If it hadn't been so--
so sort of pitiful, and if I hadn't been so puzzled to know what
made him do it, I cal'late I'd have laughed myself sick to see poor
old Jed tryin' to lie. Why, he ain't got the first notion of how
to begin; I don't cal'late he ever told a real, up-and-down lie
afore in his life. That was funny enough--but when he began to
tell me he was a thief! Gracious king! And all he could think of
in the way of an excuse was that he stole the four hundred to buy a
suit of clothes with. Ho, ho, ho!"
He roared again. Charlie Phillips laughed also. But his sister
did not laugh. She had seated herself in the rocker by the window
when the captain began his tale and now she had drawn back into the
corner where the shadows were deepest.
"So there you are," said Captain Sam, again. "There's the riddle.
Now what's the answer? Why did he do it? Can either of you guess?"
Phillips shook his head. "You have got me," he declared. "And the
money he gave you was not the money you lost? You're sure of that?"
"Course I'm sure of it. In the first place I lost a packet of
clean tens and twenties; this stuff I've got in my pocket now is
all sorts, ones and twos and fives and everything. And in the
second place--"
"Pardon me, just a minute, Captain Hunniwell. Where did he get the
four hundred to give you, do you think? He hasn't cashed any large
checks at the bank within the last day or two, and he would
scarcely have so much on hand in his shop.
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