“Buttoned them into the left pocket of my coat. When I got to Storeton, the envelope was gone.”
“How do you account for that?”
“I can’t account for it, sir.”
The Colonel was silent for a few moments, and then he looked fixedly at Dick.
“Your statements were very unsatisfactory last night, and now that you have had time to think over the matter, I advise you to be frank. It’s plain that you have been guilty of gross negligence, but that is not the worst. The drawings are of no direct use to the enemy, but if they fell into their hands they might supply a valuable hint of the use to which we mean to put the pontoons. You see what this implies?”
“I don’t know how we mean to use them, sir, and I don’t want to hide anything.”
“That’s a wise resolve,” the Colonel answered meaningly; and Dick colored. After all, there was something he meant to hide.
“You took the plans with you when you left the camp, three or four hours before you were due at Storeton,” said the Adjutant. “Where did you go?”
“To my cousin’s rooms in the town.”
“Mr. Lance Brandon’s,” said the Adjutant thoughtfully. “Did you stay there?”