"A likely story," exclaimed Colonel Ross. "Really, Mrs. Gilbert, yourconduct is most extraordinary. I begin to think you had some knowledgeof your son's act."
"Colonel Ross, don't you dare to insult my mother," said Harry, sofiercely that the Colonel retreated a little, under the impression thatour hero intended to make an insult upon him.
"Be careful, boy," he warned. "I've caught you red-handed in thecommission of a crime that may send you to State's prison. You'd bettertake heed what you say!"
"Mr. Rogers," said Mrs. Gilbert, "that envelope contains governmentbonds that belong to my son. Ask Colonel Ross how many he lost."
"Two bonds of a hundred dollars each," answered the Colonel. "And herethey are," he continued, producing two bonds of that denomination fromthe envelope.
"Look again. See if there are no more," said Harry.
The Colonel, evidently surprised, produced a fifty.
"Do you mean to say that you lost that, also?" inquired Harry.
"No," replied the Colonel, evidently puzzled; "you must have got thatfrom somewhere else."
"I got the whole somewhere else," said Harry.
"It is entirely useless, Harry Gilbert, to attempt to impose upon me byany such ridiculous story. As to the extra bond, I don't know where itcame from. Perhaps your mother had it before. It doesn't alter the factthat I have found my stolen bonds in your possession."
"When did you lose your bonds?" asked Uncle Obed, who thought it time to "put in his oar," as he afterward expressed it.
"Last evening."
"You're sure you had 'em up to that time, are you?"
"Yes; I looked them over, and counted them early in the evening."
"Then, all I can say is that the bonds you've got in your hands havebeen in the house several days. Harry showed them to me when he firstgot 'em."
"Really, Mr. Wilkins, I don't like to doubt the word of an old man likeyou; but, sir, your statement is absolutely incredible."
"It is true," said Mrs. Gilbert. "I, too, assert the same thing."
"Then you are all in a conspiracy," said Colonel Ross, in a passion.
"And you have evidently plotted the ruin of an innocent boy," said Mrs.
Gilbert, with spirit.
"You have always pretended to be poor," continued Colonel Ross, "and nowyou expect me to believe that your son owns nearly three hundreddollars' worth of bonds!"
"I do, for it is true."
"Where did he get them?"
"They were given him."
"Utterly absurd! People don't often give boys such presents as that.
Constable, I call on you to arrest that boy."
"Where is your warrant, Colonel?"
"Arrest him on suspicion."
"I could not do it."
"Then you mean to connive at his escape?"
"No; I'll stay here to-night, if you insist upon it."
"Do so, and I will take the bonds."
"Lay them down, Colonel Ross; they are my property!" said Harry, sternly.
"You can't be allowed to take 'em, Colonel, till you prove that they areyours. One you admit is not," said the constable.
"It doesn't matter much," replied the Colonel, discomfited. "They willfind their way back to me soon. This boy won't take on so high a tonetomorrow."
CHAPTER XXXVIII
PHILIP'S SURPRISE
"Where did that other bond come from?" thought Colonel Ross, as hewended his way homeward. "I can't understand it. Perhaps the boy took itfrom some one else. It is just possible that his mother may have owned afifty-dollar bond."
To do Colonel Ross justice, he really thought that the bonds he haddiscovered were his own, and he was convinced, by what his son had toldhim, that Harry had really entered his house on the night when the outerdoor had been left open and abstracted them.
Philip, disappointed at not finding his friend Congreve at the hotel, took his way home, and was already in the house when his fatherreturned. He was naturally curious to hear something of the result ofhis errand.
"Well, father," he said, eagerly, as the Colonel entered the room wherehe was seated, "what luck did you have?"
"I found the bonds," said his father, briefly.
Nothing could have astonished Philip more, knowing what he did as tothe manner in which they had really been disposed of. He looked thepicture of amazement.
"Found the bonds!" he ejaculated.
"Certainly! What is there remarkable about that?"
"And Harry Gilbert really had them?" said Philip, not knowing what tothink.
"Of course!"
"Where were they found?"
"In the bureau drawer in his mother's room."