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The Last of the Tower Case · The Tower Treasure

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  Chapter twenty four of The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon. This LibriVox
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  recording is in the public domain. Chapter twenty four, the last of the
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  Tower Case. The discovery of the Tower Mansion treasure was a Bayport sensation for
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  almost a week, and a week is a long time for any sensation to
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  last. Even in Bayport. People said that they knew all along that mister
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  Robinson was innocent of the theft, and went as far out of their way
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  to be nice to him as they had gone out of their way to be
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  unkind to him and ignore him when he was accused of crime. People too,
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  were a loud in their praises of the hardy boys, and everybody predicted
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  a bright future for them, and said they knew all along that the lads
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  were bound to solve the mystery if they kept at it long enough. All
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  of this the boys took with a grain of salt, as the saying is,
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  for they knew that the public is fickle and as quick to condemn failure
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  as it is to praise success. Frank and Joe did not let the adulation
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  turn their heads. When we couldn't find the treasure, everybody said we were
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  just nuisances, little boys trying to play detective, laughed Frank. Now that
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  we have found it, all that is forgotten. The main thing is that
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  we've proved to Dad that we know how to keep our eyes and ears open.
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  And we've got a thousand dollars between us, a mighty nice start for
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  a bank account. I'll say it is. I wish another mystery would come
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  along. We can't expect to get a reward for every case we work on,
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  and we can't expect to solve them all either. Frank pointed out,
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  we can't expect to get many cases to try her hand at. We're not
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  professionals just yet, no, but we will be some day. This conversation
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  took place as the Hardy Boys were on their way up to Tower Mansion.
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  About a week later, a Delia Applegate, who had taken a great fancy
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  to the lads in violent contrast to her dislike of them on the day they
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  had gone to make a search of the old tower, had invited them up
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  to the Tower Mansion for supper. She had also asked them to invite a
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  number of their chums, so Slim Robinson, chet Morton, Biff Hooper,
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  Jerry Gilroy, Phil Cohen, and Tony Prido had all been invited by the
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  brothers to attend. When the Hardy Boys reached the mansion, they found that
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  the others had already arrived. We're waiting for you, shrilled missus Applegate,
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  who was decked out in an ancient yellow gown with remarkable trimmings of black and
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  red. Everybody's hungry. She soon led the way to the dining room,
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  where a long table had been prepared for the boys. They gasped when they
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  saw that array, and Miss Applegate beamed. I know you don't want an
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  old woman like me watching while you eat, she cried, So go right
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  ahead and put your elbows on the table if you wish. There was a
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  scramble for places as a servant came in with the soup, but Frank Hardy
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  sprang to his feet three cheers for Miss Applegate. They were given with vociferous
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  enthusiasm. Miss Applegate blushed with pleasure, and as she left the room,
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  the Hardy Boys and their chums were sitting down to a banquet the like of
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  which they had never seen before. For more than half an hour, they
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  indulged in roast chicken, crisp and brown, huge helpings of fluffy mashed potatoes,
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  pickles, vegetables and salads, pies and puddings to sue every taste.
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  And when the last boy sank back in his chair with a happy sigh,
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  there was still food to spare. I never thought i'd see the day when
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  I'd quit eating while there was still some chicken on the table, murmured chet
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  Morton. But this is the day we have the hardy boys to think for
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  this bread, said Jerry. Let's give them three cheers. The boys roared
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  out their hip Hip Hurrah three times, while Joe and Frank looked acutely uncomfortable.
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  They looked still more uncomfortable when Slim Robinson got up, pushing back his
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  chair. I'd like to say something, fellows, if you don't mind three
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  cheers for Slim, yelled someone. So the boys gave Slim three cheers,
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  and he gulped and blushed. Crimson speech the cry was taken up. Speech
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  speech. I'm not going to make any speech, he said, I only
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  want to say something. Go ahead, I'm not going to hand out any
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  compliments to the hardy boys. Joe and Frank looked greatly relieved. They had
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  been afraid of being embarrassed by Slim's gratitude. Everybody knows what they've done,
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  and everybody knows what it means to me and my family. You bet sure,
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  But I just wanted to clear up one point on behalf of my father.
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  Three cheers for Henry Robinson. He's all right. The three cheers for
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  mister Robinson were perhaps a little weaker than the others, but that was only
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  because some of the boys were beginning to show slight signs of hoarseness by that
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  time. It's about the nine hundred dollars that he got just about the time
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  of the robbery. He couldn't explain it at the time, and it looked
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  bad against him. It doesn't matter where he got it, shouted Biff Hooper.
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  I'll bet he got it honestly anyway, And if any one else says
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  different just let him come outside. No one else said differently. Yes,
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  he got it honestly, of course, said Slim. The money was paid
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  him by a man who owed it to him, but Dad couldn't say anything
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  about it because he promised not to. This man owed two other men besides
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  my father, and those debts should have been paid first, he was afraid
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  the others would sue him if they heard he had paid Dad, so he
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  made my father promise to say nothing. And when my Dad makes a promise,
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  he keeps it. The boys looked at one another to tell the truth.
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  Few of them had thought of the affair of the nine hundred dollars,
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  but now that it was recalled to them, they realized that here was the
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  final angle of the Tower Mansion. Mystery cleared up at last, they cheered
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  slim to the echo. They pounded on the table with their knives, and
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  when heard, Applegate came in to see what the racket was about. They
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  gave him three cheers and made him sit at the head of the table.
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  And that ended the affair of Tower Mansion. But it did not end the
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  career of the Hardy Boys as amateur detectives. They were soon to be called
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  on to help solve another mystery, and the story of their adventures in this
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  case will be told in the next volume of this series, entitled The Hardy
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  Boys. The House on the Cliff speech speech the boys were shouting to her.
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  Applegate, the old stamp collector, got up, smiling. It's been
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  a long time since there's been a crowd of boys in Tower Mansion, he
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  said. I've been in danger of forgetting that I was ever young ones myself.
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  So I want you to come back often. I want you to know
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  that Tower Mansion is always open to the hardy boys and their chums. The
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  hardy boys looked at one another as the crowd about the table broke into a
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  yell of delight. He's a pretty good old scout after all, isn't he
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  said? Frank You bet he is, replied his brother. The end end
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  of chapter twenty four, end of The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon