CHAPTER XXVTHE STRUGGLE
Lefty went to his room rather early that night, but not to bed. The discovery of the terrible mistake he had made regarding Elgin bewildered him at first, and then made him feel as if he wanted to get away by himself to think it all over.
For three years he had felt absolutely certain of Bert Elgin’s responsibility for that theft at Princeton. He had felt the scorn and contempt for his college mate which any decent man would naturally feel for a person guilty of what Elgin had done. He had, moreover, from the very first, never hesitated to show those feelings. Now it would seem that he had been totally in the wrong.
It was a most disagreeable discovery. Lefty would have felt glad indeed had there been a chance of believing Wilmerding mistaken, but such a thing was hardly possible. Oggie had never been on friendly terms with Elgin in the old days, so there was no earthly reason to suspect him of making up the story in order to shield the real culprit.
“And, anyway, he couldn’t have told it the way he did unless it were true,” Locke thought to himself. “It isn’t in him to fake a thing so realistically.”
Frowning, Lefty moved restlessly about the room, picking up an article here and there and replacing it without a realization of what he was doing. Of course the only proper course for him to follow was to go straight to Elgin and apologize for having misjudged him so greatly, but the thought of doing so was intolerable.
He detested the fellow as much as ever. His suspicion of Elgin’s responsibility for the doped beer remained unshaken. Whether the man had stolen or not, did not affect that question.
“I can’t do it!” Lefty burst out, at length, a vivid picture of the sneering reception which would greet an apology on his part flashing into his mind. “I detest that man, and I won’t give him a chance to crow over me. He’d seize it gleefully.”
For a time he deluded himself with the idea that, after all, it wasn’t up to him to do anything. The matter had never been made public. With the exception of Ogden Wilmerding, Stillman and Ferris were the only ones who knew anything of it. It had long ago been relegated to the past.Why should it be dragged out into the light at this late day? He would write to Bob Ferris that very night and put him straight about the matter. That should be enough.
Deep down in his heart Lefty Locke knew that it was not enough. Because he was clean and straight and honorable, he knew that it was up to him to apologize to the man he had so cruelly misjudged, whether he detested him or not. He had been responsible for the stigma resting on Elgin’s good name, and that responsibility could not be shirked. Common decency made it imperative for him to acknowledge his mistake.
The decision was not an easy one. In fact, Lefty had never struggled harder against the temptation to take the simple course and let things slide. If he kept silent, the chances were a thousand to one that Elgin would never hear a whisper of Wilmerding’s story. The latter was not likely to repeat it to others, and Stillman would certainly keep the matter to himself.
In spite of all these plausible arguments, however, the southpaw knew that there was really only one thing for him to do, much as he hated it; and, having come to that conclusion, he lost no time in ridding himself of the unpleasant duty.
A glance at his watch told him that it was notyet eleven. Possibly Elgin might still be up, and if the task could be done that night, so much the better.
Stepping out into the corridor, he walked to Elgin’s room, noticed the light streaming through the transom, and, without further delay, knocked firmly on the door.
“Come in!” called a voice impatiently.
Elgin, partly undressed, stood in the middle of the room. As his rival entered and closed the door behind him, a look of surprise flashed into his face, followed swiftly by a scowl.
“Well, what in blazes doyouwant?” he snapped with pointed emphasis.
Lefty bit his lips to keep back the retort he longed to utter. He realized that it was going to be even harder than he had expected.
“I’ve found out that I was wrong about that affair at college, Elgin,” he said stiffly. “I came to tell you that I am sorry for having misjudged you.”
For an instant Elgin stared at him in silence, the shirt he had just taken off trailing unheeded on the floor. His face was an odd mixture of astonishment and suspicious incredulity.
“You mean—about the Ferris—business?” he asked jerkily.
Locke nodded. “Yes; I was mistaken in thinking you mixed up in it. I’ve been mistaken for three years.”
Elgin’s brows came together in a scowl. His lids drooped until they quite hid the expression in his dark eyes.
“Humph!” he grunted. “And when did you find out what an ass you’ve been making of yourself?”
Lefty flushed, and set his jaws. “I learned the truth to-night,” he admitted.
Suddenly Elgin’s face relaxed from its rather tense, searching expression, and he laughed harshly.
“And so you’re sorry?” he sneered. “That puts you right, I suppose! Without a shred of evidence, you accuse a man of stealing. For three years you blackguard him every chance you get, and then, when you find out the truth, when you wake up to the fact that you’ve been all kinds of a blackguard, all you can do is to come around whining about being sorry. Bah!”
Lefty drew his breath sharply, his self-control strained almost to the breaking point.
“What more can I do?” he demanded.
Elgin’s lips curled. “Oh, nothing—nothing,” he sneered. “It’s what you should have donebefore that gets me. Anybody but a fool would have waited till he could prove it before he called a man a thief. But no; you had to jump in and show how smart you were without giving a thought to the damage you might be doing to a person’s character.”
Lefty felt that argument would be futile. Besides, he knew that if he stayed any longer he would most certainly blow up and say something he might afterward regret.
“I’ve told you I’m sorry, and I am,” he repeated briefly. “I’ll write to Bob Ferris to-night, and put him straight about the matter. I fail to see what more there is to do.”
Without further words, he turned abruptly to leave the room. He had almost reached the door when Elgin’s sneering voice broke the silence:
“If you think this squares everything between us, you’ve got another guess coming. I haven’t forgotten how you’ve slandered me, and I never will, even if you should crawl like this every day for the rest of the year.”
Lefty whirled, his eyes blazing. “I don’t give a rip what you remember or forget!” he retorted sharply. “I apologized because I had to save my self-respect. If you imagine I want to have anything more to do with you than before, get rid ofthe notion right away. I don’t like you or your methods. You may not be guilty of stealing, but there are some other things fully as rotten that you have done.”
Before Elgin could reply the southpaw had jerked the door open, stepped swiftly through, and slammed it behind him.