“Well, here is a paper published in Ralston on the sixth of July, and while it describes the games and names the contestants, it makes no mention of Dickinson.”
Dr. Brayton took the paper and examined the passage carefully, then turned it over to Professor Loder and Mr. Harkins, who put their heads together over it. At length the lawyer looked up with a gracious smile, and said in his smoothest judicial tones:—
“I am sorry, Mr. Melvin, but this is by no means conclusive. Certain names of contestants are given, with their places at the finish, but there is nothing here to prove that Dickinson did not start and fall so far behind as not to finish. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I should hardly feel justified myself in accepting this negative evidence as confuting the plain statement of the poster.”
“Then the report of the proceedings would prove nothing after all,” said Dick, bitterly. “Professor Loder has just said that the newspaper report would be sufficient.”
“It would,” replied Mr. Harkins, with forbearance, “if it had contained the plain statement that Dickinson did not run.”
“Is that your idea, too?” asked Dick, turning to Professor Loder. The boy’s heart was fluttering, his hands and knees shook under the table, but his voice was steady, and for this he felt unspeakably grateful.
“Certainly,” said Professor Loder, with some sharpness in his voice. “We do not demand the impossible. If the newspaper had stated that Dickinson did not run, there would be nothing more to say.”
“Then there is nothing more to say,” declared Dick, leaping to his feet in his eagerness to relieve the nervous tension which had been growing more and more acute as the discussion went on. “Here is the Ralston Chronicle, which makes that very statement.”
Mr. Harkins seized the paper and studied the black-lined passage with evident chagrin. He was still studying, not wholly hopeless of a flaw, when Professor Loder, after looking over the lawyer’s shoulder at the paragraph, said: “Yes, that seems to settle it; the protest must be withdrawn. I am sorry, however, that you could not have been more frank with us.”
Dick flushed deep red. “I hope, sir, you don’t think I’ve taken an underhand course. I only meant to make sure that the newspaper statement would be accepted as sufficient evidence. You see, sir, I am positive that Dickinson is innocent, because I know him and trust him, but I couldn’t tell how the evidence would appeal to others.”