“We cannot expect to find one able to fill Judge Ferguson’s place,” observed Judith regretfully.
There was great excitement among the young Darings when they came rushing home from school. The news of Toby’s arrest had spread like wildfire throughout the village and the inhabitants of Riverdale were at first generally indignant and inclined to think that Toby Clark was being unjustly persecuted. When the details were learned, however, and it was known that Mrs. Ritchie’s blue box, battered and empty, had been found just back of Toby’s shanty, there were some who began to believe in the boy’s guilt, while others stoutly defended him.
The following morning, at the request of Lawyer Kellogg, an officer was sent over from Bayport who, in conjunction with Sam Parsons, the Riverdale constable, made a thorough search of Toby Clark’s tumble-down house. It was so poor a place that the door was not even locked. There were but two rooms; that at the front, where Toby cooked and slept, and a little den at the back, which contained only a few bits of broken, cast-off furniture and some boxes and barrels. In this back room, concealed beneath a pile of old newspapers, the officers found a bundle of mortgages and other documents, the property of Mrs. Ritchie and which were of no value to anyone but their owner. The money and bonds, however, could not be found.
Armed with this fresh evidence against the prisoner the officers of the law went to the jail and urged the boy to confess.
“Tell the truth,” said Jardyce, the Bayport policeman, “and the chances are you’ll get a light sentence. It is foolish to continue to deny your guilt.”
Toby, quite broken and despondent, for he felt deeply the disgrace of his accusation and arrest, stared at the officer in wonder.
“Are you sure you found those papers in my room?” he asked.
“There is no doubt of it.”
“Then some one else put them there. Who do you suppose it could be, Sam?” inquired Toby, addressing Parsons, the constable, who had always been his friend.
“Can’t imagine,” was the gruff reply; then, noting Toby’s appealing look, he turned to the Bayport man and added: “There’s something crooked about this thing, Jardyce. I know, as well as I know anything, that Toby Clark had nothing to do with stealing that box.”