The Boy and The Man, Offer R [ereader for textbooks .txt] 📗

greedily, 'I will have twice the amount of gold of my own.'

Chapter 11

 

Since The Boy was hardly familiar with the chief investigator's work, it wasn't entirely startling that he'd underestimated his performance. He was thrilled when only two days after the investigation had been launched Aphrodite informed him that strong leads had been traced and the investigators were closing in on the culprit.

"I'm glad but not surprised", our boy said joyfully. "God doesn't allow the greedy to enjoy the fruits of their sins." Wealth was besetting him from multiple directions, and his mind was so light of concerns and his heart so pure of regrets that he'd begun to contemplate Mrs. Parthons' vision.

'Marry her, and you shall be the happiest man alive', he thought to himself, assuming it was for him to decide if and when it happened. Alas, the jubilant peace he'd been lulled into and which outlined his plans was fatally deceptive. Years earlier he'd marched through silent woods without realizing the danger that lurked inside, and now he was treading the most treacherous ground thinking he was in a bed of roses.

You see, our boy had devised many ambitious schemes and undertaken ventures that few men would've dared to attempt, and had gleaned tremendous success. But as will happen to any man that has the courage to take risks, his path was peppered with mistakes. And while we all know that mistakes aren't to be grieved but acknowledged and learned from, there is nothing more revengeful than a mistake gone unnoticed. Of which, to his own great detriment, our boy had made quite a few. And if on that day whose events we have begun to set forth he'd thought ultimate happiness was a few words away, when the sun reversed its angle in the sky he realized he was in fact standing a final mistake's distance from a deep abyss.

It began the moment he returned to his quarters that afternoon. His main servant greeted him with nervousness in the stead of his usual geniality.

"Sir, finally! I have been plucking my own nerves waiting for you", the little man blurted out worriedly.

"You've missed me so? Why, I'm flattered", The Boy said facetiously. "Now, speak up. What is all this urgency? You seem paler than your usual self. And may I say, it doesn't become you."

"This is no time for jests and japes, sir. The chief investigator and his men were here." With his gestures the servant begged our boy to rush inside and take stock of the damage, but his master stood firmly in place.

"The chief investigator? What was his business here?"

"He presented me with a permit signed by the prince authorizing him to search anywhere within the territory of the palace if he deems it absolutely necessary."

"It must have had to do with the Parthons case."

"Yes! Yes, he said something about that", the servant exclaimed, noticeably relieved by the fact that his master was in the loop.

"How did you respond to his request?"

"Forgive me sir, but I wasn't authorized to deny it. You gave me no countermanding orders, therefore his permit was perfectly valid."

"Well done. What is this shame on your face? We are to do all within our power to assist this man and catch the evil perpetrator against that wonderful woman. And yet I wonder what the chief investigator hoped to find here."

"I'd advise you to inspect your bedroom, for that is where they spent the majority of their time. They were extremely energetic by the looks of it, and when they left they weren't a bit displeased."

Suddenly, as though this last piece of information changed his entire perception of the world, a chilling realization dawned on our boy. Everything seemed to connect in the least favorable but most likely way possible. A moment ago he felt everything in the world was going his way, and suddenly everything was against him. His face drained of color and became so white that the servant's pallor seemed a very dark hue. His heart throbbed so hard that his ribcage could hardly contain it. His transformation was instantaneous and complete.

"Sir? What demon has taken hold of you?" His servant cried, panic-stricken. He wasn't used to see our boy undergo such violent changes. The Boy said nothing and bolted straight into his bedroom to find his terrible fears confirmed.

The room was torn in two. The majority of it was as neat and tidy as a dedicated servant could make his master's room, and bore no trace of the investigators' visit. It was perfectly fit for a Lieutenant of the King's Guard to sleep in; the King himself couldn't complain of such accommodations. But nearer the door the room was in utter chaos. The contents of the wardrobe were scattered about on the floor. Precious clothes were lying about in a way that would aggravate any man under ordinary circumstances, but at the moment they were devoid of meaning. Everything in the room was without meaning, as The Boy knew that a most terrible thing had happened. He shuddered like a man looking down and realizing the depth of the abyss he was plunging into.

'I've brought about my own demise', he thought. Then he darted out of his violated bedroom and headed toward his only remaining sliver of hope.

When he reached the prince's quarters the chief investigator had already arrived. He was conversing intensely with the prince, who was evidently flustered. In his hands our prince was holding the very bane of our boy's existence: the white purse. The Boy froze at the entrance to the quarters, at the very spot where he'd once met the prince for the first time. Having perceived the scene that was unraveling between the two men, he couldn't bring himself to approach any further. But there was still a fair measure of grace attached to his name, and by virtue of this grace the prince was thrilled to see him.

"Brother! I'm exceedingly gratified to see you here. But why are you standing over there? Come here and clear this mess up for us, if you will", he said keenly, intent on proving a point to the investigator.

The Boy's steps were far more timid and hesitant than in his first time there as a young anonymous boy. It was an excruciating toil, but he finally made it to the prince's side. His eyes momentarily leveled with the investigator's but dipped to the floor when struck by his accusing gaze.

"The investigator says he found this purse in your closet. Hidden there, he claims. And it's been confirmed by Mrs. Parthons as the one she'd used to keep her gold in. Now, would you be so kind as to shed light on this queer coincidence and allay the investigator's misguided suspicions?" The prince said with exasperation, as does one who feels his time is being wasted on formalities. It was clear that he didn't for a second consider the only solution to this mystery indicated by the facts to be feasible.

The Boy's eyes alternated from the prince to the empty, soiled white purse. He'd had his back against the wall on new few occasions in the past, as we have all born witness to, but here he felt the truth had caught up to him. Perhaps he could attempt to concoct some clever subterfuge in the last moment and rely on the prince's influence to wriggle out of yet another tight corner, but he had no desire to do so. His resourceful mind was tired of fabricating, and he was reluctant to try to cover his tracks again.

'I'll tell the truth, and maybe I will be forgiven', he thought. But while we should praise our boy's newfound penchant for honesty, we would have done well to remind him that a single virtuous act in the present doesn't atone for a legion of other sinful in the past.

"The investigator is a very, very capable man", The Boy said grimly. "And his suspicions aren't misguided."

The prince started, and it was now his turn to lose all vital color in his face. "What does this mean, brother? Be straightforward."

"That purse was found in my bedroom because I placed it- no, I hid it there. I found it, as I'm sure the investigator has already gathered, at church a few days ago", said our boy, now mustering the courage to look into the investigator's unyielding dark eyes. In the short span of time between having first made the connection between the gold-filled purse and Mrs. Parthon's purse and now, our clever boy managed to connect the dots. Mrs. Parthons had mentioned her visit to the church; the investigators had inquired and found out who'd attended church that morning; someone had identified The Boy; word of The Boy's corresponding dealings at the trade area had reached the Chief Investigator's ears; the smart man added one plus one and came out with two. The trace was in fact quite a thick one.

The prince gasped sharply and stared acutely at The Boy. Then, without diverting his eyes, he said to the investigator: "Mr. Chief Investigator, sir, would you please leave us at this point? I think your investigation has just come to a successful completion, and we have found what we were looking for."

The investigator was taken aback by this request. "This is no time for me to leave, but to summon my men and have this thief arrested and tried", he said sternly. The Boy was barely following this exchange, not knowing which of the two contingencies he dreaded more.

"You're very right, sir, and I'm deeply chagrined for asking this second personal favor of you, but I must be the first to hear this man out. I assure you no injustice will be done here."

"Very well, your Highness." The investigator retreated and the two young men were alone.

"I was going to put it back, filled with twice as many-" The Boy began but was allowed no leniency from an incredibly determined prince.

"Tell me everything. No omissions, no pretense. The whole truth", he demanded with the royal air of one who can't be refused. The Boy began to set forth his account, but it's a timeless rule that the truth strikes hard upon those who distort it, and our boy was offered no mercy in this regard. He had only begun to delineate his plan for acquiring personal wealth when the sound of light but hurried footsteps entered the prince's quarters from beyond the closed door. The prince's servant rapped on the door and declared the arrival of the one person in this ruthless world The Boy was most reluctant to see at the moment.

'God Almighy, be gentle with me, and with her', our delicate boy thought as Aphrodite paced the room explaining her hastened arrival.

"The investigator paid us a visit on no friendly terms", she said between gasps. "He had the purse that had been stolen from mother- that's the one! But he wouldn’t tell us where he'd found it under the argument that it was confidential information that he couldn't reveal until the investigation was over. So I immediately went looking for you, my love, hoping you knew something more than the Chief was willing to share, seeing as you were the one who prompted him to take on the investigation in the first place."

The prince's fiery gaze now darkened, and it seemed he might pull out his sword and chop The Boy's head off at any moment. As for The Boy, he knew his abyss had now deepened to twice its former depth. But there was really no difference between a man plummeting down a 100-meter abyss and one falling twice the distance- the outcome was one and the same.

"My love", he said grimly, "the credit for the initiation of the investigation isn't mine but the prince's. In fact I did nothing but beg him to make use of the Chief Investigator's profound respect for him, which he only did since I told him you'd requested it personally."

Aphrodite was baffled,