第96章

If you hadn't said to me only such a little spell ago that you needed money so bad and would do most anything to get five hundred dollars--if you hadn't said that, I don't think the notion would ever have crossed my mind."Phillips whistled."Well, by George!" he exclaimed."I had forgotten that.No wonder you thought I had gone crooked again.

Humph!...Well, I'll tell you why I wanted that money.You see, I've been trying to pay back to the man in Middleford the money of his which--which I took before.It is two thousand dollars and," with a shrug, "that looks a good deal bigger sum to me now than it used to, you can bet on that.I had a few hundred in a New York savings bank before I--well, before they shut me up.

No one knew about it, not even Sis.I didn't tell her because--well, I wish I could say it was because I was intending to use it to pay back what I had taken, but that wasn't the real reason why Ikept still about it.To tell you the truth, Jed, I didn't feel--no, I don't feel yet any too forgiving or kindly toward that chap who had me put in prison.I'm not shirking blame; I was a fool and a scamp and all that; but he is--he's a hard man, Jed."Jed nodded."Seems to me Ru--your sister said he was a consider'ble of a professer," he observed.

"Professor? Why no, he was a bond broker.""I mean that he professed religion a good deal.Called himself a Christian and such kind of names."Phillips smiled bitterly."If he is a Christian I prefer to be a heathen," he observed.

"Um-hm.Well, maybe he ain't one.You could teach a parrot to holler 'Praise the Lord,' I cal'late, and the more crackers he got by it the louder he'd holler.So you never said anything about the four hundred you had put by, Charlie.""No.I felt that I had been treated badly and--why, Jed, the man used to urge me to dress better than I could afford, to belong to the most expensive club and all that sort of thing.He knew I was in with a set sporting ten times the money I could muster, and spending it, too, but he seemed to like to have me associate with them.Said it was good for the business.""Sartin! More crackers for Polly.Go on.""I intended that he should never have that money, but after I came here, after I had been here for a time, I changed my mind.I saw things in a different light.I wrote him a letter, told him Imeant to pay back every cent of the two thousand I had taken and enclosed my check for the seven hundred and fifty I had put by.

Since then I have paid him two hundred and fifty more, goodness knows how.I have squeezed every penny from my salary that I could spare.I have paid him half of the two thousand and, if everything had gone on well, some day or other I would have paid the other half."Jed laid a hand on his companion's knee."Good boy, Charlie," he said."And how did the--er--professin' poll parrot act about your payin' it back?"Charles smiled faintly."Just before I talked with you that day, Jed," he said, "I received a letter from him stating that he did not feel I was paying as rapidly as I could and that, if he did not receive another five hundred shortly he should feel it his duty to communicate with my present employers.Do you wonder I said Iwould do almost anything to get the money?"Jed's hand patted the knee sympathetically.

"Sho, sho, sho!" he exclaimed."Have you heard from him since?""No, I wrote him that I was paying as fast as I could and that if he communicated with my employers that would end any chances of his ever getting more.He hasn't written since; afraid of stopping the golden egg supply, I presume....But there," he added, "that's enough of that.Jed, how could you do it--just for me? Of course I had come to realize that your heart was as big as a bushel basket, and that you and I were friends.But when a fellow gives up four hundred dollars of his own money, and, not only does that, but deliberately confesses himself a thief--when he does that to save some one else who, as he knew, had really been a thief and who he was pretty sure must have stolen again--why, Jed, it is unbelievable.Why did you do it? What can I say to you?"Jed held up a protesting hand.