Little Bobtail Part 21

"Think! I don't want to think. I never saw a five hundred dollar bill before in my life," answered Bobtail, with no little indignation in his tones.

"I am sorry to see you persist so stoutly in a lie," said the squire, shaking his head, as he glanced at Mrs. Taylor.

"It isn't a lie; it's the truth, and I'll stick to it as long as I have breath in my body," replied Bobtail, warmly.

"You are not under oath now, Robert Taylor."

"I'll say just the same under oath, and before all the lawyers and judges in the State of Maine."

"Mr. Slipwing, do you know this bill?" added the squire, addressing the ill-visaged man.

"I do. I will swear in any court that this is the bill I sent you in the letter from Portland," replied the man.

"You are very sure?"

"Positively so. I remember the bank, and there are three things on the bill which enable me to identify it. The cas.h.i.+er's pen snapped when he wrote his name on the left, and blotted the bill. The corner was torn off, and it was mended in another place with a piece of paper from the edge of a sheet of six-cent postage stamps."

The ill-visaged man spoke confidently, and whatever his character, his testimony was very clear.

"What has all this to do with me?" asked Bobtail, who did not yet understand the situation.

The lawyer smiled, and perhaps he thought that the boy was playing his part extremely well for a novice.

"My testimony will come in next," added Squire Gilfilian. "This afternoon, Mrs. Taylor, who is the mother of this boy, paid me five hundred dollars, for I had foreclosed the mortgage on her husband's house. Now, Mrs. Taylor, where did you get the bill?"

"Robert didn't give it to me," she replied; and she seemed to be very much troubled and very much embarra.s.sed; so much so, that her looks and actions were the worst possible evidence against her.

"So you say, Mrs. Taylor; but you don't answer my question."

"I can't tell you now where I got it," stammered the poor woman.

Ezekiel Taylor and Little Bobtail were more astonished at this answer than any other person in the room. Both of them wondered where she had obtained so much money, while the others in the office believed that her answer was merely a subterfuge to conceal the guilt of her son. Ezekiel could not help thinking, just then, that his wife always had money; that, while she had no visible means of obtaining it, she always had enough to feed and clothe the family. He had considered this subject, and wondered over it before; and the only solution of the mystery he could suggest was, that her first husband had left her more money than she ever acknowledged he did, and she had concealed it to prevent him from spending it. As to her son, he had never thought of the matter at all. All that confused and confounded him was, his mother's refusal to answer what seemed to him a very simple question.

"Mrs. Taylor, you will be a witness, and the most important one in the case, when it comes up before Squire Norwood to-morrow," added the lawyer.

"I suppose I shall," replied Mrs. Taylor, with a gasp.

"You will be put under oath, and compelled to testify."

"But you are not under oath now, and you need not say anything, if you don't wish to," said Mr. Brooks.

"As the matter looks now, you are a party to the theft, and I can cause your arrest," added the squire, vexed at the officiousness of the deputy sheriff.

"O, dear me!" groaned Mrs. Taylor.

"Don't be frightened, mother," interposed Bobtail. "You know, and I know, that you did not obtain the money from me."

"And the Lord knows I did not, and that I came honestly by it, too,"

sobbed the poor woman, who had a mortal terror of courts and the law.

"If you came honestly by the money, why don't you tell where you obtained it?" added Squire Gilfilian.

"I have my reasons."

"If your son did not give you this bill--"

"He did not! I'm sure he never saw it before," protested Mrs. Taylor.

"Whoever gave you this bill must have stolen it," said the squire, sternly.

"That don't follow," replied Mr. Brooks. "It may have pa.s.sed through the hands of half a dozen persons after it was taken from the letter."

"Are you the counsel for these parties, Mr. Brooks?" demanded the squire, smartly.

"I am not; but the prisoner is in my keeping, and shall have fair play.

I'll take him away if you are not satisfied, for I brought him here to oblige you," answered the deputy sheriff, who was certainly very considerate towards his charge.

"All I want is, to get at the truth," added the squire, in a milder tone. "If Mrs. Taylor did not receive this bill from her son, and will tell us where she got it, we can trace out the thief."

"That's the point," said Captain c.h.i.n.ks. "We want to find the guilty party."

Captain c.h.i.n.ks winked rapidly for an instant, as though his brain was fearfully exercised to discover the thief. He had one black eye, which winked faster than the other--it was the result of his interview with Little Bobtail the day before, for the boy struck hard when he was a.s.sailed.

"I can't tell you where I got the bill," said Mrs. Taylor; "but I came honestly by it."

"It's no use of saying anything more, then," added the lawyer. "Under these circ.u.mstances, I am compelled to regard you as a party to your son's guilt, Mrs. Taylor; and I must cause your arrest."

"Don't do that, Squire Gilfilian," pleaded Bobtail.

"I must do it. It becomes my duty to do it."

"Let him do it," whispered Mr. Brooks.

"I can't help it if you do," sobbed the poor woman. "If I have to go to jail, I can't tell."

"Nothing more can be done, and I shall procure a warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Taylor," said the lawyer, gathering up the papers on his desk, and restoring the five hundred dollar bill to his pocket-book.

Mr. Brooks and Bobtail left the office, followed by Mrs. Taylor and her husband.

"I am responsible for you, Bobtail," said the officer.

"I won't run away, sir. You have been very kind to me, Mr. Brooks, and I won't go back on you," replied Bobtail.

"But I must not lose sight of you; and I don't want to send you to jail.

I'll take you to my house."

"Just as you say, sir; but I should like to go home and have a talk with mother. I want to see Squire Simonton, too."

"Very well; I will go home with you. I saw Squire Simonton walking towards his house just now. There he is, in front of the hotel, talking with Mr. Hines."