Page:Boys of Columbia High on the Ice.djvu/194

178 "Hold to your promise, now. Besides, if he was so hasty as to believe circumstantial evidence, even when the boy denied it, perhaps he deserves to suffer a little more remorse before you lift the curtain. Not a word, now, Lanky!"

So Lanky, still hardly convinced that he was doing what was best, half turned his head away as Mr. Baxter approached, as though unwilling to face him.

"You see, boys, this pocketbook has been lost for several years. I never once dreamed that it could have slipped back of that drawer. Fifty times have I taken every scrap out of the thing, in the hopes of finding it somewhere. And to think it was lying there within a foot of my hand all the time; and I had been tempted to do the most foolish act of my whole life."

He sighed deeply and shook his head. Then he put the article away in his pocket, as though lacking the will just then to show it to his wife. He knew what bitter memories it would arouse.

"Is there anything needed done with this document, Mr. Baxter?" asked Frank.

"You mean in the way of signatures? No, all that has been duly attended to, and I was only waiting for your father to send for it as he promised. The excitement of moving drove it out of my head until last night. Just hand it to him,