Nid and Nod by Ralph Henry Barbour — Read

Ned didn't get much studying done, though. Instead, he spent most of the half-hour remaining before the examination in trying to solve the mystery of the stolen car and Laurie's part in the affair. It wasn't like Laurie to indulge in a prank so mischievous, and he could scarcely believe that Laurie had taken part in the escapade. Still, he had the evidence of his own senses. He had seen Laurie enter by the window; and, too, he recalled the latter's stated desire to drive Mr. Wells's car. At home in California Laurie was forever begging the wheel away from his father and was never happier than when steering the big car along the smooth roads about Santa Lucia. But, if Laurie had taken Mr. Wells's roadster, who had been with him? He wished that Laurie hadn't told a lie to the Doctor. That, too, was something very unlike Laurie. Of course, as he had said afterward, the question had been sudden and unexpected, and he had said the first thing that came into his mind, but that didn't excuse the lie.

Ned's refusal to answer had been made in the effort to shift suspicion from Laurie to himself, but he wondered now if it would not have been as well to tell the truth. His self-sacrifice hadn't helped his brother much, after all, for Laurie was still suspected of complicity. The affair would probably end in the suspension of them both, perhaps in their expulsion. It was all a sorry mess, and Ned hadn't discovered any solution of it when ten o'clock came.