“Sure I got von,” said Schulig, and he produced it. “I don'd know you vant it. Here iss.”
“What's it say?” Susan asked, and Gay, leaning against Henrietta's arm, read it.
“It says Lem and one boy known as Swatty Swartz, together with one boy known as Bony, did steal, and so forth, a chunk of lead metal, of a value of three or more dollars, from the junkyard of one Moses Schuder,” said Gay.
“There!” said Miss Susan triumphantly, “I knew it! You've got the boys mixed up, somehow. Lemuel don't steal. He ain't that kind of boy. You don't know anything about it, do you, Lem?”
Lem looked up into his aunt's face. “Yes, mam,” he said.
“Well, maybe you do,” said Miss Susan. “I dare say that Swatty boy and Bony boy fetched the lead to your pa's junkyard. It's like enough they did. But you never knew it was stole, did you, Lem?”
“Yes, mam, I did know,” Lem said. “I knew it.”
“But you did not help them steal it,” said Miss Susan sharply.
“Yes, mam,” said Lem again. “Or, anyway, I did n't help them. They were the ones that helped me.”
There was no bravado in the boy's voice. He was frightened. His face was so white with fear that the freckles stood out as if they floated above the skin and were not on it. Miss Susan was almost as white, but with shame, indignation, and anger, and her eyes were hard now.