He looked about quickly. His three children were with Tess and Dot and Sammy, a little distance away. The look in his eyes now was one of mental pain, not physical.
“No, Miss Kenway. I will be frank with you. I was discharged from Kolbeck and Roods because goods were lost from the storeroom—stolen. They accused me. And although they could not prove it, neither can I disprove it. Nobody else in Milton will give me work.”
“Oh, Mr. Pendleton!” cried tender-hearted Ruth, “isn’t that too bad? But of course Mr. Howbridge will find something for you to do just the same, and as soon as you get well.”
“Why didn’t you go away from Milton and get work where folks didn’t know about this trouble?” asked Luke bluntly.
“You see, we partly own the home we live in on Plane Street,” explained the man, with a groan, as he moved restlessly. “Ah! That hurts. I’ve done something to my back, I fear. And my poor wife——
“Well, it’s that way. We were paying for our home on the installment plan. If we move away we shall lose all we have put into it, for we could not sell our equity at this time. Real estate sales are at a low ebb, you know. I don’t know what to do.”
“I think those folks who say you stole are real mean!” cried Agnes warmly.
“Thank you,” returned Mr. Pendleton. “I know that no Pendleton was ever a thief. But there are things about the robbery that look bad for me. I admit that. But when they turned me out without waiting to see if the real thief would not be found, I think they did treat me pretty mean.”
“I’ll say they did!” exclaimed Luke.
They heard then the horn of the Kenway car, and a minute or two later Neale came hurrying through the woods.