"Humph! Well, maybe. It’s none of my business; all I want is the rent, and if they can’t pay they must leave," said Mr. Hammerby, bluntly. "Good morning," he continued to Deb, and without waiting for more words, turned and left the apartment.
"I am sorry that my uncle has such a hard-hearted man for his agent," observed Mont to Deb with a look of chagrin on his face.
"So am I," she replied, and then suddenly; "Oh, Mont, Jack is----"
"I know all about it," he interrupted. "I’ve just been down to see him. He gave me this note for you," and Mont handed the note to Deb.
Jack hardly realized what arrest meant until he heard the iron door clang shut, and found himself in a stone cell, scarcely six feet square, with nothing but a rough board upon which to rest.
He sat down with a heart that was heavier than ever before. The various misfortunes of the day had piled themselves up until he thought they had surely reached the end, and now, as if to cap the climax, here he was arrested for the burning of a place that he had worked like a beaver for two hours to save.
He wondered how Mr. Felix Gray had come to make the charge against him. He could think of no reason that could excite suspicion, saving, perhaps, his rather hasty words in the tool manufacturer’s library the afternoon previous.
"I suppose he thinks I did it out of revenge," thought the young machinist; "but then there are men--like Andy Mosey, for instance--who have threatened far more than I. Guess I can clear myself--by an alibi, or some such evidence."
Nevertheless, he chafed under the thought of being a prisoner, and felt decidedly blue when Deb entered his mind. What would his sister think of his absence, and what would she say when told what had happened?
"Maybe I can send her word," he said to himself, and knocked loudly upon the door.
The watchman was just asleep on a sofa in an adjoining room and did not hear him.
Failing to attract attention in this way, Jack began to kick, and so vigorously did he apply his heels that he awoke the sleeper with such a start that he came running to the spot instantly.
"Can I send a message home?" asked the young machinist.
"Not till morning," was the surly reply; "is that all you want?"