I answered that this was probably so, beginning to doubt in my mind whether my companion might not, for all his straightforward looks and ways, have come by the bag feloniously. Could it be another great jewel robbery?
I don’t know whether he noticed any doubtful look in my eyes, but he added at once that he was on the straight run from Heidelberg. He had come from there to London in twenty-six hours.
I made some remark as to the beauty of Heidelberg, and asked if he knew it well.
Why, yes, he said he ought to, for he had been a student at the University there for the last nine months.
Why then was he on the straight run home? I ventured to ask. Term wasn’t over?
No; term wasn’t over; but he had been arrested, and didn’t want to go to prison at Strasburg, where one American student was in for about two years already.
But how did he manage to get off? I asked, now thoroughly interested in his story.
Well, he had just run his bail. When he was arrested he had sent for the doctor at whose house he lodged to bail him out. That was what troubled him most. He wouldn’t have the Herr Doctor slipped up anyway. He was going to send the money directly he got home, and there were things enough left of his to cover the money.
What was he arrested for?
For calling out a German student.