Chapter 33 Stealing The Bonds

Contrary to his usual custom, Philip spent the evening at home; and, as he must have something to occupy him, he spent it in reading. Usually, he cared very little for reading, and was prone¹ to spend the evening out.

Mrs. Ross regarded her son with approval, as she saw him steadily² reading all the evening.

"I do believe you're getting studious, Phil," she said.

"I'm interested in a story," remarked Phil.

"How much better it is to spend the evening at home reading than to be gadding³ about?" said his mother.

"Well, you know a boy can't be always reading," observed Philip.

If Mrs. Ross had been a close observer, she might have noticed that Philip got over wonderfully few pages. Indeed, he sometimes held the book open at the same place for half an hour together. The fact was that Philip cared very little for reading, unless he could get hold of some highly sensational⁴ story about highwaymen or pirates. He simply used the book as a cover.

The Colonel, his father, was sitting in a room which he called his office, opening out of the family sitting-room⁵, and Philip had seated himself so that he could look into that room, and watch what his father was doing.

Near his desk, Colonel Ross kept a small, iron-bound trunk, which he used as a sort of safe, or a repository for valuable papers, and sometimes for bonds and securities. It was imprudent, for anyone might readily have carried it off; but the Colonel didn't think of this, or, at any rate, didn't feel inclined to go to the expense of a safe. Indeed, most of his bonds and securities were deposited in the strong room of the county bank, and, therefore, his imprudence was less.

Philip's eager attention was roused when he saw his father rise from his desk, take up the trunk and open it, as it lay on the desk where he placed it.

"Now, I may find out what he has inside," thought Philip.

Colonel Ross opened it, as I have said, and took out several envelopes. Opening one of these, he drew therefrom what Philip recognized to be government bonds, and spread them out before him.

What was the object of this examination, Philip could not divine, nor did he particularly care, though he might had he known that his father was considering the expediency⁶ of selling them, and buying another security--the stock of a certain railroad--which would pay larger dividends⁷. His main interest was to ascertain⁸ whether his father had any government bonds, and this question he was now able to answer in the affirmative.

After a brief inspection⁹, Colonel Ross replaced in the trunk the securities he had taken from it, and locked the trunk. The bunch of keys, one of which opened the trunk, he laid on the desk, unconsciously, probably.

"I hope he'll forget 'em," said Philip to himself. "It'll save me a good bit of trouble."

It seemed likely that the keys would be forgotten, for Colonel Ross, as though his business were ended, took the lamp from his desk, and entered the sitting-room, where his wife and son were seated.

"I don't know how it is, wife," he said, "but I feel sleepy."

"It isn't your bed hour yet. It is only half-past nine."

"That is true, but I shall go to bed earlier than usual to-night."

"All the better for me," thought Philip. "Now, if mother would only go, too!"

It seemed as if everything was turning out favorably for his plan, for his mother answered:

"Well, I think I will accompany you--that is, if Philip won't feel lonely."

Philip's heart beat with eager satisfaction. He had expected that he would be obliged to go to bed, and wait there till his father and mother were asleep, then steal downstairs, running the risk of detection, light a lamp, and commit the theft. Now it looked as if he could do it much more easily.

He answered, in as indifferent a voice as he could assume:

"I am not at all sleepy. I'll stay up a little longer and read."

Mrs. Ross nodded, in a satisfied way, to her husband.

"I do believe Phil's getting fond of reading," she said.

"I hope he is," returned the father.

"Phil," said his mother, "the servant is out tonight. A cousin of hers is sick, and I gave her permission to stay with her all night. Are you willing to close up the house?"

"Oh, yes," answered Phil, briskly. "I'm glad she's away," he thought. "She won't be spying round and see what I'm about. Besides, I can leave the door open, so that it will be easier to accuse Harry¹⁰ Gilbert."

"Good-night," said his mother.

"Good-night, mother."

"Don't stay up too late reading."

"No, I won't."

"How many more pages are there, Philip?" asked his father.

"About four hundred," answered Phil, looking over to the end.

"Then I wouldn't advise you to sit up till you've finished the book," he said, jocosely¹¹.

"I guess not. I shan't sit up more than half an hour."

So Colonel and Mrs. Ross went upstairs, and the coast was clear.

When he was left alone, and felt that the hour so long anticipated had come, Philip's heart beat fast.

"Come; it's easier than I hoped," he said to himself. "And father left his keys, too, on the desk. I hope he won't think of them, and come downstairs after them. That might upset my plans, though I've got a lot of old keys in my pocket, and one of them might answer. However, there's none so good as the real thing."

Philip had to consider whether he would wait till his father and mother were asleep, or act sooner. He at length decided¹², in the words of Shakespeare, though he was not familiar with them:

"If 'twere done with when 'tis done, Then, 'twere well it were done quickly."

The argument was this: If he acted soon, he could make use of his father's keys, and that would save him trouble. On the other hand, there was some risk that his father might think of them, and, coming downstairs, surprise him. However, Philip didn't think this was likely, and, in any event, he resolved to take the risk. He could pretend that he had just caught sight of his keys, and was going to carry them upstairs for safekeeping.

Indeed, Philip did not wait more than ten minutes.

"Father must be in bed by this time," he said to himself.

He took the small lamp by which he was reading, and entered his father's office.

There lay the keys, and there stood the trunk.

He took the bunch of keys and selected a small one, which he thought likely to fit the trunk.

It did.

The lid was lifted, and Philip, with eager hand, took the envelope which he knew contained the government bonds. It was a bulky envelope, and contained probably eight or ten bonds.

Of course, Philip didn't venture to take all. He selected two, of one hundred dollars each, and replaced the others in the envelope, and afterward¹³ in the trunk.

He put the bonds in his inside coat pocket, and, hastily refastening the trunk, replaced the keys on his father's desk.

He breathed a sigh of relief to think the thing was done, and walked over to the window.

What was his gratification to see Harry Gilbert walking by on the other side of the street.

"All happens right," he said. "Now, Harry can't say he was at home. I'll fix him. I'll say I saw him at the window, looking in, and his denial won't amount to much, when he admits, as he will, that he was near the house."

He would have felt differently had he seen the face of Tom Calder peering in at one of the side windows. Tom had spent the evening in the village, and was now on his return to his chamber¹⁴, on the second floor of the stable. His attention was attracted by the light in the room, and, as the curtain was partly raised, he took the liberty of peering in, unobserved.

"By gracious!" he exclaimed, in amazement¹⁵. "Phil is stealing gov'ment bonds from his father. He's a bad one, but I didn't think that of him."

Tom slipped out, resolved to consider at his leisure what he had better do about imparting his secret information. It was well he did, for Phil himself almost immediately came to the same window.

1 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

2 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

3 gadding   

n.叮搔症adj.蔓生的v.闲逛( gad的现在分词 )；游荡；找乐子；用铁棒刺

参考例句：

• She likes gadding about while the children are at school. 孩子们在学校里的时候，她喜欢到处逛逛。 来自辞典例句
• We spent the whole day gadding about Paris. 我们一整天都在巴黎游玩。 来自辞典例句

4 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

5 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

6 expediency   

n.适宜；方便；合算；利己

参考例句：

• The government is torn between principle and expediency. 政府在原则与权宜之间难于抉择。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was difficult to strike the right balance between justice and expediency. 在公正与私利之间很难两全。 来自辞典例句

7 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

8 ascertain   

vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清

参考例句：

• It's difficult to ascertain the coal deposits.煤储量很难探明。
• We must ascertain the responsibility in light of different situtations.我们必须根据不同情况判定责任。

9 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

10 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

11 jocosely   

adv.说玩笑地，诙谐地

参考例句：

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

14 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

15 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。