CHAPTER XIV. DAMON AND PYTHIAS
Mrs. Bhaer was right; peace was only a temporary lull, a storm wasbrewing, and two days after Bess left, a moral earthquake shookPlumfield to its centre.
Tommy's hens were at the bottom of the trouble, for if they had notpersisted in laying so many eggs, he could not have sold them and madesuch sums. Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a usefulroot that we cannot get on without it any more than we can withoutpotatoes. Tommy certainly could not, for he spent his income sorecklessly, that Mr. Bhaer was obliged to insist on a savings-bank, andpresented him with a private one an imposing tin edifice, with the nameover the door, and a tall chimney, down which the pennies were togo, there to rattle temptingly till leave was given to open a sort oftrap-door in the floor.
The house increased in weight so rapidly, that Tommy soon becamesatisfied with his investment, and planned to buy unheard-of treasureswith his capital. He kept account of the sums deposited, and waspromised that he might break the bank as soon as he had five dollars,on condition that he spent the money wisely. Only one dollar was needed,and the day Mrs. Jo paid him for four dozen eggs, he was so delighted,that he raced off to the barn to display the bright quarters to Nat, whowas also laying by money for the long-desired violin.
"I wish I had 'em to put with my three dollars, then I'd soon get enoughto buy my fiddle," he said, looking wistfully at the money.
"P'raps I'll lend you some. I haven't decided yet what I'll do withmine," said Tommy, tossing up his quarters and catching them as theyfell.
"Hi! boys! come down to the brook and see what a jolly great snake Dan'sgot!" called a voice from behind the barn.
"Come on," said Tommy; and, laying his money inside the old winnowingmachine, away he ran, followed by Nat.
The snake was very interesting, and then a long chase after a lamecrow, and its capture, so absorbed Tommy's mind and time, that he neverthought of his money till he was safely in bed that night.
"Never mind, no one but Nat knows where it is," said the easy-going lad,and fell asleep untroubled by any anxiety about his property.
Next morning, just as the boys assembled for school, Tommy rushed intothe room breathlessly, demanding,
"I say, who has got my dollar?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Franz.
Tommy explained, and Nat corroborated his statement.
Every one else declared they knew nothing about it, and began to looksuspiciously at Nat, who got more and more alarmed and confused witheach denial.
"Somebody must have taken it," said Franz, as Tommy shook his fist atthe whole party, and wrathfully declared that,
"By thunder turtles! if I get hold of the thief, I'll give him what hewon't forget in a hurry."
"Keep cool, Tom; we shall find him out; thieves always come to grief,"said Dan, as one who knew something of the matter.
"May be some tramp slept in the barn and took it," suggested Ned.
"No, Silas don't allow that; besides, a tramp wouldn't go looking inthat old machine for money," said Emil, with scorn.
"Wasn't it Silas himself?" said Jack.
"Well, I like that! Old Si is as honest as daylight. You wouldn't catchhim touching a penny of ours," said Tommy, handsomely defending hischief admirer from suspicion.
"Whoever it was had better tell, and not wait to be found out," saidDemi, looking as if an awful misfortune had befallen the family.
"I know you think it's me," broke out Nat, red and excited.
"You are the only one who knew where it was," said Franz.
"I can't help it I didn't take it. I tell you I didn't I didn't!" criedNat, in a desperate sort of way.
"Gently, gently, my son! What is all this noise about?" and Mr. Bhaerwalked in among them.
Tommy repeated the story of his loss, and, as he listened, Mr. Bhaer'sface grew graver and graver; for, with all their faults and follies, thelads till now had been honest.
"Take your seats," he said; and, when all were in their places, he addedslowly, as his eye went from face to face with a grieved look, that washarder to bear than a storm of words,
"Now, boys, I shall ask each one of you a single question, and I want anhonest answer. I am not going to try to frighten, bribe, or surprise thetruth out of you, for every one of you have got a conscience, and knowwhat it is for. Now is the time to undo the wrong done to Tommy, andset yourselves right before us all. I can forgive the yielding to suddentemptation much easier than I can deceit. Don't add a lie to the theft,but confess frankly, and we will all try to help you make us forget andforgive."
He paused a moment, and one might have heard a pin drop, the room wasso still; then slowly and impressively he put the question to each one,receiving the same answer in varying tones from all. Every face wasflushed and excited, so that Mr. Bhaer could not take color as awitness, and some of the little boys were so frightened that theystammered over the two short words as if guilty, though it was evidentthat they could not be. When he came to Nat, his voice softened, for thepoor lad looked so wretched, Mr. Bhaer felt for him. He believed him tobe the culprit, and hoped to save the boy from another lie, by winninghim to tell the truth without fear.
"Now, my son, give me an honest answer. Did you take the money?"
"No, sir!" and Nat looked up at him imploringly.
As the words fell from his trembling lips, somebody hissed.
"Stop that!" cried Mr. Bhaer, with a sharp rap on his desk, as he lookedsternly toward the corner whence the sound came.
Ned, Jack, and Emil sat there, and the first two looked ashamed ofthemselves, but Emil called out,
"It wasn't me, uncle! I'd be ashamed to hit a fellow when he is down."
"Good for you!" cried Tommy, who was in a sad state of affliction at thetrouble his unlucky dollar had made.
"Silence!" commanded Mr. Bhaer; and when it came, he said soberly,
"I am very sorry, Nat, but evidences are against you, and your old faultmakes us more ready to doubt you than we should be if we could trust youas we do some of the boys, who never fib. But mind, my child, I do notcharge you with this theft; I shall not punish you for it till I amperfectly sure, nor ask any thing more about it. I shall leave it foryou to settle with your own conscience. If you are guilty, come to me atany hour of the day or night and confess it, and I will forgive andhelp you to amend. If you are innocent, the truth will appear sooner orlater, and the instant it does, I will be the first to beg your pardonfor doubting you, and will so gladly do my best to clear your characterbefore us all."
"I didn't! I didn't!" sobbed Nat, with his head down upon his arms, forhe could not bear the look of distrust and dislike which he read in themany eyes fixed on him.
"I hope not." Mr. Bhaer paused a minute, as if to give the culprit,whoever he might be, one more chance. Nobody spoke, however, and onlysniffs of sympathy from some of the little fellows broke the silence.Mr. Bhaer shook his head, and added, regretfully,
"There is nothing more to be done, then, and I have but one thing tosay: I shall not speak of this again, and I wish you all to follow myexample. I cannot expect you to feel as kindly toward any one whom yoususpect as before this happened, but I do expect and desire that youwill not torment the suspected person in any way, he will have a hardenough time without that. Now go to your lessons."
"Father Bhaer let Nat off too easy," muttered Ned to Emil, as they gotout their books.
"Hold your tongue," growled Emil, who felt that this event was a blotupon the family honor.
Many of the boys agreed with Ned, but Mr. Bhaer was right, nevertheless;and Nat would have been wiser to confess on the spot and have thetrouble over, for even the hardest whipping he ever received from hisfather was far easier to bear than the cold looks, the avoidance, andgeneral suspicion that met him on all sides. If ever a boy was sent toCoventry and kept there, it was poor Nat; and he suffered a week of slowtorture, though not a hand was raised against him, and hardly a wordsaid.
That was the
worst of it; if they would only have talked it out, oreven have thrashed him all round, he could have stood it better thanthe silent distrust that made very face so terrible to meet. Even Mrs.Bhaer's showed traces of it, though her manner was nearly as kind asever; but the sorrowful anxious look in Father Bhaer's eyes cut Natto the heart, for he loved his teacher dearly, and knew that he haddisappointed all his hopes by this double sin.
Only one person in the house entirely believed in him, and stood up forhim stoutly against all the rest. This was Daisy. She could not explainwhy she trusted him against all appearances, she only felt that shecould not doubt him, and her warm sympathy made her strong to take hispart. She would not hear a word against him from any one, and actuallyslapped her beloved Demi when he tried to convince her that it must havebeen Nat, because no one else knew where the money was.
"Maybe the hens ate it; they are greedy old things," she said; and whenDemi laughed, she lost her temper, slapped the amazed boy, and thenburst out crying and ran away, still declaring, "He didn't! he didn't!he didn't!"
Neither aunt nor uncle tried to shake the child's faith in her friend,but only hoped her innocent instinct might prove sure, and loved her allthe better for it. Nat often said, after it was over, that he couldn'thave stood it, if it had not been for Daisy. When the others shunnedhim, she clung to him closer than ever, and turned her back on the rest.She did not sit on the stairs now when he solaced himself with the oldfiddle, but went in and sat beside him, listening with a face so full ofconfidence and affection, that Nat forgot disgrace for a time, andwas happy. She asked him to help her with her lessons, she cooked himmarvelous messes in her kitchen, which he ate manfully, no matter whatthey were, for gratitude gave a sweet flavor to the most distasteful.She proposed impossible games of cricket and ball, when she found thathe shrank from joining the other boys. She put little nosegays from hergarden on his desk, and tried in every way to show that she was not afair-weather friend, but faithful through evil as well as good repute.Nan soon followed her example, in kindness at least; curbed her sharptongue, and kept her scornful little nose from any demonstration ofdoubt or dislike, which was good of Madame Giddy-gaddy, for she firmlybelieved that Nat took the money.
Most of the boys let him severely alone, but Dan, though he said hedespised him for being a coward, watched over him with a grim sort ofprotection, and promptly cuffed any lad who dared to molest his mate ormake him afraid. His idea of friendship was as high as Daisy's, and, inhis own rough way, he lived up to it as loyally.
Sitting by the brook one afternoon, absorbed in the study of thedomestic habits of water-spiders, he overheard a bit of conversation onthe other side of the wall. Ned, who was intensely inquisitive, had beenon tenterhooks to know certainly who was the culprit; for of late oneor two of the boys had begun to think that they were wrong, Nat was sosteadfast in his denials, and so meek in his endurance of their neglect.This doubt had teased Ned past bearing, and he had several timesprivately beset Nat with questions, regardless of Mr. Bhaer's expresscommand. Finding Nat reading alone on the shady side of the wall, Nedcould not resist stopping for a nibble at the forbidden subject. He hadworried Nat for some ten minutes before Dan arrived, and the first wordsthe spider-student heard were these, in Nat's patient, pleading voice,
"Don't, Ned! oh, don't! I can't tell you because I don't know, and it'smean of you to keep nagging at me on the sly, when Father Bhaer told younot to plague me. You wouldn't dare to if Dan was round."
"I ain't afraid of Dan; he's nothing but an old bully. Don't believe butwhat he took Tom's money, and you know it, and won't tell. Come, now!"
"He didn't, but, if he did, I would stand up for him, he has always beenso good to me," said Nat, so earnestly that Dan forgot his spiders, androse quickly to thank him, but Ned's next words arrested him.
"I know Dan did it, and gave the money to you. Shouldn't wonder if hegot his living picking pockets before he came here, for nobody knowsany thing about him but you," said Ned, not believing his own words, buthoping to get the truth out of Nat by making him angry.
He succeeded in a part of his ungenerous wish, for Nat cried out,fiercely,
"If you say that again I'll go and tell Mr. Bhaer all about it. I don'twant to tell tales, but, by George! I will, if you don't let Dan alone."
"Then you'll be a sneak, as well as a liar and a thief," began Ned, witha jeer, for Nat had borne insult to himself so meekly, the other did notbelieve he would dare to face the master just to stand up for Dan.
What he might have added I cannot tell, for the words were hardly outof his mouth when a long arm from behind took him by the collar, and,jerking him over the wall in a most promiscuous way, landed him with asplash in the middle of the brook.
"Say that again and I'll duck you till you can't see!" cried Dan,looking like a modern Colossus of Rhodes as he stood, with a foot oneither side of the narrow stream, glaring down at the discomfited youthin the water.
"I was only in fun," said Ned.
"You are a sneak yourself to badger Nat round the corner. Let me catchyou at it again, and I'll souse you in the river next time. Get up, andclear out!" thundered Dan, in a rage.
Ned fled, dripping, and his impromptu sitz-bath evidently did him good,for he was very respectful to both the boys after that, and seemed tohave left his curiosity in the brook. As he vanished Dan jumped over thewall, and found Nat lying, as if quite worn out and bowed down with histroubles.
"He won't pester you again, I guess. If he does, just tell me, and I'llsee to him," said Dan, trying to cool down.
"I don't mind what he says about me so much, I've got used to it,"answered Nat sadly; "but I hate to have him pitch into you."
"How do you know he isn't right?" asked Dan, turning his face away.
"What, about the money?" cried Nat, looking up with a startled air.
"Yes."
"But I don't believe it! You don't care for money; all you want is yourold bugs and things," and Nat laughed, incredulously.
"I want a butterfly net as much as you want a fiddle; why shouldn't Isteal the money for it as much as you?" said Dan, still turning away,and busily punching holes in the turf with his stick.
"I don't think you would. You like to fight and knock folks roundsometimes, but you don't lie, and I don't believe you'd steal," and Natshook his head decidedly.
"I've done both. I used to fib like fury; it's too much trouble now; andI stole things to eat out of gardens when I ran away from Page, so yousee I am a bad lot," said Dan, speaking in the rough, reckless way whichhe had been learning to drop lately.
"O Dan! don't say it's you! I'd rather have it any of the other boys,"cried Nat, in such a distressed tone that Dan looked pleased, and showedthat he did, by turning round with a queer expression in his face,though he only answered,
"I won't say any thing about it. But don't you fret, and we'll pullthrough somehow, see if we don't."
Something in his face and manner gave Nat a new idea; and he said,pressing his hands together, in the eagerness of his appeal,
"I think you know who did it. If you do, beg him to tell, Dan. It's sohard to have 'em all hate me for nothing. I don't think I can bear itmuch longer. If I had any place to go to, I'd run away, though I lovePlumfield dearly; but I'm not brave and big like you, so I must stay andwait till some one shows them that I haven't lied."
As he spoke, Nat looked so broken and despairing, that Dan could notbear it, and, muttered huskily,
"You won't wait long," and he walked rapidly away, and was seen no morefor hours.
"What is the matter with Dan?" asked the boys of one another severaltimes during the Sunday that followed a week which seemed as if it wouldnever end. Dan was often moody, but that day he was so sober and silentthat no one could get any thing out of him. When they walked he strayedaway from the rest, and came home late. He took no part in the eveningconversation, but sat in the shadow, so busy with his own thoughts thathe scarcely seemed to hear what was going on. When Mrs. Jo showe
d him anunusually good report in the Conscience Book, he looked at it without asmile, and said, wistfully,
"You think I am getting on, don't you?"
"Excellently, Dan! and I am so pleased, because I always thought youonly needed a little help to make you a boy to be proud of."
He looked up at her with a strange expression in his black eyes anexpression of mingled pride and love and sorrow which she could notunderstand then but remembered afterward.
"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, but I do try," he said, shutting thebook with no sign of pleasure in the page that he usually liked so muchto read over and talk about.
"Are you sick, dear?" asked Mrs. Jo, with her hand on his shoulder.
"My foot aches a little; I guess I'll go to bed. Good-night, mother,"he added, and held the hand against his cheek a minute, then went awaylooking as if he had said good-bye to something dear.
"Poor Dan! he takes Nat's disgrace to heart sadly. He is a strange boy;I wonder if I ever shall understand him thoroughly?" said Mrs. Joto herself, as she thought over Dan's late improvement with realsatisfaction, yet felt that there was more in the lad than she had atfirst suspected.
One of things which cut Nat most deeply was an act of Tommy's, for afterhis loss Tommy had said to him, kindly, but firmly,
"I don't wish to hurt you, Nat, but you see I can't afford to lose mymoney, so I guess we won't be partners any longer;" and with that Tommyrubbed out the sign, "T. Bangs & Co."
Nat had been very proud of the "Co.," and had hunted eggs industriously,kept his accounts all straight, and had added a good sum to his incomefrom the sale of his share of stock in trade.
"O Tom! must you?" he said, feeling that his good name was gone for everin the business world if this was done.
"I must," returned Tommy, firmly. "Emil says that when one man 'bezzles(believe that's the word it means to take money and cut away with it)the property of a firm, the other one sues him, or pitches into himsomehow, and won't have any thing more to do with him. Now you have'bezzled my property; I shan't sue you, and I shan't pitch into you, butI must dissolve the partnership, because I can't trust you, and I don'twish to fail."
"I can't make you believe me, and you won't take my money, though I'd bethankful to give all my dollars if you'd only say you don't think I tookyour money. Do let me hunt for you, I won't ask any wages, but do it fornothing. I know all the places, and I like it," pleaded Nat.
But Tommy shook his head, and his jolly round face looked suspicious andhard as he said, shortly, "Can't do it; wish you didn't know the places.Mind you don't go hunting on the sly, and speculate in my eggs."