"I think we're having a sort of tempest in a teapot, Roy. No one has made any accusations. Suppose you let me say a word. It wasn't at all necessary to perform this operation on Alfred. Let me see this key, Alf, my boy."
Skinny handed the key to Mr. Ellsworth and he screwed up his face, sort of funny, and looked at it. Then he said, "Hmph, it's a Yale key, belonging to a padlock, eh? What key is it, my boy?"
Skinny could hardly speak he was so scared. Even I felt sort of shaky—
I don't know why.
Skinny just said, "I found it."
"Here in camp, you mean?" Mr. Ellsworth said, just as nice as I ever heard him talk—awful pleasant and easy, like.
"On the boat," Skinny said, "the day I found the money. It was right on the deck."
"That was the money he gave you," I said. I just couldn't help saying it.
Mr. Ellsworth said, "Now, Roy, you must let me do the talking. Just be quiet a minute."
I said, "Excuse me."
"Now, Alf," Mr. Ellsworth said, "why didn't you give me this key, eh?"