Sube Cane Part 48

"What! Home so soon!" exclaimed Sube's mother as he came into her presence. Then noting that he was hatless and coatless she became apprehensive. "Why, what has happened?" she asked. "What is the matter?"

Sube swallowed hard. Not without an effort, and a colossal one, could he speak the truth. But at last he managed to get out, "I came home."

"So it would appear," contributed his father, while at the same time his mother was asking apprehensively:

"But _why_? Tell me what has happened!"

Sube continued the desperate swallowing movements, but no sound came.

Then Mrs. Cane adopted the inductive method, and asked, "Is the party over already?"

Sube shook his head.

"Something terrible has happened!" she cried. "Did the tree catch on fire?"

Then Mr. Cane took a hand in the proceedings.

"Stop that sniveling, and speak up!" he ordered. "What--has--happened?"

Sube drew a deep breath, and said in a husky voice, "I ran away from it."

"Ran away from a party!" cried his father. "_You!_--What in thunder did you do that for? What had you been doing that you wanted to run away from?"

"I stole the Chris'mus tree--!"

"Stole the Christmas tree!" cried Mr. Cane. "What are you talking about?"

"Yessir; that's what I did--"

"Well, that's a new one on me!" thundered Mr. Cane. "I've heard of stealing a red-hot stove, but as for an illuminated Christmas tree with all the presents on it-- That--gets--me!"

"There wasn't any candles or presents on it when I took it," Sube explained weakly.

Mr. Cane stood up. Here was a subject that required very careful investigation, and he was always at his best when on his feet.

"Sit down there." He pointed to a chair directly in front of his wife.

"Now, let's get to the bottom of this thing. When did you pull off this--robbery?"

"Yesterday."

Mr. Cane thought he had the witness trapped. "Yesterday, eh?" he demanded. "Why, only last night you were over there decorating this selfsame tree! When did they take the decorations off from it?"

"Didn't take 'em off! I s--s--swiped it before there was any decorations put on it."

The prosecutor was baffled. "How on earth could you decorate a tree when you had stolen it, and there wasn't any tree there to decorate?" he asked irritably.

"You don't understand," Sube explained desperately. "I s--swiped the tree _for_ Nancy. The one that--that somebody else got for her wasn't any good, and she asked me to get her a decent one; and I hunted all over the woods and there wasn't a single one left that was any good, and on the way home I saw this one, and--I didn't think any one would care, so--I took it."

"Well? Where did you take it from?" pursued his relentless father.

Sube's voice died almost to a whisper as he replied, "From the cemetery."

"What's that!" cried the amazed Mr. Cane. "The cemetery?"

Sube nodded guiltily.

"Good heavens, boy!" exclaimed his father. "Don't you know that it's a crime to desecrate a cemetery lot?"

But before Sube could answer, his mother interceded.

"There; that'll do, Father! You seem to have lost sight of one thing."

Mr. Cane turned expectantly towards his wife.

"The boy has told the truth!" she declared, a little tremulously.

"Well, that's so-- So he has--that's commendable. That's the only redeeming feature of this lamentable affair--"

"Never mind, Father; we can talk about that later. I want Sube to understand how much we appreciate the fact that he has come to us and told us the truth. Of course it was wrong for you to take the tree, Sube, but since you have been so truthful about it, we shall help you to make amends. Your father and I will do all in our power to set matters right. I promise that for both of us."

"You don't have to make any promises for me," Mr. Cane hastened to say.

"n.o.body has any greater regard for the truth than I have. I deplore this act of vandalism more than I can say; but since you have told the truth, I give you my word that I will help you clear the thing up. Now let's have the rest of it."

All Sube's doubts had fled. He felt that he was now protected by the panoply of truth, and he came out with the whole story with brutal directness.

"When I took the tree to Guilfords' they was all tickled with it. They thought it was a 'beaut'! But the minute _she_ saw it, she spotted it.

And she went up there to the cemetery this afternoon, and when she saw one of her trees was gone, she came back there to the house and took on awful--!"

"Just a minute," his father interrupted. "Who is this 'she' you keep referring to?"

"Why, Nancy's aunt! M's Hotchkiss-Harger!"

"But what had _she_ to do with the case?" his father persisted.

"Why, I cut the tree on her cemetery lot!"

Speechless with horror, Mr. and Mrs. Cane stared helplessly at each other, while Sube, with a feeling of unaccustomed security, laid bare the entire situation.

"Yes," he rattled on, "she spotted it right off. And when she asked me where I got it, I told her _you_ cut it for me." He indicated his father by a movement of the head.

"You told her _I_ cut it for you!" shrieked the stricken parent.

"G-o-o-d Heavens!!"

It was with difficulty that Mr. Cane kept from laying violent hands on his son as he paced up and down the room excitedly exclaiming:

"What next!--What next!"