did this and went on
down to see Mr. Williams.
When he arrived there he found Mr. Williams, Dr. Lawrence, the
president, and Mr. Smith, the secretary, waiting for him. There was
nothing that Hal need be nervous about, and he could think of nothing
they could want him for, unless perhaps they wanted to “call him down”
for leaving the University without explanation.
On second thought he made up his mind that if that were the idea, they
surely wouldn’t have the president of the University on hand. Then he
thought that perhaps the president wanted to hear his story about the
pawnshop, etc., and he wished Hans were with him to verify it. All this
passed through his mind in the few seconds he had to wait until they
noticed his arrival.
“Oh, Case,” said Mr. Williams, “we have asked you down here to-night to
tell you some important news. First, the medal has been found, and----”
“I am very glad it has turned up,” broke in Hal, relieved, “and I
appreciate your telling me in this way, Mr. Williams, because I suppose
you know I have----”
“Yes, that is one reason, Case,” now broke in Mr. Williams, “but there
are certain circumstances in connection with the finding of the medal,
which I regret to say will need a little further explanation on your
part.”
“Why, what do you mean?” asked Hal, growing a little nervous at the
tone used by Mr. Williams.
“I hope,” went on Mr. Williams, “that you have an explanation which
is satisfactory. I cannot quite bring myself to believe, after the
straightforward talk you made to me last week, that you had anything
to do with the theft of the medal, but the circumstances of recovery
demand an explanation from you. When you told me your story the other
day you gave me the address of the pawnshop in Boston where you went to
inquire about the value of your watch. You were so frank about asking
us to go there and verify your story that I didn’t think it worth while
to do so.
“Among the methods used, however, by us in our efforts to recover the
medal we asked the Boston police to visit all the pawnshops and see
what they could find. This morning we had word by long distance phone
from Boston, saying the medal had been found in one of the pawnshops
there and suggesting that we send some one in authority to bring it
back and to go over some facts in connection with the case, which
might aid them in locating the culprit. I was going up anyhow and I
said I would attend to the matter myself. When I arrived at police
headquarters, the chief took me into his private office. He went to his
safe and when he returned he handed me the medal which I now show you
(he held up the beautiful medal in his right hand) and he also handed
me this.” Then with his left hand he picked up an envelope which was
lying on his desk and handed it to Hal.
Hal was puzzled because he didn’t know what that could have to do
with him. He looked up and noticed all three of the officers of the
University watching his face closely. He couldn’t understand it and
naturally became paler. It looked to him like a trap. Then he reached
over with his right hand and took the envelope which Mr. Williams held
out for him.
He felt that something terrible was going to happen and his hand shook.
He took the envelope, looked at it, turned it over, looked at the other
side, and gave a jump. What he saw would make most young fellows jump
even higher than Hal did, for on the address side of the envelope was
written
“HAROLD CASE,
----
California.”
Hal noticed at once that it was his own writing. It was some seconds
before anyone in the room spoke. To Hal it seemed hours. Finally, it
was he himself who broke the silence.
“Where did you get this?” he asked.
“The police found it with the medal in the shop where it was pawned,
and the broker said it was handed to him by the fellow who pawned the
medal.” This was said slowly in order to give the others a chance to
notice what effect the words had on Hal. “It looks something like your
writing,” said Mr. Williams.
“It is my handwriting,” said Hal.
“How do you explain it?” asked Mr. Williams.
“I can’t explain it,” answered Hal. “I know absolutely nothing about
it.”
“The medal and this envelope,” went on Mr. Williams, “were found in the
pawnshop which you said you had visited that night in Boston. After
I saw the Chief of Police and he gave me the medal and the envelope
he went with me to the pawnshop and when I got there I recognized
the address which you had given me. Then we rode back to the police
department to interview the pawnbroker who has been arrested for
receiving stolen property, and he told me this story.
“‘About five o’clock on Thursday evening of the previous week, a young
man wearing a blue cloth hat and a mixed gray suit of clothes came
into my place and asked me how much I would loan him on a watch which
he laid down on the show case. I picked it up and saw two good-sized
diamonds in the case. I was attracted by the stones and next examined
them with my magnifying glass. They were exactly alike and I saw at
once they were valuable, particularly to me as I had been asked that
day by a customer to find him two perfectly matched white stones.
“‘Then I examined the watch inside and out and saw that it was also
very valuable, and I said, thinking to get the watch cheap, since most
people who pawn things do not redeem them, “I will let you have four
hundred and fifty dollars on it.” The young fellow hesitated and then
asked: “How much is it worth?” and I said, “a thousand dollars,” and
he said, hesitating again, “Thank you, I just wanted to find out how
much it is worth,” and hurried out. I didn’t think any more of it,
except to guess to myself that the watch didn’t belong to the young
man. About five minutes later he came back and I said, “Well, you have
decided to let me have the watch anyhow for a while haven’t you?” He
looked at me rather queerly and said after hesitating as he did before,
“No, I won’t pawn that.” I noticed then he had on blue eyeglasses, but
couldn’t say whether he had them on the first time he called because I
paid more attention to the watch than to him.
“‘Finally he pulled out the medal, a very beautiful piece, and said,
“I can spare this better for a while than the watch if you can let me
have as much on it.” I took it in my hand, and noticing the inscription
on it, said: “Is it yours?” “Of course,” he replied, and as it might
easily be so from the inscription, and as very few people would take a
chance on trying to pawn that kind of a medal if it didn’t belong to
them, I took it and gave him four hundred and fifty dollars and the
ticket. “I may not be able to come for this myself,” he said, “and I
might lose the ticket, so make a note that it is not to be delivered
to anyone, even if he has the ticket unless it is accompanied by an
envelope like this one with this name on it and in his handwriting.”
Then he handed me the envelope which I put in the safe with the medal,
and which I turned over to the police this morning.’”
Hal was dumfounded. What could he say? He thought awfully hard. Finally
he was able to say, “But I was with Hagner or with Hagner and Delvin
all of the time I was in Boston, excepting during the five minutes it
took me to call at the pawnshop about the watch. Besides, I haven’t any
blue glasses. I didn’t have any and wouldn’t have had time to buy any
while there.”
“Are you sure you were only away from Hagner for five minutes? The
pawnbroker said both visits took place within ten or fifteen minutes
all told. The glasses might have been bought before you took the train.
We are not trying to accuse you, Case, we are trying to keep from
having to,” said Mr. Williams.
“I am not sure that it was exactly five minutes,” said Hal. “I am not
sure of anything except that I had nothing to do with the theft of
the medal. And yet I can’t blame you gentlemen very much, because it
certainly does look bad, especially when I was on my way to leave the
University for good.”
Hal had somewhat recovered his balance because he knew, of course, that
it must come out all right somehow, although he had no idea what or how
they were going to do him. He knew he was innocent yet here were a lot
of circumstances that looked like evidence to them and until he could
clear them up he would be under great suspicion.
If they should decide that the evidence warranted action they could
even have him locked up, and he began to think of the books he had
read of people--men, women, and boys who had been unjustly accused of
different crimes and had been locked up for years, many of them never
having their innocence proved. It was a terrible fix for him. All this
went through his mind while the others were consulting.
Finally Dr. Lawrence, the president, turned to Hal and said:
“Mr. Case, it is a terrible thing for all of us to have to consider a
matter of this kind. It is one of the few occasions in my life when I
would rather be anyone else than the President of Lowell University.
Whoever it was who performed this theft may have to answer finally for
the conviction of an innocent young man. We are loath to accuse you of
this crime. In fact, I wish you to understand thoroughly that we do
not accuse you now. At the same time the circumstances are such that
we cannot, we regret to say, exonerate you until the matter is fully
cleared up. You yourself admit that it looks bad for you. It does. But
we will not permit ourselves to believe you guilty until every effort
has been made to clear it up. Meantime, however, not as a punishment
for the matter, but to put it on a basis which while not justifiable
is nevertheless explainable, as the result of your intention to absent
yourself from the University without leave, we have decided that you
must consider yourself off the Varsity for the period of one week. We
rely on you not to leave the University pending the investigation. I am
sorry.”
[Illustration: “You must consider yourself off the varsity.”]
He shook Hal’s hand warmly after this dignified speech and expressed
the hope that the matter could be cleared up soon. He assured Hal that
no expense or labor would be saved in that direction.
Then they let him go home and it was the saddest trip Hal ever took
in the direction of Mrs. Malcolm’s home. Whether they considered him
guilty of the greater crime or not, he was disgraced anyhow. Surely
it was a hard punishment to give an impetuous young fellow for simply
wanting to go home and for the reason that Hal thought he had.
He went up the stairs to his room with a heavy heart--a heart that
ached in every way. He felt that he was done for.
Hans’ door was open and he heard Hal come in.
“Been up on the green carpet?” asked Hans. “That’s what they say,
isn’t it when they send for you like that?”
“Yes,” said Hal, dejected.
“What’s the matter now? Nothing about the medal or our trip to Boston,
was it?” went on Hans. But before he could answer, Hal broke down and
went all to pieces. “I’m disgraced,” he almost shouted in his agony.
“Tell me what happened,” said Hans when he had quieted him down
somewhat. Then Hal told him all that had taken place and what had been
said, the pawnbroker’s story and everything, winding up by repeating
the president’s speech which he could recite almost word for word, so
forcibly had every syllable sunk into his brain.
“I’m disgraced,” he concluded.
Hans was thunderstruck. Did they connect him with it in any way? Was
his name mentioned? Why didn’t they? It was preposterous. He had Hal go
over different parts of the story again and again. They didn’t believe
Hal guilty, yet they put him off the team for a week.
“We must clear this up,” said he, finally, when he had a little time
to think. “We must clear it up within a week. How I don’t know, but it
must be done. Don’t worry about being suspended for a week. No one but
Hughie need know. You can fix it up with him that your foot is paining
you again from Crossley’s spikes and carry your cane and limp a little.
Hughie will protect you. He likes you well enough for that. At the end
of the week you can get well again. We don’t need to worry about that
end of it. We’ve got to go over this thing step by step and account
for everything that happened to you and me from the time you left
this house that day until you got back. Now let’s get busy,” and they
started in on the hardest proposition they had ever tackled.
Item by item they went over the day’s happenings again and again. They
started in with Hal’s leaving Mrs. Malcolm’s house on the way to the
station.
“Did you walk or did you take the car? Who took your trunk! Did you
talk to anybody? Whom?”
These were the kind of questions Hans fired at Hal like shots out of
a gun. For once this phlegmatic young man was thoroughly aroused and
excited. Whenever he asked a question that Hal couldn’t answer he would
say “Think! Think!”
They went over everything up to the time Hal took the train, and they
found no clew of any kind. Hal had talked to no one except the ticket
agent, the policeman at the corner, and yes! he did ask another man
whom he met as he ran out of the station about the location of a
pawnshop but the other fellow was hurrying too and he guessed he hadn’t
heard his question because he didn’t stop. Hal hadn’t either.
Then they went all over the incidents of the ride to Boston, meeting
with Delvin, waiting in the station for him, Hal’s visit to the
pawnshop, the dinner at Delvin’s and the vaudeville show but found
nothing that would give them a start.
Then Hans had Hal tell the pawnbroker’s story over again, word for word
as near as he could remember it. When Hal came to the part about the
envelope Hans stopped him.
“Do you remember where you got that envelope and how you happened to
write your name on it?”
“Why yes, I got it off my desk that day when I was packing. I remember
I wrote my name and home address on it and put it in my handkerchief
pocket intending to leave it at the post office as a forwarding address
for my mail.”
“Did you leave it there?”
Hal thought a moment. “No, I’m sure I forgot all about that. I didn’t
go to the post office at all.”
“Then it must have been in your pocket on the train. You may have
pulled it out of your pocket with your handkerchief on the train,”
continued Hans.
“I can’t remember having used my handkerchief on the train,” said Hal,
“but I do recollect now that when I came out of the pawnshop I was
perspiring freely from slight nervousness and the excitement of knowing
the great value of my watch.”
“That might account for its having gotten into the pawnshop,” said Hans
eagerly, “if the thief was near there and happened to see it (then in
a moment). Sure that’s what happened. Didn’t he show up within five
minutes after you left the place? You drop the envelope on the sidewalk
without knowing it, he comes along, sees it, picks it up, and as one
name is as good to him as another, and as he doesn’t expect to call
for the medal again, he fixes up that story for the pawnbroker to show
him he doesn’t want to part with the medal forever and that makes the
broker loan him the money on it, because they had rather make loans to
people who redeem their pledges than not. People who do this have the
habit and become steady customers. We’re doing fine.”
By that time it was nearly daylight. They had been up all night without
noticing it. They felt they had made a start. At last they decided to
get an hour or two of sleep.
Hal went to his bed exhausted but couldn’t sleep, he was so worried.
Hans fell asleep promptly or thought he did. As a matter of fact he was
only half dozing with the problem going through his mind. He was so
intent on it that he was thinking of it unconsciously and as he thought
he was asleep he thought he had a dream of getting on a train to go
some place. Oh yes, he was trying to find Hal, he was getting on the
back end of the train and as he walked into the car he saw Hal sitting
on the last seat of the car, blue hat, mixed gray suit and all, and he
saw himself going up to speak to him and greet him in true college-boy
style, hitting his friend on the back as hard as his right hand would
permit him, and just as his hand was about to fall on Hal’s shoulders
he looked and, “By George!” said Hans, jumping out of bed and running
over to Hal’s room like mad, shouting, “I’ve got him. The fellow with
the blue glasses! Blue hat, gray suit, just like yours on the same
train.”
Then he told Hal about the fellow on the train whom he had almost
forgotten. How he thought he was Hal and was just about to hand him one
when he had noticed the blue glasses and then found it wasn’t Hal. He
wound up by saying, “Find the other fellow with the blue hat, the mixed
gray suit and the blue glasses and we’ve got the medal thief.”
[Illustration: “Find that man with the blue glasses!”]