Wednesday noon the banker said at luncheon:
“Toby, I’m giving a little dinner party to-night and I want you to be present.”
“Oh, sir! I—I——”
“Not a word, Toby. I won’t listen to any excuses. You will find the guests old friends and must be prepared to assist me and Eric to entertain them.”
The boy was astonished. He had never known Mr. Spaythe to entertain anyone before and this dinner party, given on the eve of Toby’s trial, seemed to him a cruel mockery. But he could not refuse Mr. Spaythe’s request, having been a guest in the banker’s house for so long and knew he must face these people as bravely as he could. He wondered, vaguely, who would come to the Spaythe dinner party, and toward evening grew very uneasy and despondent.
The first arrival was Janet Ferguson, and the sight of his old employer’s daughter did much to relieve his nervousness. Then came Nathalie Cameron and Lucy Hunter and following them closely he heard the eager voices of “the Daring tribe,” including Miss Eliot, Phoebe, Becky and Don. These were first greeted by Mr. Spaythe and Eric and then engaged Toby in conversation, surrounding him in a group—as if he were the hero of the occasion, he reflected bitterly, instead of an accused criminal in danger of a prison sentence!
From his seat in the long drawing-room Toby saw Mr. Holbrook arrive, and then Sam Parsons and Will Chandler—surely a mixed assemblage. Mr. Spaythe had refrained from inviting Hazel Chandler and Dave Hunter, thinking the ordeal would be too severe for them. Finally came Doris and Allerton Randolph and then Mr. Fellows, the editor, and with these the list of guests seemed complete, for they were all straightway ushered into the dining-room to partake of an elaborate feast.
Toby was in a daze. He could not understand it at all. On all sides were bright and happy faces and no one seemed to remember that on the morrow he was to be tried in open court as a thief.
With the dessert Mr. Spaythe looked up and said casually, but in a voice loud enough for all to hear:
“I believe Phoebe Daring has a few remarks to make to us, and this seems a good opportunity to hear her.”