This the deacon did, not altogether willingly.
“I—I’m sorry I tried to have you arrested, Joe,” he said. “I admit I was wrong in thinking you robbed me.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” said Joe, easily. He could afford to forgive now. “It did look a bit suspicious against me for a while. But I’m glad you have the right men. I don’t want to be in fear of arrest as I travel about with the professor. And I don’t suppose you want to take me home, do you?”
“Well, no, perhaps not, under the circumstances,” replied the deacon, slowly. “I admit that maybe I wasn’t altogether right in the way I treated you, Joe. But I meant it for the best. You can stay with the professor, if you like. You seem to be doing well.”
“Indeed he is!” exclaimed Mr. Crabb. “He’s a wonder!”
“Then stay,” the deacon said. The truth was he felt he would be made fun of if he brought Joe back, after having stated as publicly as he had in Bedford that he believed his foster-son guilty of the robbery. Besides, the deacon had to admit that Joe was doing better away from him than with him.
“Yes, I guess you’d better stay and be one of them trick performers, though I don’t think much of——”
There is little more to tell of this story. The next morning the deacon and Hen Sylvester went back to Bedford, taking the two prisoners with them. Eventually the rascals were convicted of the crime and sent to jail. The deacon recovered his valuable papers, but not the money. That had been spent.
“Well, I suppose you will avail yourself of your foster-father’s permission and remain with me, won’t you?” asked Professor Rosello, at the conclusion of the next night’s performance, when they were getting ready to move on to the next town.
“Oh, yes, I’ll stay for a while,” said Joe. “I still have much to learn.” But, as he said this, he saw in fancy a certain pretty face, and he beheld a girl riding about a circus ring on a beautiful horse. Joe thought of Helen Morton, of Benny Turton, the “human fish,” and of the kind ring-master. Joe was beginning to feel a new and strange pull at his heart strings.