t comes to this, Oscar. I myself believe in you. You have been careless, easy-going, lax, but I have full faith in your integrity. Yet it comes to this: you will have to make up your mind to be under a cloud for the present. Without some sort of proof it would be useless to drag in Cyril’s name. With pain I say to you that I myself greatly fear the sin does lie at Cyril’s door. But with your memory uncertain, and his absolute denial of being concerned in the matter, it seems hopeless to seek to bring it home. It would be a source of bitterness at home, and would almost break my mother’s heart.”
“I would much rather bear the blame myself than that that should happen,” said Oscar in a broken voice; but North made a little impatient gesture.
“Don’t take it like that,” he said. “I have no patience with one person bearing blame for another—the innocent for the guilty, letting the scamp go off free—when he could be caught. But in this case there seems at present no way of getting at him. I don’t want to say harsh things of my own brother, but I have had one or two shocks with regard to him during these past six months, and that is why I do not find it difficult to regard him as the culprit. But you are not without blame, Oscar. I cannot acquit you, though I shall never believe that you had any hand in the abduction of the money. You haven’t it in you. But you ought to take your duties to yourself and others more seriously; and when money is entrusted to you, nothing should ever induce you to place it in any hands but those for whom it was given you. It is a breach of trust, whether you think of it in that light or not.”
Oscar was very humble; he had talked the whole matter out with North, and had kept back nothing. It had been an immense relief to him, and he was deeply grateful for the faith reposed in him by his cousin. North believed in him; he shared his fear that Cyril was the real defaulter, yet he did not see, as things now stood, how it could be brought home to him; and for Oscar to seem to try and shelter himself behind a vague accusation brought against his own kinsman seemed a most undesirable line of action. Oscar was almost relieved not to be forced to take it. With his temperament it seemed easier to bear odium and suspicion than to try and fasten them upon others.
“You must leave the matter in my hands,” said North, after a long silence. “I will see my father and make the best I can out of the case. It’s a serious bit of business, look at it as you will. And if he acquits you of any embezzlement, he must perforce know that there is somebody else not to be trusted in his employ. It will be hard on you all, Oscar; and it will be a part of your punishment to know that this difficulty could not have arisen but for your easy-going ways, of which I have warned you before.”
“Yes,” answered Oscar, “I can see now how wrong I have been. I deserve to suffer. But I hope nobody else will fall under suspicion. The other fellows in the office have really nothing to do with it. I am as certain as possible that——”
“Yes, yes, I know; and, Oscar, I shall not let the matter rest without trying to get at the real truth. And my father is too just a man to believe any person guilty without proof. But his confidence in your trustworthiness must be in some sort shaken. I do not believe he will think you have robbed him, but he must think that by your carelessness you have allowed him to be robbed, and, indeed, Oscar, whether Cyril be the defaulter or not, it is in a way the truth.”
Oscar winced, but he accepted the rebuke humbly. North sat silent awhile staring into the fire, and then said thoughtfully and rather gravely—
“But I shall not let the matter rest there. I shall do my utmost to unravel the mystery. We have one possible chance. My father has the numbers of the bank-notes. They may be difficult to trace after this lapse of time, but it is possible we may be able to hear something of them.”
“And you will try—even though—it might be—Cyril?”