DURING the time which had elapsed between the departure of Frank Norris from England, and his arrival at the gold-diggings in California, much had happened at home which he would have been interested to learn had he maintained any communication with his relatives there. On the morning when Frank had been accused by Dr. Litter of abstracting the note from his table, the latter had, as he had informed Frank he intended to do, sent a note to Captain Bayley informing him that a most painful circ.u.mstance had taken place with reference to his nephew, and begging him to call upon him between twelve and one.

Captain Bayley had done so, and had, as Fred Barkley stated, been furious at the news which the Doctor conveyed to him; his fury, however, being in no degree directed towards his nephew, but entirely against the head-master for venturing to bring so abominable an accusation against Frank.

The evidence which Dr. Litter adduced had no effect whatever in staying his wrath, and so vehement and angry was the old officer, that Dr.

Litter was obliged to ring the bell and order the servant to show him out. From Dean's Yard he took a cab, and drove direct to his solicitor, and requested him instantly to take proceedings against the head-master for defamation of character.

"But, Captain Bayley," the lawyer urged, "we must first see whether this gentleman had any reasonable cause for his belief. If the evidence is what may be considered as strong, we must accept his action as taken _bona fide_."

"Don't tell me, sir," Captain Bayley exclaimed angrily. "What do I care for evidence? Of course he told me a long rigmarole story, but he could not have believed it himself. No one but a fool could believe my nephew Frank guilty of theft; the idea is preposterous, it was as much as I could do to restrain myself from caning him when he was speaking."

The lawyer smiled inwardly, for Dr. Litter was a tall, stately man, six feet two in height, while Captain Bayley was a small, slight figure, by no means powerful when in his prime, and now fully twenty years the senior of the head-master.

"Well, Captain Bayley," he said, "in the first place it is necessary that I should know the precise accusation which this gentleman has brought against your nephew. Will you be good enough to repeat to me, as nearly as you can, the statement which he made, as, of course, if we proceed to legal measures, we must be exact in the matter?"

"Well, this is about the story he told me," Captain Bayley said, more calmly. "In the first place, it seems that the lad broke bounds one night, and went with a man named Perkins--who is a prize-fighter, and who I know gave him lessons in boxing, for I gave Frank five pounds last half to pay for them--to a meeting of these Chartist blackguards somewhere in the New Cut.

"Well, there was a row there, as there naturally would be at such a place, and it seems Frank knocked down some Radical fellow--a tailor, I believe--and broke his nose. Well, you know, I am not saying this was right; still, you know, lads will be lads, and I used to be fond of getting into a row myself when I was young, for I could spar in those days pretty well, I can tell you, Griffith. I would have given a five-pound note to have seen Frank set to with that Radical tailor.

Still, I dare say, if the lad had told me about it I should have got into a pa.s.sion and blown him up."

"I shouldn't be surprised at all," the lawyer said drily.

"No. Well that would do him no harm; he knows me, and he knows that I am peppery. Well, it seems this fellow found out who he was, and threatened to report the thing to the head-master, in which case this Dr. Litter said he should have expelled him for being out of bounds, a thing which in itself I call monstrous. Now, here is where Frank was wrong. He ought to have come straight to me and told me the whole affair, and got his blowing-up and his money. Instead of that, he asked three or four of the other boys--among them my nephew Fred--to lend him the money, but they were all out of funds. Well, somebody, it seems, sent Frank a ten-pound note in an envelope, with the words, 'From a friend,' and no more. Frank showed the envelope to the others, and they all agreed that it was a sort of G.o.dsend, and Frank sent the note to the tailor. Now it seems that the day before Frank got the note, the head-master, when he was hearing his form, had put a ten-pound note, with some other things, on the table, and being called out, he, like a careless old fool, left them lying there.

"Some time afterwards he missed the note, and does not remember taking it up from the table; still, he says, he did not suspect any of the boys of his form of taking it, and thinking that he had dropt it on the way to his house, he stopped the note at the bank, happening to have its number. A few days afterwards the note was presented; it was traced to the tailor, who admitted having received it from Frank; and would you believe it, sir, this man now pretends to believe that my nephew stole it from the table, and sent it to himself in an envelope. It's the most preposterous thing I ever heard."

Mr. Griffith looked grave.

"Of course, Captain Bayley, having met your nephew at your house several times, I cannot for a moment believe him guilty of taking the note; still, I must admit that the evidence is strongly circ.u.mstantial, and were it a stranger who was accused, I should say at once the thing looked nasty."

"Pooh! nonsense, Griffith," the old officer said angrily; "there's nothing in it, sir--nothing whatever. Somebody found the note kicking about, I dare say, and didn't know who it belonged to; he knew Frank was in a corner, and sent it to him. The thing is perfectly natural."

"Yes," the lawyer a.s.sented doubtfully; "but the question is, Who did know it? Was the fact of your nephew requiring the money generally known in the school?"

"No," Captain Bayley admitted. "The doctor examined the four boys before Frank. They all declared that they knew nothing of the note, and that they had not mentioned the circ.u.mstance to a soul; but my opinion is that one of them is a liar."

"It is certainly necessary to believe," Mr. Griffith said slowly, "that one of them is either a liar or a thief. Of course there may be some other solution of the matter, but the only one that I can see, just at the present moment, is this: Your nephew is the sort of lad to be extremely popular among his schoolmates; either one of these four boys took the note from the master's table, with the good-natured but most mistaken idea of getting him out of a sc.r.a.pe, or they must have mentioned his need of money to some of their school-fellows, one of whom finding the note, perhaps in the yard, where the head-master may have dropped it, sent it to Frank to relieve him of the difficulty.

"These are possible solutions of the mystery, at any rate. But if you will take my advice, Captain Bayley, you will not, in the present state of affairs, take the steps which you propose to me against Dr. Litter.

It will be time enough to do that when your nephew's innocence is finally and incontestably proved. Of course," he said, seeing that his listener was about to break out again, "you and I, knowing him, know that he is innocent; but others who do not know him might entertain some doubt upon the subject, and a jury might consider that the Doctor was justified, with the evidence before him, in acting as he did, in which case an immense deal of damage might be done by making the matter a subject of general talk."

With some difficulty Captain Bayley was persuaded to allow his intention to rest for a while.

"It is late now," he said, "but I shall go and see Frank to-morrow. I wish I had seen him this afternoon before I came to you. However, I have no doubt when I get home I shall find a letter from him--not defending himself, of course, as he would know that to be unnecessary, but telling me the story in his own way."

But no letter came that evening, to Captain Bayley's great irritation.

He told Alice Hardy the whole circ.u.mstances, and she was as indignant as himself, and warmly agreed that the head-master should be punished for his unjust suspicions.

"And do you say he is really going to be expelled to-morrow?" she asked, in a tone of horror.

"So the fellow said, my dear; but he shall smart for it, and the laws of the land shall do Frank justice."

At half-past nine the next morning Fred Barkley arrived at Captain Bayley's.

"Well," his uncle exclaimed, as he entered, "I suppose you have been sent to tell me they have got to the bottom of this rigmarole affair."

"No, uncle," Fred said, "I have, I am sorry to say, been sent to tell you that Frank last night left his boarding-house and is not to be found."

Captain Bayley leapt from his seat in great wrath.

"The fool! the idiot! to run away like a coward instead of facing it out; and not a line or a message has he sent to me. Did you know, sir, that your cousin was going to run away?"

Fred hesitated.

"Yes, uncle, I knew that he was going, and did my best to dissuade him, but it was useless."

Captain Bayley walked up and down the room with quick steps, uttering exclamations testifying his anger and annoyance.

"Has he got any money?" he said suddenly, halting before Fred. "Did he get any money from you?"

Fred hesitated again, and then said.

"Well, uncle, since you insist upon knowing, I did let him have twenty pounds which I got for the sale of my books."

"I believe, sir," the old officer said furiously, "that you encouraged him in this step, a step which I consider fatal to him."

Fred hesitated again, and then said.

"Well, uncle, I am sorry that you should be so angry about it, but I own that I did not throw any obstacle in the way."

"You did not, sir," Captain Bayley roared, "and why did you not? Are you a fool too? Don't you see that this running away instead of facing matters out cannot but be considered, by people who do not know Frank, as a proof of his guilt, a confession that he did not dare to stay to face his accusers?"

Fred was silent.

"Answer me, sir," Captain Bayley said; "don't stand there without a word to explain your conduct. Do you or do you not see that this cowardly flight will look like a confession of guilt?"

"I did see that, uncle," Fred said, "but I thought that better than a public expulsion."

"Oh! you did, did you?" his uncle said sarcastically, "when you knew that if he had stopped quietly at home we should have proved his innocence in less than no time."

Fred made no reply.

"Do you think we shouldn't have proved his innocence?" roared his uncle.

"I am sorry to say anything which is displeasing to you, uncle, but I fear that you would never have proved Frank's innocence."

The words seemed to have a sobering effect on Captain Bayley. The blood seemed to die out of his face; he put one hand on a chair, as if to steady himself, while he looked fixedly in his nephew's face.

"Do you mean, Fred," he said, in a low voice, "do you mean that you have a doubt of Frank's innocence?"