CHAPTER XII
TOM SPEAKS HIS MIND
"Tom, Miss Harrow would like to see you."
It was an hour later, and the Rovers and the Laning girls had spentthe time in watching the efforts of the others to put out the last ofthe fire. In the meanwhile, some of those present had gone through theaddition to the main building and opened the various windows anddoors, thus letting out the smoke. An examination proved that thedamage done there was very slight, for which the seminary authoritieswere thankful.
"Wants to see me, eh?" returned Tom, musingly. "Well, I don't knowwhether I want to see her or not."
"You might as well go, Tom, and have it over with," suggested Sam.
"If I go, I want Nellie to go along," returned the brother. "I wanther to know how I stand on this missing-ring question. By the way, howis she, all right?" continued the youth, addressing Stanley, who hadbrought the news that he was wanted.
"She seems to be all right, although she is very nervous. She says thereason she didn't hear the alarm and get out of the building in time,was because she had had a toothache and had taken a strong dose ofmedicine to quiet her nerves. Evidently the medicine put her into asound sleep."
"How about the toothache?" asked Sam, slyly.
"Oh, that's gone now; the fire scared it away."
"Where is she?" questioned Tom.
"She is in the office with some of the other teachers."
"All right, if I've got to go, I might as well have it over with. Comealong, Nellie."
"Oh, Tom, do you really think I ought to go?"
"If you won't, I won't."
"All right, then," and arm in arm, Tom and Nellie proceeded into themain building. Nellie showed the way to the office, which was locatedat the end of a long corridor.
"Oh, so here is the young gentleman!" cried Miss Harrow, as theyentered. She was very pale, but did her best to compose herself.
"You sent for me?" returned Tom, bluntly.
"Yes. I wish to thank you for what you did for me. You are a verybrave young man. Were I able to do so, I should be only too pleased toreward you liberally. But I am only a poor teacher, and----"
"I don't want any reward, Miss Harrow. What I did anybody could havedone."
"Perhaps, but----" And now the teacher stopped short, for the firsttime noticing Nellie's presence. "What do you want here, Miss Laning?"she demanded, stiffly.
"I came in with Mr. Rover; he wanted me to come," was the answer. Andas the teacher continued to glare at her, Nellie clung tightly toTom's arm.
"I--I don't understand----" stammered Miss Harrow. She was evidentlymuch surprised.
"It's this way, Miss Harrow." answered Tom, with his usual bluntness."Miss Laning and I have been friends for a great many years. The factis, we hope--that is, I hope"--and now Tom looked a bit confused--"we'llbe married before a great while. I have been told about thediamond ring that is missing, and I know all about how you havetreated Nellie. I don't like it at all. I think you are doing her agreat injustice."
"Oh!" The teacher paused abruptly and bit her lip. She glanced fromTom to Nellie and then to the others who were in the office. "I--Ihave not accused Miss Laning of anything," she went on, rather lamely.
"Perhaps not in so many words. But you have acted as if you feltcertain she was guilty. Now, that isn't fair. She wouldn't touchanything that wasn't her own. It's a terrible thing to cast suspicionon any one. What would you say if I were to intimate you had taken thefour-hundred-dollar ring?"
"Sir!" and now the teacher's face grew red. "Do you mean to insultme?"
"Not at all. But I mean to stand up for Miss Laning first, last, andall the time," replied Tom, earnestly. "I think it is an outrage toeven suspect her."
For a few seconds there was an intense silence, broken only by acertain nervous movement among the others in the office. Miss Harrowbit her lip again.
"I--I am sorry if I have done Miss Laning an injustice," she said,slowly. "But the diamond ring is gone, and if the ring is notrecovered, I may be held responsible for it."
"Now, my dear Miss Harrow, pray do not agitate yourself too much,"broke in another of the teachers. "This is all very painful. You hadbetter drop the matter."
"I am willing to drop it," answered Tom, before Miss Harrow couldspeak. "Only I want it understood that Miss Laning is to be treatedwith the consideration she deserves. Otherwise I may suggest to herfather that she be taken away from this institution and a suit fordamages be instituted."
"Oh, no! Not that! Not that!" came from Miss Harrow, and now she wasplainly much frightened. "I did not accuse Miss Laning of anything,and I do not accuse her now. The ring is missing. That is all I cansay about it."
"I think we had better go, Tom," whispered Nellie.
"You may leave, Miss Laning," said one of the other teachers. "We havehad trouble enough for one night."
"Nellie started for the door, and Tom did the same; but before theyouth could leave, Miss Harrow clutched him by the arm.
"Mr. Rover, just a word," she said in a low voice. "You did me a greatservice and I shall not forget it. If I have done Miss Laning aninjustice, I am very sorry for it." And having thus spoken, she turnedback and sank down on a couch. Tom and Nellie left and hurried to thecampus, where they were speedily rejoined by Sam and Grace.
"How did you make out?" asked the younger Rover. And then Tom gave theparticulars of what had occurred.
"Oh, Tom, I am glad you said what you did," cried Grace, heartily."Now, maybe, Miss Harrow will be more careful in her actions."
"Well, I simply said what I thought," answered Tom. "They are notgoing to lay anything at Nellie's door if I can help it."
"Oh, Tom, but you told them that--that And Nellie grew red and couldnot go on.
"Well, what if I did? It's the truth, isn't it?"
"What was that?" asked Sam, curiously.
"Why, I told them that Nellie and I had been friends for years andthat, sooner or later, we were going to be married."
"You did!" shrieked Grace. "Oh, Tom Rover!"
"Folks might as well know it," returned Tom. "They've got to know itwhen the affair comes off."
"Don't you think it's about time you boys started back for college?"came from Nellie, who was blushing deeply over the personal turn whichthe conversation had taken.
"Oh, there's no great rush," answered Tom, coolly.
Nevertheless, now that the conflagration was over, it was thought bestby all the students to get back to the college, so a little later thecrowd was rounded up by Spud and Stanley, and all climbed into theautomobile. Sam ran the car, and the return was made without specialincident.
"Say, Tom, if that wedding is to come off so soon, perhaps I hadbetter be saving up for a wedding present," remarked Sam, dryly, whenthe two brothers were retiring for the night.
"I wouldn't advise you to start saving up just now," answered hisbrother. "Better get some sleep first." And then he playfully shied apillow at Sam's head.
The next day nearly all the talk at Brill was about the fire and whatTom had done towards rescuing Miss Harrow. Many insisted upon it thatTom had enacted the part of a real hero, and he was interviewed by alocal reporter, and a number of newspapers printed quite an item aboutthe conflagration and the part he had played.
But the students had little time just now for anything outside oftheir final examinations. Many papers had to be prepared, and poor Tomoften wondered how he would ever get through with any satisfaction,either to himself or his instructors. With Sam, the task seemed mucheasier, for, as Dick had once declared, Sam was "a regular bookworm,"and no studies seemed to worry him in the least.
"If I get through at all, I shall be lucky," vouchsafed Tom, afterpassing in a particularly hard paper.
"We'll hope for the best," returned Sam.
During those days came another letter from Dick, in which he statedthat he had moved into the offices vacated by Pelter, Japson &Company, and was doing his best to get everything into working order
.He added that, on the request of their father, he had disposed of somestocks, and in their stead, had purchased sixty-four thousand dollars'worth of bonds.
"My, that's some bonds!" remarked Sam, on reading the letter.
"Well, bonds are usually much safer than stocks, even if they don'tpay so well," answered Tom.
There was a letter from their Aunt Martha, who stated that theirfather did not seem to be quite as well as he had been the weekprevious. She added that they had called in another doctor, who hadstated, after an examination, that there was no cause for alarm--thatMr. Rover must be kept quiet and not worried, and probably, he wouldbe his old self in another month or two.
"I am glad that the college is to shut down soon," said Sam, when heand his brother were discussing this communication. "I want to see dadand make sure things are not worse than Aunt Martha pictures them."
"Exactly the way I feel about it, Sam. They may be holding backsomething on us just so we won't be worried."
Two days later came the final examination for, both the Rovers, andthey felt much relieved. Songbird was also "out of the woods," as heexpressed it, and asked them if they did not want to join him and Spudin a short row on the river.
"That suits me," cried Tom. "I want to get out into the air somewhere.I am done with classrooms forever. If it was not for the look ofthings, I would be turning handsprings on the campus."
"Ditto," added Sam.
"Well, come on," said Songbird. And a few minutes later the fourstudents were down at the boathouse, getting out one of the four-oaredboats.
"Say, Songbird, I should think this would put you in the rhymingfever," said Sam, as the four lads rowed out on the river.
"It does," returned the would-be poet.
"All right, turn on the verse spigot and let us have the latesteffusion," cried Tom, gaily.
"The verses aren't finished yet," answered Songbird. And then restinghis oar, he drew from his pocket a slip of paper and began to read:
"The term is passed, Away we cast Our books and papers with great glee. No more we'll train Each tired brain----"
"Instead, we'll cheer because we're free!"
concluded Tom.
"Say, that isn't half bad," broke out Songbird, enthusiastically. "Iwas going to put in something about flee----"
"For gracious sake! What have fleas to do with this poetry?"interposed Tom.
"Fleas! Who said anything about fleas?" snorted Songbird. "I said'flee,' f-l-e-e."
"Oh, I see! That's the flee that fled, not the flea who refuses toflee," went on Tom. And at this sally, the other boys laughed.
"Never mind, give us the rest of it," put in Spud.
"There isn't any 'rest'--not yet," answered the would-be poet. Andthen the bays resumed the row up the river.