There was no mistaking the deadly earnestness of his tone, and, as he realized what the disclosure meant, Lefty experienced an odd, sinking sensation. Thoroughly upright and straightforward himself, the thought that he had been the means of branding an innocent man as a thief was intolerable to him. Moreover, if Elgin was not guilty of that theft, what proof had they of his complicity in recent underhanded doings? With a feeling that the earth was dropping away under his feet, Locke turned toward Stillman. He saw on the reporter’s face that same expression of groping blankness which he knew was on his own. CHAPTER XXV THE 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.”