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- Author: Jr. Horatio Alger
Book online «Do and Dare — a Brave Boy's Fight for Fortune by Jr. Horatio Alger (e books free to read .TXT) 📖». Author Jr. Horatio Alger
“I wanted a little rest,” he answered, after a pause.
“Where did you go?”
“Why do you ask me that question?” asked Eben, moving about uneasily.
“Because I desire an answer.”
“You know where I went,” returned Eben, sullenly.
“Yes, but I wish you to tell me.”
“Answer the question, witness!” said the judge, briefly.
“I went to the hotel,” replied Eben, evasively.
“On whom did you call?”
“On you!” answered Eben, reluctantly.
“We have come to it at last. Now, what was your business with me?”
“To tell you that Herbert would not suit you as a companion,” said the witness, who thought this answer rather a clever one.
“Whom did you recommend in his place?” pursued the questioner, relentlessly.
Eben hesitated, but his cleverness came again to his aid.
“I told you that I would be willing to come just to oblige you,” he said.
“Did Herbert know that you were going to make this proposal?”
“No.”
“You asked him, then, to remain in the post office while you absented yourself with a view of depriving him of the position he had just secured in my employ?”
“I would have got father to take him again in the store and post office,” said Eben, defending himself from the implied charge of treachery.
“Yes, you told me so.”
Eben nodded triumphantly. Even Melville had to admit that he was not treating Herbert meanly.
“By the way,” said Melville, “isn't it rather strange that you should have been ready to recommend in your place a boy whose honesty you doubted?”
“I didn't know he was a thief,” said Eben, somewhat abashed.
“No, but you suspected his honesty. That was your reason for counting the money and stamps before you left the office. At least, that is the reason you have given.”
“He had been in the office before I was there,” said Eben, uneasily.
“While he was there, were any stamps missing? Was he suspected of taking any stamps or money?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Now, Mr. Graham, what answer did I make to your application?”
“What application?”
“To take you into my employ instead of Herbert.”
“You wanted to keep him,” said the witness, sullenly.
“Precisely. Having failed, then, in your application, you went home and discovered that some money and stamps had been stolen.”
“Yes, sir. I was very much surprised—”
“That will do, sir. Your discovery was remarkably well-timed. Herbert having obtained the position you sought, you straightway discovered proof of his dishonesty.”
Eben colored, for the insinuation was plain enough for even him to understand.
“The two things had nothing to do with each other!” he said.
“That may be, but I call the attention of the judge to a very remarkable coincidence. Have the missing stamps or money been found on the person of the defendant?”
“He hasn't been searched.”
“I will take it upon me to say that he is ready to submit to an examination,” said Melville.
Herbert said, emphatically, “I am.”
“Oh, it isn't likely you'd find anything now.” said Eben, with a sneer.
“Why not?”
“He has had plenty of time to put 'em away.”
“I am willing to have my mother's house searched,” said Herbert, promptly.
“Oh, they ain't there!” said Eben, significantly.
“Where are they, then?”
Eben's answer took Herbert and his lawyer, and the judge himself, by surprise.
CHAPTER XII. EBEN'S TRUMP CARD.
“I guess they're—a part of them—inside this letter,” he said.
As he spoke he produced a letter, stamped and sealed, but not postmarked. The letter was addressed:
“Messrs. Jones & Fitch,
“—-Chestnut Street,
“Philadelphia.”
“What makes you think this letter contains money or postage stamps, Mr. Graham?” asked George Melville.
“Because I've seen an advertisement of Jones & Fitch in one of the weekly papers. They advertise to send several articles to any address on receipt of seventy-five cents in postage stamps.”
“Very well. What inference do you draw from this?”
“Don't you see?” answered Eben, in malicious triumph. “That's where part of the stamps went. This letter was put into the post office by Herbert Carr this morning.”
“That is not true,” said Herbert, quietly.
“Maybe it isn't, but I guess you'll find Herbert Carr's name signed to the letter,” said Eben.
“Have you seen the inside of the letter, Mr. Graham?”
“No, sir.”
“Then how do you know Herbert Carr's name is signed to it?”
“I don't know, but I am pretty sure it is.”
“You think Herbert Carr wrote the letter?”
“Yes, sir.”
“If there is no objection,” said Melville, “I will settle the matter by opening it.”
“That's what I want you to do.” said Eben Graham.
“And I also,” said Herbert.
Mr. Melville deliberately cut open one end of the envelope with a small penknife, and drew out the folded sheet which it contained. As he did so, a small sheet of postage stamps fell upon the floor.
“There, do you see that?” said Eben in triumph.
The sheet of stamps contained twenty-five three-cent stamps, representing in value seventy-five cents.
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