Part 51 (1/2)
”Madam,” said the Colonel, slowly, ”it pains me to say that the person seen prowling round my house, and looking in at my window, was your son, Harry!”
”Harry!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the widow, scarcely thinking she had heard aright.
”It's ridiculous!” exclaimed Uncle Obed.
”Colonel Ross,” said Harry, rising to his feet, and confronting the visitor, with clear eyes and an expression of honest indignation, ”do you mean to say that you suspect me of stealing any of your property?”
”Young man, I advise you not to be impudent or brazen-faced. Do you mean to deny that you were near my house last evening between half-past nine and ten o'clock?”
”No, I don't. I did pa.s.s your house about that time.”
”I am glad you have the sense to own it. You may as well confess the rest--that you entered through the unlocked door, opened my small trunk, and took out two government bonds of a hundred dollars each.”
”Whoever charges me with that utters a falsehood,” said Harry, boldly.
”I pa.s.sed your house, but I did not enter it, and did not even look in the window, and it is news to me that the door was unlocked, or the keys on the desk. In fact, I didn't know you had a trunk in which you kept your bonds.”
”Of course you deny it,” said Colonel Ross, ”but I think it entirely likely that the stolen bonds are at this very moment hidden beneath this roof.”
CHAPTER x.x.xVII
SEARCHING THE COTTAGE
”Colonel Ross, your suspicions are very insulting and entirely unwarranted,” said the Widow Gilbert, with a flush on her usually pale cheek.
”Of course I knew you would not believe anything against your son, whom you believe to be a model,” said Colonel Ross, with a sneer.
”So he is--a model!” said the widow, warmly.
”Then all I can say is that there is a strong reason to suspect that this model son of yours is a thief.”
”I deny it.”
”I notice, however, that you are afraid to have the house searched.”
”I have never expressed any unwillingness.”
”Then I understand that you give your consent.”
”I do.”
”Very well. Then allow me to call in a party not interested, who will attend to that duty.”
Colonel Ross went to the outer door, and, opening it, called:
”Constable, you are wanted!”
At this summons a tall, stout man--Mr. Rogers, the village constable--came forward, as it seemed, rather reluctantly.
”Constable,” said Colonel Ross, ”Mrs. Gilbert has given her consent to have the house searched for the bonds which were abstracted from my trunk last evening.”