"Uncle Job took it in charge afterward?"
"Yes; Rathe and I coming away together. At daybreak the next morning your uncle woke us up, complaining of his head and looking wild and disordered. He couldn't give any account of the money, however, except that he thought he had been drugged, and indeed the odor of chloroform filled the room, as I found on going there, which I did at once."
"That's enough to clear him," I cried. "Nothing could be plainer."
"Yes, so it would seem; but they claim he invented the story."
"The room was filled with the stuff, you say?"
"Yes; but Moth says your uncle spilled it himself, to hide the crime."
"The liar! he knows better. Oh, it's wicked to accuse Uncle Job when he can't prove what he says."
"Yes, that is what his friends think; but what we are saying don't lead to anything, and while we are talking you are freezing. Come, Constance will want to see you and welcome you back." Saying which, Mr. Seymour, not a whit the worse for the cold, took my arm and led me into the house, though I was all of a tremor, so biting was the air.
Mr. Seymour ordered breakfast served in the Treasury, looking upon my coming as an event, he said. Constance being told of my arrival, came in presently, looking pale and distressed, and seeing me beside her father, ran forward without speaking, save to call my name, clasping her arms about my neck and hiding her face on my shoulder.
"There, Puss, don't give way like that," Mr. Seymour exclaimed. "Gilbert is all right, and with the strength and color of a prince, as you can see."