Robert!"
At the summons, to Captain Haley's equal surprise and dismay, Robert
stepped from the closet in which he had been concealed.
"What have you to say, Robert?" asked the merchant.
"Captain Haley knows very well the falsehood of what he says," said our
hero, calmly. "It was not at Calcutta I left the _Argonaut_, nor was it
of my own accord. Captain Haley, with his own hands, tied me to a tree
on a small island in the Southern Ocean, and there left me, as he
supposed, to a solitary death. But Heaven did not forsake me, and sent
first a brave sailor and afterward a ship to my assistance. The charge
that I stole money from him I shall not answer, for I know Mr. Morgan
will not believe it."
Captain Haley was not a fool, and he knew that it would be useless to
press the charge further. He rose from his seat; his face was dark with
anger and smarting under a sense of defeat.
"You have not done with me yet," he said to Robert, and without another
word left the office.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE CUP AND THE LIP.
Affairs in Millville had gone on much as usual. Mrs. Rushton had not yet
exhausted the supply of money left by Robert in the hands of his friend
the lawyer. Her expenses were small, and were eked out by her earnings;
for she continued to braid straw, and was able in this way to earn two
dollars a week.
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