"
Tom's face fell.
"And, next--you may take this for what it is worth--
but I believe he spoke the truth for once; he
certainly did if there is any truth in liquor or in
swearing. For when I asked Millet what all this stuff
about your father meant, Greenhithe interrupted, very
unnecessarily and very rudely, and said, with more oaths
than I will trouble you with, that the whole was a damned
lie of the newspaper men; that they had lied about him
(Greenhithe) and now were lying about old Molyneux; that
Molyneux had been very hard on him and very unjust to
him, but he would say that he was honest as the clock--
honest enough to be mean. And that he would say that to
the committee, if they would call on him, and so on and
so on."
"Much good would he do before the committee," said
poor Tom.
And thus ended Tom's branch of the investigation.
"Come to me, if I can help you, my boy," said Old Benbow.
"It is always the darkest, old fellow, the hour before
day."
Tom was astronomer enough to know that this old saw
was as false as most old saws. But with this for his
only comfort, he returned to the bureau to seek Beverly
and his father.
Neither Beverly nor his father was there! Tom went
directly home. His mother was eager to see him.
She had come home alone, and, save Horace and Laura
and Flossy and Brick, she had seen nobody but a messenger
from the bureau.
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