CHAPTER VII.
PERCY'S HOME.
For a few minutes Ralph stood outside of the general store, undecided what was best to do next.
It was true that the bill in Uriah Dicks' possession was his own, yet how could he prove it, and thus get it once more into his possession?
"I'll call on Percy Paget, and see what he has to say," he thought. "Perhaps I can make him confess how he obtained the bill, and make the amount good to Mr. Dicks."
With this object in view the young bridge tender hurried through the village toward the hill, upon which the few handsome residences of the place were situated.
In the most prominent spot was located the mansion of Squire Paget, a Queen Anne structure, surrounded by a garden full of fancy shrubs and plants, which during her life had been Mrs. Paget's pride.
Passing through the gate, Ralph walked up the gravel path to the front piazza and rang the bell.
He had to wait a short time. Then a slow step was heard through the hallway, and the door was opened by Mrs. Hanson, the squire's housekeeper.
"Good-evening," said Ralph, politely. "Is Percy at home?"
"I don't really know," returned Mrs. Hanson. "Come in and I will find out."
She ushered Ralph into the hallway, and motioned him to a seat. Then she passed upstairs.
"I guess it will be all right, squire," Ralph heard a voice say in a nearby side room—the library. "And you are perfectly safe in making the deal."
"I trust so, Pickley," came the reply, in Squire Paget's well-known sharp tones. "It's worth the trouble, you know."
"Of course, I get pay for my trouble," went on Pickley, as he stepped to the doorway.
"I'll pay what I promised," returned the squire, and then both men stepped into the hallway.
They started back on seeing Ralph, as though they had imagined no one was around. The young bridge tender made up his mind they had not noted his ring.
"Why—ah—what brings you here, Nelson?" demanded the squire, as soon as he could recover.
"I called to see Percy, sir."
"I believe Percy is out."
Ralph's hope fell at this announcement.
"Can you tell me where I can find him, sir?" he asked.
"He is somewhere about the village, I presume. He said he would be back by nine o'clock or half-past."
Ralph glanced at the tall clock which stood at the end of the hall, and saw that it lacked but ten minutes of nine. Percy might be in in a few minutes.
"If you please, I will wait for him," he said, politely.
Squire Paget moved toward the door, and opened it for Dan Pickley, his visitor.
"Good-night, Pickley," he said.
"Good-night, squire," was the reply, and then Pickley moved down the steps.
The squire watched him go out of the gate, and then closed the front door once more.
"How long have you been waiting?" he asked, rather abruptly.
"Only a minute or two, sir."
"No longer than that?" and the squire bent his searching eyes full upon Ralph's honest features.
"No, sir, Mrs. Hanson just let me in."
Squire Paget seemed relieved to hear this. His conversation with Dan Pickley had been both important and private, and he was afraid Ralph might have overheard more than he wished to become public.
"So you wish to see Percy?" he went on, after a short pause. "Is there anything special?"
"Yes, sir."
"What is it?"
"Excuse me, but I would like to speak to Percy first."
The squire drew up his lower lip and looked plainly annoyed.
"I do not allow my son to have any secrets from me, so you might as well speak out, Nelson," he observed, abruptly.
"I came to see Percy about a twenty-dollar bill which belonged to me, and which he obtained," returned Ralph, boldly.
"A twenty-dollar bill of yours Percy obtained? Why, Nelson, what do you mean? Come into the library."
"I mean what I say, Squire Paget," said the young bridge tender, following the great man of the village into the apartment mentioned. "Percy had a twenty-dollar bill belonging to me and he passed it off on Mr. Dicks, the storekeeper."
"But he could not have known it was your bill if he spent it."
"He ought to have known it was mine, sir."
"Give me the particulars of this matter," was Squire Paget's short response.
In as few words as possible the young bridge tender told of the row on the bridge, and of what had followed. While he was speaking the squire grew excited, and paced up and down nervously. He could hardly wait for Ralph to finish.
"See here, Nelson, this is preposterous, absurd! My son is above such a thing!" he cried.
"So I hoped, sir. But I have only stated the plain facts."
"It is a tissue of falsehoods, young man! Wait till I hear Percy's side of the story. The idea! my son has enough spending money without resorting to—to such unlawful means of obtaining more."
"Well, it is my twenty-dollar bill that he gave to Mr. Dicks," said Ralph, doggedly.
"Where did you obtain the bill?"
A gentleman gave it to me for assisting him out of the water, after his sloop had been wrecked against the stonework of the bridge."
"That is a likely story! As if twenty-dollar bills were flying around so thickly!"
"I am telling the truth, sir."
"Who is the gentleman?"
"He is from New York, and is up here on a vacation."
"I can hardly believe he gave you so much money."
"He did, and I can prove it."
"Well, be that as it may, I am certain Percy did not take your bill."
"Did you give him a twenty-dollar bill?"
"I give him all the spending money he needs," returned Squire Paget, evasively. "He has probably saved the amount and had some one change his small money for one big bill."
"He didn't have it changed into my bill—the one Mr. Dicks holds. That he got at the bridge—how, I don't know—and I am going to have it back."
"Ha! do you threaten my son!" cried Squire Paget, wrathfully.
"I am going to make him do what is right, sir. I can't afford to lose twenty dollars and say nothing."
Instantly Squire Paget flared up, and shook his fist in Ralph's face.
"If you dare to make trouble for my son I'll have you discharged as bridge tender," he fumed. "Understand that, Nelson! I am not going to have Percy's fair name ruined."
At that moment, before Ralph could reply, a key was heard to turn in the front door, and a second later the squire's son strode into the house.