“Mr. Oscar Pendleton does not impress me at all as a man who would commit a crime. I do not see how he came to be accused by his employers. There is either something very much the matter with the judgment of the members of that firm, Kolbeck and Roods, or there is something so queer in the affair that it needs expert looking into.”
“You think he could not have been tempted to steal, Ruth?” asked Mr. Howbridge, giving her trouble the attention that it deserved, for he knew well her sound sense.
“A man with a nice wife and three such cute kiddies? Impossible!”
“If he needed more money than he was making?”
“I have asked Mrs. Pendleton for the particulars—as she knows them. The goods stolen could not have been sold under cover for more than a thousand dollars. And Mr. Pendleton was earning a fair salary and they were getting on well, and paying for their home. He would be crazy to do such a thing for a mere thousand dollars.”
“That sounds reasonable,” replied the lawyer. “I tell you what I will do, Ruth. I’ll have one of my clerks look up the case and get all the particulars. Perhaps something can be done to explain the matter and relieve Oscar Pendleton of the onus of this charge.”
“That is my good guardian!” cried Ruth. “You are a regular fairy godmother. You——”
She suddenly stopped to cough a little. Mr. Howbridge frowned.
“What does Dr. Forsyth mean by letting you get such a cold on your chest?” the lawyer demanded. “I thought I paid him to keep you Corner House girls in good health.”
“Chinese style?” laughed Ruth. “Well, his system has slipped a cog somehow, Guardy, for both Agnes and I have colds.”