CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
SINGH'S ANNOUNCEMENT.
"Gone!" said the Doctor, letting the reading-glass fall upon his blotting-pad. "What has gone?"
"My father's belt!" cried the boy passionately. "It has been stolen.
It is not in the box."
"Stop, stop, stop!" said the Doctor firmly. "You are speaking excitedly. My dear boy, be calm."
"But it's gone, sir!" cried Singh, with his eyes flashing now, as he looked from one to the other. "I tell you it's been stolen.--Oh, Glyn, what will your father say? What shall I do?"
"Be calm," repeated the Doctor slowly. "My dear boy, recollect that I stand to you, as we say in Latin, _in loco parentis_; and in the place of your guardian I must tell you that in your excitement you are making a very rash and cruel charge."
"But, sir--" began Singh, with an imperious stamp of the foot.
"Stop!" cried the Doctor. "At my time of life I have learned a good deal of the weakness of human nature, and how prone we are to judge wrongfully, especially in a case like this. On several occasions I have known people to be suspected and charged with theft through the weakness of the accuser. Nothing is easier or more common than for money or a missing jewel or a book to be hastily looked upon as stolen when the one has been spent and forgotten, the others in the same way been placed elsewhere for security."
"Yes, sir," cried Glyn excitedly, "and I don't want to go against Singh here; but I have known him do stupid things like that.--Look here, Singhy," he continued hotly, "did you properly search the box?"
"Yes," cried Singh. "When I found the case wasn't there where I put it, I turned it upside down, and the contents are lying all over the floor."
"And what about your drawers? Did you look in them?"
"You know I never kept it in my drawers," cried Singh.
"Yes, but you might have put it in one of them."
"Shouldn't I have remembered that I did?" snapped out the boy.
"You might," replied Glyn quietly; "but I have put away things sometimes and forgotten where, and when I found them afterwards I have wondered how they got there."
"Ex--actly, Mr Severn," said the Doctor; "and so have I, especially in the case of books."
"I am sure it's been stolen," cried Singh passionately.
"Well, I am sure you're wrong," said Glyn, "for there's nobody here who could do such a thing, though you always were very stupid about your keys."
"What's that?" said the Doctor sharply.
"Oh, I have found his keys left in his box or drawers, sir, more than once."
"Well," cried Singh, in the same excited tone, and he literally glared at his companion, "suppose, when I was busy, sir, or in a hurry, I did leave them in the lock! Was I to think that some thief was waiting to go in and take that case away? Why, when my father was alive, if one of his people had done such a thing as steal anything he would have been given over to the guards, killed at once, and his body thrown into the river."
"Ah, yes," said the Doctor quietly. "But that was in India, my young friend, and matters are different here. Now, if you please," he went on gravely, as he replaced the reading-glass in the drawer, "you will be good enough to smooth your countenance and hold your tongue. Have you told any one else of this?"
"No, sir," cried the boy. "I ran down directly to come and tell you."
"Here! What are you going to do?" said the Doctor, as Singh moved quickly towards the fireplace.
"Ring for the police to be fetched," cried Singh.
"Stop!" said the Doctor sternly. "And please recollect that I am master here."
"But--"
"Silence, sir! Now come with me and Mr Severn up into your dormitory; and, until I give you leave, neither you nor Mr Severn will say a word to a soul."
"But--"
"Did you hear me tell you, sir, to be silent?" cried the Doctor, in his deepest and most commanding tones. "If there has been a theft committed, which I greatly doubt, this jewel or jewels must be recovered. Such an ornament, if taken by a thief, could not easily be disposed of, and we must first have a calm and quiet investigation of what will in all probability prove to be a mistake.--What do you think, Mr Severn?"
"I think it is a mistake, sir."
"Then come with me up into your room, and I desire that you both treat the matter in a calm and thoughtful way. I cannot have a matter of this kind made into a piece of gossiping scandal.--Mr Severn, will you be kind enough to open the door?"
Glyn sprang to the handle, and the Doctor walked slowly out, followed by the boys, while Glyn gripped his companion by the wrist and said hastily. "Come quietly, and if we meet anybody don't make them see that something is wrong by wearing a face like that."
Singh looked at him fiercely, and then followed in silence, passing nobody, as they made for the corridor and entered the door of their dormitory, which Singh in his haste had left open.
The Doctor stepped in and made way for the two boys to pass, himself closing the door after them, and then turning, raising his eyebrows a little as he saw the state of the floor, where the carpet was scattered with different garments and odds and ends, while the bullock-trunk lay upside down.
The Doctor glanced at Glyn, who read his wish in his eyes.
"Where are your keys, Singh?" he cried.
"I don't know. What do you want with them?"
"Why, to search your drawers, of course."
"I can do that myself," said the boy haughtily.
"I know that; but I am going to do it," said Glyn firmly. And brushing by his companion, he went to the overturned trunk, turned it back into position, and drew the keys from the lock.
Singh made no attempt to check him, but drew himself up and stood with folded arms, scowling angrily as Glyn unlocked and carefully emptied drawer after drawer in turn, replacing the contents as he went on.
"Was the belt or girdle lying loose, Mr Singh?" said the Doctor calmly, as the search went on.
"No, sir," and the boy, more himself now, described the colour and shape of the missing case.
Then there was silence, which was only broken by the rustling noise that Glyn was making as he went on with the search till he had finished, closed the last drawer, locked it, and taken out the key. Then, with sinking heart, he said quietly, "I am afraid he's right, sir. It's gone."
"Is there any other receptacle," said the Doctor, "in which it could have been placed?"
"No, sir," said Singh bitterly; "there is nowhere else."
"I am thinking," said the Doctor, "that it has not been stolen. If it had been, the person who took it would have been content with rolling up the girdle, as you say it was of soft leather, placing it in his pocket, reclosing the case, and leaving it behind--for two reasons: one, that it would be noticeable if carried about; another, that it might lie shut up in your box for any length of time, with the change that had taken place unsuspected. For, going to your box again and again and seeing the case there, the chances are that you would not have opened it to note that the contents were safe."
The Doctor was silent for a minute or two. Then--"So there is no other receptacle in the room where the belt could have been placed?"