This startling piece of information seemed to strike Jack Sheldon motionless and speechless with astonishment. His under jaw dropped down, and he even clutched the back of a chair, as if seeking something with which to support himself. The two boys stood at opposite sides of the room looking at each other, and then Jack recovered himself.
"Gone!" he repeated. "You are mistaken; you have overlooked it. I saw it night before last myself."
"I don't care," said Julian, emphatically; "I have taken the clothes all out, and the box is gone. Look and see for yourself."
Julian stepped down from the chair and Jack took his place. He peered into every nook and corner of the dark shelf, passed his hands over it, and then, with something like a sigh, got down and began to hang the clothes up in their proper places. Then he closed the door of the closet, took a chair, and gazed earnestly at the floor.
"Well, sir, what do you think of that?" said Julian.
"Didn't I tell you that if anybody came in here to look for that box while we were not here it would be Casper Nevins, and nobody else?" said Jack.
"You surely don't suspect him!" exclaimed Julian.
"I do suspect him; if you could get inside his room to-night you would find the box."
"Why, then he is a thief!" said Julian, jumping up from his chair and walking the floor. "Shall we go down to No. 8 Station and ask the police to send a man up there and search him?"
"I don't know whether that would be the best way or not," said Jack, reflectively. "Has Casper got many friends among the boys of your office?"