The Rover Boys in Business Part 5

"They seem to think it lies between Nellie and the teacher," answered Grace.

"In that case, how do we know the teacher didn't take the ring herself?" broke in Tom, quickly.

"Oh, do you think that possible?" questioned Nellie, in surprise.

"It's more reasonable to think she took it than you did. Anyway, she hasn't any right to accuse you," went on Tom, bluntly.

"As I said, Tom, she hasn't accused me--that is, openly; but I know what she thinks, and I know what she will make others think," returned Nellie. And now she showed signs of bursting into tears again. "Oh, I feel as if I must pack up and go home!"

"Don't you do it, Nellie. That would make it look as if you were guilty. You stay here and face the music." Then, as Nellie began to cry again, Tom took her in his arms and held her tightly.

"Come on!" said Sam, in a low tone of voice. "I think some people at the window are listening." And he led the way to a distant portion of the seminary grounds. After that, Grace told all she knew of the miserable affair, and Nellie related just how she had seen the diamond ring on the teacher's desk.

"Was the window open at the time?" questioned the older Rover boy.

"If I remember rightly, the window was tight shut," replied Nellie.

"Yes, it was shut when I was in the office," put in Grace. "I have been trying to think out some way by which the ring could have disappeared, but without success."

The matter was talked over for some time, and then the girls questioned the boys regarding the happening at the broken bridge.

Nellie, and Grace also, wanted to know the latest news from d.i.c.k and Dora.

"So far as I know, Dora is in fine health and enjoying herself in the city," said Tom. "But d.i.c.k is having his hands full, and I rather think that, sooner or later, I'll have to pack up and go to his a.s.sistance."

"Then you'll leave Brill for good?" questioned Nellie.

"I think so. I can't be breaking in on my college course every now and then as I have been doing, and pa.s.s my examinations. More than that, I begin to believe that I was not cut out for a college man. I am like d.i.c.k; I prefer a business career rather than a professional one. It is Sam who is going to make the learned one of the family."

"Oh, come now, Tom! Don't pile it on!" pleaded the younger brother.

And yet he looked greatly pleased; and Grace looked pleased, too.

"But if you leave Brill, you won't be able to get here very often, Tom," remarked Nellie, wistfully.

"That is true. But if I have to go to New York, why can't you go, too?"

"Oh, Tom!"

"Well, that is what Dora did when d.i.c.k gave up his college career. I think the folks understand----"

Just then a bell in the tower of the main seminary building began to clang loudly. At the first stroke both girls started.

"There goes the first bell!" cried Grace. "We must go."

"Oh, hang the bell!" muttered Tom, and then, as Grace ran towards the building, with Sam beside her, he once more caught Nellie by the hand.

"Now say, Nellie, don't you think----"

"Oh, Tom, I must get in before the second bell rings!" pleaded Nellie.

"Yes, but won't you promise----"

"How can I promise anything, Tom, with this affair of the missing ring----"

"Missing ring! You don't suppose for one minute that that is going to make any difference to me, do you?"

"Oh, no, Tom. I know you too well for that." And now Nellie gave him a look that thrilled him through and through. "But I think I ought to clear my name before--before I do anything else."

"All right. I suppose it has got to be as you say," returned Tom, hopelessly. "But listen! If they make any more trouble for you, promise me that you will let me know."

"All right, Tom, I will." And then, after Tom had stolen a quick kiss, Nellie hastened her steps, and a few seconds later she and her sister disappeared within the building.

"Do you know what I'd like to do, Sam?" muttered Tom, as the brothers turned away from the seminary grounds in the automobile. "I'd like to wring that Miss Harrow's neck! What right has she to accuse Nellie?"

"No right at all, Tom. But one thing is certain, the ring must be missing. I don't think that the teacher had anything to do with taking it. They don't have that sort here."

"Possibly not. At the same time, to my mind it is far more reasonable to suppose that she took it than that Nellie had anything to do with it," declared Tom, stoutly.

"If the window was closed down, it seems to me that the ring must have been taken by somebody in the building," pursued Sam, thoughtfully.

"Perhaps one of the hired help did it."

"Maybe." Tom gave a long sigh. "I certainly hope they clear the matter up before long. I shall be very anxious to hear from the girls about it."

As the young collegians had received permission to be out after hours, they did not attempt to take the short cut through The Shallows on returning to Brill. Instead, they went around by another road, over a bridge that was perfectly safe.

"It's not so late, after all," remarked Sam, as they entered their room. "Perhaps I had better, finish that theme."

"Oh, finish it in the morning," returned Tom, with a yawn. "You'll feel brighter."

"All right," answered Sam, who felt sleepy himself; and a few minutes later the brothers retired.

The next morning found Sam at work on the theme long before the hour for breakfast. Tom was also up, and said he would take a walk around the grounds to raise an appet.i.te.

"As if you needed anything of that sort," grinned Sam. "The first thing you know, you'll be eating so much that the college management will be charging you double for board."

Down on the campus, Tom ran into Songbird, and, a few minutes later, William Philander Tubbs. Songbird, as usual, had a pad and pencil in his hand.

"Composing verses, I suppose," remarked Tom. "What have you got now?"

"Oh, it isn't so very much," returned Songbird, hesitatingly. "It's a little poem I was writing about dogs."

"Dogs!" chimed in William Philander. "My gracious me! What sort of poetry can you get up about dogs? I must confess, I don't like them.

Unless, of course, they are the nice little lap-dog kind."

"This isn't about a lap-dog, exactly," returned Songbird. "It's about a watchdog."

"Um! By the way, Songbird, haven't the Sandersons a new watchdog?"

"Yes." And now Songbird reddened a little.