While she had been so ill she could not visit the little family on Plane Street which seemed to have been so sorely stricken. But she knew that Mr. Pendleton had got up and was about, after a fortnight or so, and that Mr. Howbridge had found him a job. Dr. Forsyth told Ruth that with proper care the man would suffer no serious results from his fall in the chestnut woods.
At Christmas the family, especially the three children, was lavishly remembered by the Kenways. Margaret Ortwell Pendleton did not go to the same school as Tess and Dot, so the little Corner House girls did not see much of her, but they heard about the Pendleton children—especially of “Shot” Pendleton—quite frequently through Sammy. Sammy was a rover, and he kept in touch with the acquaintances which he made to a remarkable degree.
But it was through her guardian that Ruth Kenway learned more about Oscar Pendleton and his troubles and learned what was going on in the investigation into the robbery at the warehouse of Kolbeck & Roods. Mr. Howbridge had become interested in the case.
“My clerk has not really raked up anything satisfactory about that affair,” the lawyer reflected, as he sat with Ruth on the deck of the Horridole the second day out from port. “He has got Pendleton’s story from him and—my clerk, I mean—believes the man is innocent. It is not a mere opinion; he gains his judgments through logical reflection.
“But there is no evidence to the contrary that would be accepted by any court. You see, Kolbeck and Roods are not sure enough themselves to have Pendleton arrested. That makes it very bad——”
“Why, Guardy! I think that makes it very good. Consider how poor Mrs. Pendleton would feel if her husband was taken off to jail.”
“You don’t see very far, Ruth,” said the lawyer. “If he was arrested we’d bail him out, hurry the trial, and make Kolbeck and Roods try to prove their allegation. They couldn’t do so and the man would be discharged and his name practically cleared. We have no ‘Scotch verdicts’ in America.”
“What is a Scotch verdict, Guardian?”
“It is a custom in some courts of that country, when guilt is not assured, to render a verdict of ‘not proven’; but it does not clear the victim’s reputation. It is neither guilt nor acquittal. But if Kolbeck and Roods could not bring forward convincing proof of Oscar Pendleton’s guilt, he would be acquitted.”
“Oh! And can’t your clerk dig up any facts on the other side—that Mr. Pendleton could not have committed the robbery?”