“I am very thankful to you that you make it so clear and circumstantial.”
“You remember in the early spring there was a good deal of money spent by the boys. If I remember rightly you yourself bought a number of books,
bats, balls, and shoes. Well, at that time I ventured to spend some, but I was horribly suspicious all the time. Somehow I imagined that every dollar I spent was marked in some invisible way and would be traced back to me. No, I tell you that has done me no good, given me not one moment of satisfaction, and has only added an extra burden to my conscience.”
“Did Smithers have a hand in this thievery?" asked Roy.
“Leave others out. You said that to me just now, and now you are trying to get some one else incriminated.”
“No, I am not. I am merely acting in self-defense. You have cleared me of all suspicion. I must, if he was implicated in this wretched affair, have him clear me also.”
“You need not bother about Smithers,” said Bracebridge; “that charming and courageous individual departed for unknown pastures between two suns. You will see him no more. The boys say he is daffy on account of the storm. Let it go at that, Roy.”
Henning was surprised at this news, but not altogether pleased. Matters had thus far gone so propitiously that he wanted every knot in the tangle straightened out.
“That's all right, Roy,” said Bracebridge. “There will be no more trouble from that quarter.”He then turned to Stockley, saying:
“I must say that we are obliged to you for your candor. It is rather a manly acknowledgment after all.”