“Hold him, doctor, until I get an officer!” called Mr. Sandow, as he looked down the street, and saw a policeman approaching. “We’ll soon have him behind the bars!”
CHAPTER IX
TOM LEARNS SOMETHING
Poor Tom was much distressed. What he meant to be an act calculated to benefit the old doctor, was likely to turn to his disadvantage, for he could not but admit that appearances were against him. It did look, to a casual observer, as though he had taken the pocketbook and was about to run away with it.
“This boy a thief?” exclaimed Dr. Lemuel Spidderkins as he looked at Tom. “I don’t believe it! He’s the boy who brought me the books. He’s an honest lad if ever I saw one.”
“Well, your eyesight isn’t very good,” remarked Mr. Sandow sneeringly. “I saw him steal the pocketbook.”
“Oh, it’s my pocketbook you’re talking about, is it?” asked the doctor.
“Certainly. What did you think we were speaking about?” asked his brother-in-law.
“Why, I thought you meant one of these books. Bless my soul, that is my pocketbook. I forgot about it for the moment, I was thinking so much about this book.”
Tom did not know what to make of the aged man. Certainly his memory was very short, for in one breath he talked of his wallet, and the next he forgot he had mentioned it.
“Better look and see if he took any of the money out,” suggested Mr. Sandow. “The policeman will be here in a minute.”