“That’s true. I should like to get even with him.”
“So you can. You can throw suspicion on him, and get off free yourself. It will be a splendid revenge.”
Philip began to think favorably of the scheme, arid before he left the hotel had agreed to it.
CHAPTER XXXI — THE TEMPTER
Philip was far from being a model boy—as we have seen, he didn’t shrink from meanness—but it was not without reluctance that he assented to James Congreve’s proposal. He did not feel that abhorrence of theft that a better principled boy would have done, but the thought of resorting to it gave him a sense of humiliation. Besides, the fear of detection inspired in him a certain uneasy feeling. In fact, he retraced his steps, and sought Congreve in his room again.
“What! back again?” asked James, in surprise.
“Yes,” replied Philip. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to do what you proposed to me.”
“Don’t want to do it?” repeated Congreve, frowning. “What nonsense is this?”
“No nonsense at all,” retorted Philip, not liking his friend’s tone. “I don’t want to be a thief.”