'As Gold in the Furnace' Part 31

"Now to make your story complete, and of immense value to me, will you not reiterate your statement before Bracebridge and Beecham here that you know me to be innocent of all the charges which have been circulated about me in the yard?"

"Why, yes. I repeat emphatically that you are guiltless of them all."

"Thanks! thanks! You are sure of what you say?"

"Quite sure. You are scot-free."

"Thanks again. Now, Stockley, as you are quite sure, do you not see the only way in which you can convince others that you are correct is to admit you know the thief?"

The boy on the bed laughed.

"Well, Henning, I suppose you think you have caught me nicely. You think I have either said too much or too little. If I had not been to confession I should not have allowed you to drive me into this corner, but I did not intend to stop at this. Yes, I will tell you the name of the thief."

"Who is he?" asked Roy, as calmly as he could, although he felt himself half choking with suppressed excitement.

"I must continue my story. When I have done you will know. What time is it?"

"Twenty minutes to ten," answered Roy.

"You've got it yet," said the boy, pointing his finger at Roy's watch, which he still held in his hand.

"What? The watch? Oh! yes." It was a rather small gold hunting-case watch.

"That watch was the cause of the robbery," said Stockley dramatically.

Henning clicked the watch shut with a start, and put it back in his pocket.

"This watch the cause of the robbery! What on earth are you talking about? Your senses must be leaving you----"

"Just wait. You'll soon see I'm not wandering. Why should there be such an unequal distribution of wealth, and of the good things of the world? Why can you have all that heart can desire, and why must I get along with a mere pittance, just enough to make me wince under my own indigence? Look at my father and yours; my home and your home. Your father is a wealthy and honored lawyer with a home like a palace; mine, as I said before, one of squalid discomfort. My father gave me five dollars to get through the school year with, yours probably gave you a hundred."

Henning began to pity the boy. Laying his hand gently on Stockley he said:

"Hold on. I begin to catch your view, but you are getting on too fast.

I am going to tell you something which I have never breathed to a living soul. Do you know how much money I had to spend this year?"

"As I said," replied the other, "about a hundred, or perhaps much more."

"You are mistaken. I had just twenty-five dollars--not one cent more--and you see that's a very small amount for me, because I am supposed--just as you suppose now--to have plenty."

"Oh! Come off! You gave Smithers nearly ten!"

"I know it, and it left me fifteen."

Jack and Ambrose were never so surprised in their lives--and felt like cheering. Stockley remained silent. This was a revelation to him. He had supposed that a rich man's son, because he was a rich man's son, always had all the money he wanted. He was sharp enough to realize Roy's position during the year.

"My, that must have been hard on you!"

"It was hard," replied Roy.

Another long pause. The injured boy was thinking new thoughts.

CHAPTER XXVII

STOCKLEY'S STORY (CONTINUED)

"I've been thinking," said Stockley, at length breaking the silence.

"I've been thinking that if I had known last Christmas what you have told me now things might have happened very differently. I guess I am not the only fellow who has seen hard lines here. Yes, things would have been different."

"How so?" asked Henning.

"It's this way. I told you that it was your gold watch that was the cause--or the occasion--of all the trouble that came to you. It happened this way. For some time before Christmas I envied you, your good clothes, this gold watch, and--and your popularity. Along by Christmas my father neglected me. He sent me no money, which he might easily have done had he given me one thought. The more nearly broke I was at holiday time the deeper my envy. I knew, for I watched you closely, that you were collecting a pretty sum for the cage. I saw where you kept the money. The idea of securing a gold watch for myself took strong hold upon me. It did not take long or many attempts to loosen one of the outside window bars. Then on the _Richelieu_ night when everybody was full of thoughts of the play, when the prefects were hurrying the boys to bed, I entered through the window and secured the money."

"And it wasn't--it wasn't--" Roy choked up.

"Who? It wasn't anybody but myself. Smithers had no hand in it then."

Roy Henning's heart gave a great bound of relief. It was not his cousin, after all. Thank G.o.d, thank G.o.d! The family honor was saved!

How glad he was now of his silence! Was ever silence so golden? What irretrievable damage a hasty word could have done. The thief known, on his own confession, and before witnesses. His cousin exonerated! Thank G.o.d, thank G.o.d! Of course Roy was curious now to know all the details and it was with the utmost difficulty that he restrained his excitement sufficiently to be able to speak in a natural tone.

"How did you manage to do it?"

"Umph! This information which you have been seeking for the last five months does not seem to affect you much."

"With that we can deal later. Now I am curious to know how you did it.

Please tell me."

"As you take the matter so coolly, I will. I laid my plans well. I determined, if caught in lifting the grating, to be hunting for a ball, which I had previously dropped down there. I watched my time. I made the entry while the boys were in the chapel at night prayers. I settled with myself that if I were caught coming out, to bring the money to you to prove to you how foolish you were to leave it in a common table drawer. In the dark it took only a minute to lift the grating. You know that it is thick iron with small holes. Three boys did actually walk over the grating that night while I was crouching beneath it with the money in my pocket."

Henning startled both Stockley and his companions by saying, dramatically:

"I saw you that night there."

"What, you saw me! Oh, I say, that's a likely story--and didn't say a word all this time!"

"I can prove it."

"How?"

"Why did you wear Garrett's blue sweater?"

"Guess you did see me then, for I wore it. I wanted a disguise. If any one saw me near that window with Garrett's sweater on they would take me for him, provided I hid my face well--which I did. No one would suspect Garrett of thieving."

Again Henning was thankful that he had kept his resolution of silence.

It was not for Garrett's sake he had made it. Why it was made, and kept in the face of such suspicious circ.u.mstances, the reader will learn ere long.