"At first I thought I"ll sell a Liberty bond I had and put my hundred in the bank to dad"s credit. Then I happened to think that my father had the bond locked up in his safe-deposit box and that I couldn"t get at it without telling him. I didn"t know what to do. I simply hadn"t the courage to go home and tell the truth. You wouldn"t like to face your father and tell him you"d lost a cool hundred of his cash for him.
Besides, I was sure it wasn"t lost. I felt morally certain I had somehow misplaced that envelope and that it would come to light. I hunted all day, though, through my pockets and everywhere I could think of and it didn"t appear. I began to get scared. What was I going to do?
When the bank statement came in my father would see right off that the money had not been deposited. And anyway, even if he didn"t, it was only square to tell him what I"d done. I was casting round for a way out when that noon Mel called me and asked me if I"d do an errand for him on the way home. He wanted me to stop at the bank as I pa.s.sed and put in some _March Hare_ money. It was a hundred dollars and it seemed to drop right out of the sky into my hands. I decided to deposit it to my father"s credit and trust to finding the sum I"d lost to square up the school accounts."
A light of understanding began to break in on Paul.
He waited.
"I guess you know what"s coming," Donald murmured.
"No, I don"t."
"Well, somebody does," declared the boy wretchedly. "That"s what"s got me fussed. I chance to know how the _March Hare_ books stood. Somebody"s made good that money I took--made it good without saying a word about it."
Donald, studying his friend"s face, saw a gleam of satisfaction pa.s.s over it.
"Kip!" he whispered, "was it you? Did you put the money back when you found it gone from the treasury?"
"Mel and I divided it. We found the accounts short and of course we had to do something. We thought we"d made a mistake in the books," explained Paul. "So we turned in the sum and evened things up."
"Without telling anybody?"
"Yes; what was the use of blabbing it all over town?"
"Gee!"
Donald fumbled in his pocket.
"Well, I"ve found the hundred, Kip. Here it is safe and sound. The envelope had slipped down through a hole in the lining of my pocket. The other day when I was hunting for my fountain pen, I discovered the rip.
You bet I was glad. I"d have made that money good somehow. I wasn"t going to take it. I hope you"ll believe I"m not such a cad as that. But what I ought to have done was to tell my father in the first place. It"s been an awful lesson to me. I"ve worried myself thin--I have, Kip. You needn"t laugh."
Nevertheless, Paul did laugh. He couldn"t help it when he looked at Donald"s conscience-smitten expression. Moreover he could now afford to laugh.
But Donald was not so easily consoled.
"I"m almighty sorry, Kip," he said. "The whole thing has been rotten.
Think of you and Mel Carter turning in your cash to make the bank accounts square. Where on earth did you each get your fifty?"
"Some of it was money I"d earned and put aside toward a typewriter; and the rest I got by cashing in my war stamps."
"Oh, I say!"
Regret and mortification overwhelmed the culprit.
"It"s no matter now, Don."
"But it is, old chap. I suppose that knocked you out of buying your typewriter. It"s a darn shame."
"I was pretty sore, Don--no mistake!" admitted Paul. "But it"s all right now. The accounts are O.K.; I shall get my money back; and I have a typewriter into the bargain. Mr. Carter has just given me a second-hand machine they weren"t using."
"Did he know about this muddle?"
"Not a yip! He did know, though, that I wanted the typewriter."
"Well, I"ll take back all I ever said about him," cried Donald. "He"s a trump! As for you, Kip--you deserve a hundred typewriters! It"s all-fired good of you not to rub this in. I know I"ve caused you a lot of trouble and I"m sorry. That"s all I can say."
"Shut up, Tortoise. It"s all right now," repeated Paul. "Only don"t go appropriating any more funds that don"t belong to you. We might jail you next time. Taking other people"s cash isn"t much of a stunt."
"You bet it isn"t!" cried Donald heartily. "When you do it you think it"s going to be easy as fiddle to slip it back again; but it doesn"t seem to turn out that way. Jove, but I"m glad I"m clear of this mess!"
"I guess we both will sleep better to-night than we have for one while,"
called Paul, moving toward the house. "So long, Don!"
"So long, Kipper. And don"t you go losing that money. It"s caused too much worry already."
"I"ll take care of it--don"t you fuss about that. There are no rips in my coat lining."
Thus they parted--the happiest pair of boys in all Burmingham.
CHAPTER XVIII
GRADUATION
Thus did Paul"s troubles dissolve in air and with the June winds blow far away. In the meantime graduation came and the essay he delivered was clicked off on Mr. Carter"s typewriter which, considering the fact that it was a second-hand one, was an amazingly fresh and unscarred machine.
Nor was this all. After the graduation exercises had come to a close, and the audience was pa.s.sing out of the building, Mr. Cameron and the publisher of the _Echo_ came face to face in the corridor. They had not met since the famous mayoral campaign when Carter, by means of wholesale bribery, had swept all before him. Hence the present encounter was an awkward one and many a citizen of Burmingham stopped to witness the drama. Had the two men been able to avoid the clash they would undoubtedly have done so; but the hallway was narrow and escape was impossible. Here they were wedged in the crowd, each of them having come hither to see his son take his diploma. It was a day of rejoicing and no time for grudges.
Melville was at his father"s elbow while at Mr. Cameron"s heels tagged Paul, hot, tired, but victorious.
The instant the group collided the magnate"s hand shot out and gripped that of the editor-in-chief of the _March Hare_.
"Well, youngster, I"m proud of you!" he exclaimed. "You did well. We shall be making a newspaper man of you yet."
Then, glancing up into the face of the lad"s father, he added with hesitating graciousness:
"I--I--congratulate you on your son, Cameron."
Mr. Cameron was not to be outdone.
"And I on yours, Mr. Carter. Melville is a fine boy. You must be glad that he has done so well."
"Oh, Melville"s not perfect," declared Mr. Carter, obviously pleased, "but he is all the boy we"ve got and we like him."
There was a pause.