"Do you mean to say I took your wallet?" asked Paul, thunderstruck.
"It cannot be otherwise. Did I not find it in thy pocket? Is there an officer present? This boy should be arrested."
"I am a detective," said a man near by, showing his badge.
"Then it is thy duty to arrest the boy. He is a thief!"
Poor Paul! Brave as he was, his heart sank as he saw the passengers regarding him with suspicion.
"I am innocent," he said. "I never stole in my life."
"So young and so hardened!" said the old man, sorrowfully; and Paul saw that his denial was not credited.
[Illustration: "I did not steal the wallet," Paul said firmly.]
Paul felt that he was in a tight place. He could not understand how the wallet could have got into his pocket. Yet there it was, and appearances were decidedly against him in spite of his innocence.
"I did not steal the wallet," he said, firmly.
"Then how came it in thy pocket?" asked the old man.
"I don't know. Some one must have put it there."
"Verily that is a poor excuse," said the aged Quaker.
"It's too thin!" said a young man near by, who thought himself a wit. "It won't wash!"
Paul looked at him in disdain. Still it troubled him, because he feared the other passengers would agree with the speaker.
Just then the conductor entered the car. He was a firm friend of Paul, whom he had known ever since he first came on board the train.
"What is the matter?" asked the conductor, looking with surprise at the group around Paul.
"A pocket-book has been stolen, I believe," said a quiet passenger.
The conductor walked up to the scene of excitement.
Paul looked up at him with a feeling of relief.
"Mr. Bates," he said, "do you think I would steal?"
"Certainly not, Paul. Who charges you with it?"
"This gentleman here," answered our hero, pointing to the Quaker.
"I fear thee is guilty, for I discovered my wallet in thy pocket," said the Quaker, mildly.
"Is this true, Paul?" asked the conductor, puzzled.
"No. This gentleman asked me for a magazine, and, on looking for his money, could not find his pocket-book."
"I looked in thy pocket, and straightway found it," supplemented the Quaker.
"What made you look there?" asked the conductor.
"I thought the boy might have yielded to a sudden temptation. It grieves me to think he was so weak."