picking up books at sales in the neighbourhood and sending them to him; he had given eighteen shillings for it. This morning I have called upon the man, whose name is White, accompanied by a constable. He admitted at ence that he had sent the book to York, and said that he bought it from some one about a month ago. His customer came late, and as White is short-sighted, and there was only a tallow-candle burning in the shop, he said that he should not know him again, and could say nothing about his age; however, I shall call him in; he is now outside with the constable. I am sure that for your own sakes you will not object to his taking a look at you.'
Mr. Porson went to the door, and the constable and White entered. The chief constable, when Mr. Porson had called upon him to ask for one of his men to accompany
him to the dealer's, had told him that White bore a very bad reputation. He was suspected of being the medium through whom stolen goods in that part of Yorkshire were sent up to London for disposal. A highwayman who had been caught and executed at York, had in his confession stated that this man had acted as his go-between for the disposal of the watches and other articles he took from travellers, and White's premises had then been thoroughly searched by the constables; but as nothing suspicious was found, and there was only the unsupported confessions of the highwayman against him, he had got off scot-free. ' I don't think you will get anything out of him, Mr. Porson,' the constable said. 'The fact that he has been trusted by these fellows shows that he is not a man to peach upon those with whom he deals; and in the next place he would know well enough that if any one were convicted of stealing this book he would be liable to a prosecution as receiver; and though we could scarcely get a conviction against him, as we could not prove that he knew that it was stolen, it would do him no good.'
The boys all stood up in a line. ' I will look at 'em, sir,' White said; 'but, as I have told you, I should not know the man as I bought that book from, from Adam. Anyhow none of these little ones couldn't be he. If it weren't a man, he were as big as a man. You don't suppose an honest tradesman would buy an expensive book like that from a kid.'
So saying he placed a pair of horn spectacles on his nose and walked round the line.
* I don't see any one here whose face I ever see before as far as I knows; but bless you, the man as I bought it of, might have had hair all over his face, and I be none the wiser looking at him across that counter of mine in the dark.'
'Thank you,' Mr. Porson said; 'then it is of no use troubling you further. I have got my book back; but I confess that this affords me but small gratification in comparison to that which I should feel if I could unravel this mystery.'
The discovery of the book reopened the interest in the matter, and nothing else was talked of that evening in the playground.
'Ripon,' Ned said, putting his arm in that of the head-boy, ' I want to tell you a thing that has been in my mind for the last three weeks; mind, I don't say that there's anything in it, and I hate to think harm of any one. There is another thing; he and I ain't good friends. If it hadn't been for that I should have spoken to you before; but I was afraid that it would look like a piece of dirty spite on my part; but I do think now that as head-boy you ought to know, and I want your advice whether I ought to say anything about it or not.'
'What a long-winded chap you are, Sankey! What is it all about?'
'Well, you know, Ripon, when we got up that subscription for the cricket things, Mather didn't give anything. He said he had no money.'
'No; and he hadn't any,' Ripon said, 'for I had only
the day before lent him twopence to buy some string, and he paid me when he got his allowance on Saturday.'
' Well, a day or two after that I came back after tea for a book that I had left behind me, and as I came in at the gate there Mather was standing at the corner talking to Mother Brown. He had his back to the door, and they didn't see me. She was talking loud and angry and I couldn't help hearing what she said.'
' Well, what did she say ?' Ripon said rather impatiently.
' She said, 'You have disappointed me over and over again, and if you don't pay me that ten shillings you borrowed of me last half, and the bill for the cakes, by Saturday, I will see the master and tell him all about it.' I didn't hear any more; but on the Saturday I saw him go up to her in the field and pay her something. Of course I don't know what it was; not all, I think, by the manner in which she took it; still, I suppose it was enough to content her. About ten days afterwards we heard the book was missing. It didn't strike me at the time; but afterwards, when I thought of it, I remembered that the last time Porson brought it out was on the Thursday, which was the day after Mather had been speaking to Mother Brown. Now, of course, Ripon, I don't actually suspect Mather of taking the book; still it is curious its being missing just at the time he wanted money so badly. He may have got the money from home, or he may have borrowed it from some other fellow.'
' No,' Ripon said positively, ' I am sure Mather has
had no letter, because I always distribute the letters, and Mather's people never write to him; and I am sure there was no fellow in the school had more than a shilling or two at the outside at that time. Why didn't you tell me before, Sankey?'
' I didn't like to, because everyone knows Mather and I are not good friends; then I thought perhaps Mather might be able to explain it all right, and I should have cut a nice figure if he could; then at the time when I thought of it, and had got the dates right, the first excitement had died out and I thought we might hear no more of it and it would be forgotten; but now that the book has been found and the whole thing has come up fresh again I thought it better to tell you all about it and ask you what you would advise me to do.'
Ripon did not answer for some time; then he said:
' I am sure I don't know, Ned; I will think it over till to-morrow. You have not said anything about it to anyone else?'
' Not to a soul. I hesitated whether I should tell you or father, but he wouldn't understand how boys think of these things so well as you do; so I thought as you were head of the school it was best you should know.'
' I wish you hadn't told me,' Ripon grumbled. ' I am sure I don't know what's best to do; M and he turned away and began to pace the yard moodily up and down.
'The only thing I have decided,' he said to Ned the next day, ' is to ask Mother Brown myself how much Mather paid her. We may as well settle that question first.'
As this was Wednesday and the cake-woman was coming that evening there was not long to wait. Ripon chose a time when most of the boys had made their purchases and the old woman was alone.
' Don't you give too much tick to any of the fellows, Mother Brown,' he began. 'You know it isn't always easy to get money that's owing.'
' I should think not, Master Ripon; I wish they would always pay money down as you do. There's Master Mather, he been owing me money ever since last half. He borrowed ten shillings of me and promised solemn he would pay at the end of the week, and he has only paid five shillings yet, a month ago, and that was only 'cause I told him I would tell the master about him; there's that five shillings, and seven shillings and eightpence for cakes and things; but I have been giving him a piece of my mind this afternoon; and if I don't get that other five shillings by Saturday, sure enough I will speak to t'maister about it. No one can say as Mother Brown is hard on boys, and I am always ready to wait reasonable; but I can't abear lies, and when I lent that ten shillings I expected it was going to be paid punctual.'
' Then he knows you are going to speak to Mr. Porson on Saturday if he doesn't pay up another five shillings?'
' He knows it,' the old woman said nodding. ' When I says a thing I mean it. So he had best pay up.'
When Ripon met Ned next day he said: ' I talked to her last night. Mather paid her five shillings, and she has told him if he doesn't pay her the other five by
Saturday she will speak to Porson; so I think the best plan is to wait till then and see what comes of it. She will tell the whole story and Porson will learn it without our interference, and can think what he likes about it.'
Relieved in mind at finding that there was a prospect of his avoiding the decision whether or not to inform the master of his suspicions, Ned went to his desk. When afternoon school began Mr. Porson said gravely:
' Boys, when you came back from the field did you all go straight to the washing-room to wash your hands before dinner?'
There was a chorus of surprised assent.
