TWO KEYS: OR Margaret Houghton's Heroism

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 175, 23 October 1886, Page 7 (Supplement)

TWO KEYS : OR Margaret Houghton's Heroism

B* MBS GEORGIE SHELDON, Author ot "Brownie's Triumph," ",Tbe For•Mken Bcldo." '* Audroy'a Rooompeww, 1 * *••

CHAPTER Y. THE ACCUSATION. -■Arthur "Aspinwall was also still a pupil ot Mr'AUen's school, and .this circumstance was the only really disagreeable feature of Louis's life at the present time. The judge's eon was more supercilious, it possible, than he had been the previous winter, and he took no pains to conceal the rfact that his dislike, even hatred, of Louis ' had increased rather than abated. One morning Louis hurried through his chores and started for school considerably earlier than usual. There were some difficult problems in arithmetic to be solved that morning, and he had not succeeded in getting them right. There was no one in the school-room when he reached it, and he bent himself to his task with a will that soon conquered all difficulties. Then, it being some time before the bell would ring, he fell into a fit of musing. Among other things his mind went .back to that day of little Margaret Houghton's party, and her kindness to him. He wondered if he should ever see her again, and if she would remember him. Almost unconsciously as he sat thus recalling that brightest experience of his life, he drew a black cord from his neck, and began toying with a small gold coin that was attached to it. So absorbed was he in his reflections that he did not hear the achool-room doer open, nor waß he conscious of the presence of anyone else until Arthur Aspinwall passed him with a stealthy step en his way to his own desk Their eyes met. and Louis coloured, and haptily concealed his precious coin, with a half guilty air. Arthur apirarently took no notice of either him or his act, but his eyes glittered with a strange light, and there wa3 a peculiar expression on his young face all the morning. That afternoon he came in late, and Mr Allen, who looked up as he entered, ob served that he appeared flurried, and that his face wore an anxious expression. He went directly to his desk— his master still watching him— bent down and looked within. An expression of relief immediately replaced that of anxiety as he drevr forth his watch and slipped it into his vest pocket. /Then all at onco be started and began to examine his chain attentively. The next moment he started straight for his teacher's desk with a very red face. "Mr Allen, was there anyone in the room during intermission to-day?" he asked, with some excitement in his manner. •'No one except Louis Dunbar. I have given^him pei mission to remain here, as he is obliged to stay at noon ; why i" •'I left my watch here to-day; the bar that fastens the chain in my button-hole broke this morning, and I slipped my watch into my desk, intending to take it to the jeweller and have it fixed this noon. But I foreot it, and now I find that come one has taken one of my charms, a gold dollar that my mother gave me one Christmas, four or five years ago. See ! ' He held up the chain as he spoke, and Mr Allen saw that somsthing had evidently been wrenched from a tiuy ring that was attached to it. He remembered having seen a gold com suspended there, and he looked very grave as he listened to the boy's complaint, while he studied his face intently. "It was a very careless thing to do, to leave your watch in the school-room ; you might have slipped chain and all into your pocket, and then it would have been safe," Mr Allen said, in reply. " Yes, sir, I know I might, but I thought something might happen to it while I was playing at recess, and that it would be «afer here. I am sorry about the dollar, though, k acauce mother gave it to me." "You are quite sure it wa3 attached to your chain when you took the watch off?" asked his teacher. " Yes, sir, everything was all right but the bar, that I have here," and he drew it forth and held it up to view. "Do you suspect anyone ? Do you think of anyone who would be likely to rob you of the coin ?" •' I do nob think I would like to say that I do, sir," responded Arthur, with apparent reluctance. ' • Very well, you may go to your seat, and 1 will make some inquiries regarding the matter," returned Mr Allen, but looking greatly troubled. Arthur obeyed, and the master immediately called the school to order, related what Arthur had told him, and asked if anyone had seen a coin like the one he described. No one answered, and every eye was bent upon the master in grave inquiry and perplexity. 11 1 hope," said Mr Allen, sorrowfully, that no one of my scholars would ba guilty of taking that which belonged to another ; but this coin is missing, and it is evident that it could not have become detached from ABpinwalPs chain without hands. Louis, was there anyone in the room with you during the nooning ?" inquired the gentleman, turning kindly to him. " No, sir." The master hesitated. He Had learned to repose the utmost confidence in the boy, for he had always found him straightforward and honest, and he could not bear to question him closely about the matter. But he knew that suspicion would naturally fasten upon him, because he was the only one who brought his dinner and remained in the school-room, and it was hie duty to eift the matter thoroughly. "Do you know anything about Aspinwall's loes ?" he asked, with an effort. " No, Bir ; I did not even know that his watch was in the room," was the prompt reply. " Were you here all the noon hour?" "All but a very few minutes, when I want across the street to the store, to get a pencil, and there was no one here when I came back," He looked so honest, and spoke so confidently, that not one in the room believed him to be guilty of the theft, unless it was Arthur Aspinwall himself. "How long were you gone, do you think ?" questioned Mr Allen. "Perhaps five minutes, a^r; not even tnore than that."

Some one might have entered the room and stolen the coin in that time, if it had been known that the watch* \vafc there, but it seemed unlikely. '"* However; 'Mr~~Allen TWas ""glad" to giveLouis the benefit of the doubt : it would have shocked him greatly to have had him proven the thief, ' ' , " I trust not one of you ha? been guilty of this act," ".he said, solemnly. " But if anyone has, in a moment of impure, been< led into wrong, I hope restitution will be made at once ; remember, a sin confessed is half atoned." A dead calm followed these serious words. Every face in the room was grave and troubled, but no one spoke, and the matter, was dropped for the time. Several days went by, and nothing more was said publicly on the eubject, though there was a good deal of talk and surmise among the scholars, and Arthur hinted more than once, in Louis's hearing, at the fact of there being a thief in their midst, and it would be well for everybody to look carefully after his property. Louiß paid no attention to these innuendoes, for he was conscious of his own innocence, and he would not allow himself to be troubled by anything that his enemy could cay. He still wore that Blender black cord, with its precious coin attached, about his neck ; but, strangely enough, never once thought of it in connection with Arthur Aspinwall's lose, ncr dreamed of the cunning plot that had been laid against him, and was so coon to bring him to shame. " I say, you, 1 ' said Arthur one day, at receßS, and in a confidential tone, to one of the worst boys in school, 41 1 wonder what, Dunbar vgJars around his neck, and is so very choice of ?" "Why, does he wear anything?" asked the boy, curiously. " Yes ; I've noticed a black cord about his neck lately." " Perhaps it's his mother's picture," suggested Arthur's unsuspicious companion. " Maybe it is. I'd give considerable to know, though," responded Aspinwall musingly. •'So would I, and I'll manage it before long," replied the other, with a resolute air. A day or two after this conversation, one stormy morning, a lot of the scholars were gathered round the stove during recess, and Jim Cotton— for that was the name of Arthur's confidant—managed to sidle up to Louis, who was taking that opportunity to look over his history lesson for the last time before going into the class. Mr Allen was standing near, explaining a difficult problem to a group of girls, and distinctly saw and heard all that followed. "Seems to me, Louis, you're 'mazing industrious to-day," remarked Jim, laying his hand familiarly on his shoulder, and speaking in a half-derisire tone. " 1 have to be, you know, in order to keep up with the class," Louis replied, without taking his eyes from his book. " Humph ! I don't think it pays to be moping over one's books all the time. What difference will it make in a hundred years whether you keep up with you** class or not?" returned Jim, while his keen eyfes seemed to be closely inspecting something in the region of Louis's collar. " I don't suppose it will make any difference to the world in a hundred years, but it would make a good deal to me now, if I did not,' Louie quietly responded "Yes, anybody can see that you are bound to go ahead. Hulloa !" cried Jim, a8 if he had made a sudden discovery ; " there's a great coarse black thread on the back of your neck — let me pick it off !" Before Louis was hardly aware of his intention, he had seized that slender bjack cord, and with a dextrous jerk, pulled trona its hiding-place in his bosom Margaret Houghton s treasured gift, and it hung glittering in his hands, and swinging back and forth before his astonished Bchoolmates. Jim's "Hulloa!" had been heard by nearly everyone, and the attention of every peieon in the room wae attracted by it to the two boys. Mr Allen had stopped his explanation to look, and now stood regarding Louis in epeechless astonishment and displeasure, while a death-like hueh instantly pervaded the room. " I thought it was a thread on the back of his neck, and tried to pull it off," Jim hastened to explain, but looking halffrightened over what he had done ; for he, jae did everyone else, believed that the thief who had stolen Arthur Aspinwall's coin was at last discovered. But Louis, flushing a vivid crimson with shame to have his schoolmates know how he had treasured that Bimple gift, seized it quickly from Jim and clasped it tightly in h ; s hand. " Louis •" at last said Mr Allen, in a voice of thunder, " what does this mean ?" " Sir ?" and the youth turned toward him with a frightened look at that tone. " How came you by that gold coin ?" " It was given to me, sir." tf Given to you ! — by whom ?" " A little girl, sir ;" and now Louis began to grow pale, as he saw toward what these questions were tending, and marked the expression of suspicion depicted upon the faces of those around him. " A little girl gave it to you ?" repeated Mr Allen, severely. " When ?" " A year ago last June, sir," " Have you worn it round your neck ever since that time ? "Yes, sir." But Louis hung his head at this confession, and coloured crimson again. Mr Allen and his pupils thought it was from conscious guilt " I hope you are telling me the truth, Louis Dunbar," said the master, sternly, bat his inflection implied a grave doubt. " I am, sir," promptly returned the boy, and now his bright dark eyes were lifted and met his teacher's steadily and frankly, though the colour still remained in hit cheeks. Arthur Aspinwall now stepped forward, shooting a look of malice at Louis as he did so. "Mr Allen, I believe that dollar, it mine," he said, confidently. " Wait a moment, Arthur ; I have a few more questions to aek. Louis, you may bring me that coin." The boy opened his hand and looked wistfully upon his treasure ; it was the only keepaake that he had ever possessed, and he could not bear to part with it. But he hesitated only an instant. The next he stepped forward and laid it upon Mr Allens extended palm, though his lip quivered as he parted with it. The man regarded him fixedly. The boy 'f manner did not betray a Bign of guilt, yel the evidence seemed strong against him. " What was the name of the little girl who gave you this ?" he asked. " I do not know what her last name was, sir ; but I heard a servant call her ' Mist Margaret.' " " Where does she live ?" " She lived then on the road from Bostor to Brookline." " How did she happen to give It to you ?' In a simple, straightforward way, Louu related how he had strayed from the eitj on that hot summer's day; how he hae been attracted by the sounds of mirth com ing from a gentleman's grounds, and how the pretty child had greeted him, present ing him with the dollar, and then taken him up to the house and treated him to some o

her birthday feast. Mr Allen watched him critically during the/recital, and .was convinced of its truth. , When Louis finished hia story/the teacher • stood-thqughtf ully considering the .matter for several minutes. '•'"til think, I wilUtake, charge- t of * this, piece of m'dney for the present," he eaid,!at« last "I've had it so long, and— l told her, that 1 would always keep it;" Louis pleaded^ in a husky voice, and his tone was so* earnest, his' eyes so wistful, that the man half relented. • ■

But there was a doubt aboujb the matter ; justice must be? done at any cost, and he said, firmly, though not unkindly : "If it can be proved that it rightly be- , longs to you, Louis, you shall have it again ; j but until this , matter of Arthur's loss and your asserted ownership is eettled, I shall keep it." ' ' ' Louis said no more, but turned sadly away and went to his seat. He was grave and troubled during the remainder of the day, and when at length school was dismissed he hastened home without exchanging a word with anyone. He saw that he was regarded 1 with suspicion by the scholars if not by his teaqber.and was deeply hurt and' mortified. Nothing more was said openly about the matter for several days, though the children gathered in knots at recess, and before and after school, and discussed the case quite spiritedly among themselves. Saturday afternoon, while Louis was in the corn- barn shelling the golden ears of grain to send to the mill, the door was suddenly opened, and Mr Alfai appeared in the aperture. ' "Come, Louis," he said in his brisk, hearty way, "Fam going into Boston, and I have Mr Brown's permission to take you with me." The boy's face lighted, then fell. He could not forget that he was still resting under a ban. "You are very good, sir," he began, •«but " "We won't stop for ' buts ' jußt now, I am in a hurry. Run in and get ready as quickly as you can. 1 am going to drive in," Mr Allen interrupted. The boy left his work and proceeded to obey, but his eyes were averted, and hie stop Was not the quick, elastic step of a lad anticipating a rare pleasure. They drove along for a couole of miles, Mr Allen chatting upon indifferent topics, but, coming to a place where two roads crossed each other, instead of keeping straight on he turned to the right. " This is not the way to Boston, sir," Louis obaerved. '•lam aware, of that fact, my boy ; but I am going to drive through Brookiine," returned his teachar, smiling. Louis flushed scarlet. " I cannot reet," Mr Allen continued, "until you are exonerated^ before the whole school ; so I resolved that I would spend this afternoon in trying to solve the my a- i tery of that contested coin. lam going to find your little Miss Margaret, if I can, and with her word to prove the truth of your story j you will stand acquitted of all j wrong before the school." " You are very good, sir," was all Louis could say, and Mr Allen saw that his lips were quivering with emotion, and hia eyes wore full of tears. " Should you know the place if we pass it?" he asked. •• Oh, yes, sir. I shall never forget it, nor the great iron gate where she tossed the dol'ar through at me." Hia face was all animation now He was convinced that his teacher believed in him, and that took a heavy load from his heart. But he could understand that it was necessary to have some tangible proof in order to satisfy the doubts of others, and surely it was very kind in the master to take all this trouble for him. After that, the drive was very pleasant, and finally they turned again into a road leading directly from Brookline to Boston, and after rolling along at a swift pace for about fifteen minutes, Louis said, pointing to a stately mansion, which reared itself proudly behind its now leafless trees and shrubbery : " That is the place, sir." But a disappointment awaited them here, for the house was closed, and no amount of knocking or ringing brought anyone to the door to answer their summons. " They must have gone into the city, or perhaps south, for the winter," Mr Allen observed, looking deeply disappointed, as they re-entered the carriage and drove away. " Louis looked earnestly up into his face, his great eyes as honest and frank as it is possible for a pair of eyes to be. "Mr Allen, that little dollar is mine, and I never stole anything from anybody in my life," he said, with a quiet dignity that was of itself quite convincing. "I believe you, my boy, and I believe, too, that it will yet be satisfactorily proved to everybody. We must be patient a little longer— the family will doubtlesß return by | spring, then we will come here again to interview little Miss Margaret," Mr Allen returned kindly and reassuringly, mentally resolving never to give up the matter until he had set the boy right in the eight of his schoolmates. But the matter was settled long before the Houghtons returned to their country home, and in a way that brought justice to all parties. ( To be Continued.