“Go to Mr. Wells at the insurance office and tell him I cannot attend the meeting to-day. Have it postponed until to-morrow,” said the judge.
“Yes, sir.”
“And, Toby, when you return stand guard over the private room and see that I’m not disturbed.”
“Yes, sir.”
The youth vanished instantly and with a courteous gesture Mr. Ferguson motioned Phœbe to enter his sanctum. Evidently, he had shrewdly read her face and knew that something very unusual had happened to his ward.
“Now, then, explain yourself, my dear,” he said when they were seated.
Phœbe looked earnestly into the kind old face.
“I want to make a full confession of everything,” she began. “I want you to understand me, and—and know just as much as I do.”
“That is a wise resolve, when you are dealing with a lawyer,” he responded, smiling at her anxious look.
So she first told him of how she had discovered old Miss Halliday counting the secret hoard, and of her reasons for keeping the knowledge to herself. Next, she related Phil’s experiences at the bank, his suspicions of Eric and the midnight adventure when together the twins watched the banker’s son robbing the safe. All the details of Eric’s plan to implicate Phil had been carefully treasured in the girl’s memory, and she now related them simply, but convincingly, to the lawyer.