When George got home he found that his uncle had sent his lawyer to the inner closet in the library, giving him a design of the room, and the attorney found that the jewels were gone.
It was in this way that the detectives took up the case, and they were located in a pawnshop which belonged to one Nathans.
It gave the name of Tom Cooper, and old Mr. Benson turned upon his pillow with a groan when he found that the boy he had loved and taken care of from a baby had been the serpent that stung him in a most vital place, for had not his Helen, his wife and beloved, worn these precious diamonds about her neck, and had not his daughter, whom he loved, also had them close to her beating heart? For many hours after this revelation was made to him he said nothing, and then he opened his lips.
“It is dreadful to be treated thus. I loved this boy, and was on the eve of sending for him to find out the truth of the matter of a few months ago, but if these gems were found upon him then there can be no excuse for him.”
It was strange that the old invalid did not think it about time to send his nephew from his home, especially after the terrible confession George had made about his daughter, but Benson felt that George was his own flesh and blood, and how could he find it in his heart to turn him away? He had grown more tender since the leaving of his Annie. He would put all the worry out of his mind, with the exception of thoughts of Annie, and for her he would wish until the very air produced vibrations that would bring her back to him.
“Do you really believe, George,” said the lawyer one morning after Tom’s sentence had been passed upon him and he had been sent up for a number of years, “that this young sailor took these gems?”
“I only know,” responded the smooth villain, “as much about the case as you. I do not worry about strangers.”
“Was this young man not a boy brought up with you?”
“Yes.”
“Then, he is not a stranger to you.”