“I am really sorry to disturb you, but you are charged with selling two stolen bonds in Wall Street yesterday.”
“There is some mistake,” said Congreve, hurriedly. “Colonel Ross sent me the bonds by his son, with a request that I would sell them for him.”
“Glad to hear it,” said the detective, laconically. “Then you will be able to clear yourself. Meanwhile, you must come with me.”
And James Congreve spent the night in a boarding house by no means fashionable.
CHAPTER XL — PREPARING TO PROSECUTE
“I am going to the bottom of this affair,” said Colonel Ross, as he sipped his second cup of coffee at the breakfast table the next morning. “The Gilbert boy must suffer the consequences of his crime.”
“Will he be sent to prison, pa?” inquired Philip.
“It is a State’s prison offense, my son,” answered his father.
Was it on Harry’s account that Philip suddenly turned pale and looked nervous? I cannot credit him with a sufficient amount of feeling for another. He could not help recalling the fact that it was he and not Harry who had been guilty of this State’s prison offense.