“Mr. Rogers,” said Mrs. Gilbert, “that envelope contains government bonds that belong to my son. Ask Colonel Ross how many he lost.”
“Two bonds of a hundred dollars each,” answered the Colonel. “And here they are,” he continued, producing two bonds of that denomination from the envelope.
“Look again. See if there are no more,” said Harry.
The Colonel, evidently surprised, produced a fifty.
“Do you mean to say that you lost that, also?” inquired Harry.
“No,” replied the Colonel, evidently puzzled; “you must have got that from somewhere else.”
“I got the whole somewhere else,” said Harry.
“It is entirely useless, Harry Gilbert, to attempt to impose upon me by any such ridiculous story. As to the extra bond, I don’t know where it came from. Perhaps your mother had it before. It doesn’t alter the fact that I have found my stolen bonds in your possession.”
“When did you lose your bonds?” asked Uncle Obed, who thought it time to “put in his oar,” as he afterward expressed it.
“Last evening.”