Colonel Harvey dictated it again relentlessly.
"I--promise--to--pay--to--Nick--Flynn--one--hundred--dollars--when M.--M.--is--fired. Benjamin Bartlett. Received--payment--July--13. Nick Flynn."
The officer took the result, laid it on his desk and took another from his pocket to compare.
"That settles it," said he, looking up at last. "Conspiracy."
"What does this mean, sir?" demanded the angry old squire, who had been waxing more and more impatient under the ordeal. "Why should my son be insulted like a common criminal? Why----"
"Because he is one," responded the other, just as warmly. "Look at those two papers, sir! Your son wrote both, and I know it."
"The story is briefly told," said Colonel Harvey. "Two cadets of my academy turned highwaymen yesterday and held up your son at the point of a revolver. I presume he has told you."
"So that's who it was!" cried the furious squire. "So that's the kind of cadets you have! I shall have them both in jail."
"You will not," laughed the other, "for several reasons. In the first place, you do not know who they are, and I do not propose to tell you. In the second, if you do, your son is guilty of conspiracy, and I shall see him punished for that."
"This is preposterous!" exclaimed Squire Bartlett. "That paper proves absolutely nothing----"
"His manner when I asked him to write it, and his attempt to disguise his hand, prove a good deal to me. It proves to me, sir, that he is lying, and that you are a very foolish and indulgent father to believe him as you do. He has lied to me and to you, and he lies still when he denies it. Look at him cower now, sir! I knew that this whole thing was an outrageous plot the very moment the cadets showed me that paper this morning. One of them is one of my most trusted officers, and I believe his account. And what is more----"
Here the colonel stopped and glared at Benny.
"I say this for the benefit of your son, who evidently hates Mark Mallory. I believed and was glad to believe, that Mallory, who is the finest lad I had seen for many a day, is as honest as he is brave. And I shall take great pleasure in telling him so, and in apologizing for my doubts. And in conclusion----"
Colonel Harvey arose to his feet and bowed.