Roy told the true state of the case before he went to bed that night, and the explanation was very gladly received by both Rex and Eva.
“It may be so,” Jess replied; “but I’ll take my breakfast after he is gone.”
Roy told Sydney about the occurrence, and thought at first, from his brother’s looks, that he was going to give him a severe rating for what he had done. A sort of convulsive tremor shook his frame, and he hastily took out his handkerchief to wipe away the beads of perspiration that had gathered on his forehead.
But he uttered no word of reproof; merely said that the boys should be careful about the friends they made.
“Don’t you think Mr. Keeler is all right, Syd?” asked Roy.
“Yes, as it turned out, certainly I do,” was the reply. “But it might have been otherwise.”
For his part, Roy was very glad of the meeting. Since he had had that interview down by the creek he had been much more reconciled to leaving Marley.
“What if I had the burden to carry about with me that Mr. Keeler has!” he often told himself. “The consciousness that my brother was a scoundrel, a jailbird!”
CHAPTER XV
DUDLEY HARRINGTON
The family moved into their city home early in September. And a beautiful one it was, with enough ground about it to give windows on all sides.