n.

"He knew!" he repeated. "He knew! . . ." Then, with a sudden gasp
as the full significance of the thought came to him, he cried:
"Why, if--if the money wasn't ever lost you couldn't--you--"

Charles shook his head: "No, Jed," he said, "I couldn't have taken
it. And I didn't take it."

Jed gasped again. He stretched out a hand imploringly. "Oh,
Lord," he exclaimed, "I never meant to say that. I--I--"

"It's all right, Jed. I don't blame you for thinking I might have
taken it. Knowing what you did about--well, about my past record,
it is not very astonishing that you should think almost anything."

Jed's agonized contrition was acute.

"Don't talk so, Charlie!" he pleaded. "Don't! I--I'd ought to be
ashamed of myself. I am--mercy knows I am! But . . . Eh? Why,
how did you know I knew about--that?"

"Ruth told me just now. After Captain Hunniwell had gone, she told
me the whole thing. About how Babbie let the cat out of the bag
and how she told you for fear you might suspect something even
worse than the truth; although," he added, "that was quite bad
enough. Yes, she told me everything. You've been a brick all
through, Jed. And now--"

"Wait, Charlie, wait. I--I don't know what to say to you. I don't
know what you must think of me for ever--ever once suspectin' you.
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 I
kept 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 sc