One word remains to be added. If this were an ordinary tale, it would be natural that the mystery of the stolen paper should be solved. It will not be solved here. Life is full of unsolved mysteries, fiction is not. This is one of the ways in which fiction differs from life. No new fact to prove or disprove Gerald’s innocence ever came to Mr. Brandiston’s ears. But in after-days, if allusion was made to the mystery of the stolen examination paper, the butler used to say with bated breath that he knew nothing--he did not--but that, if he must say what he thought, he had reason to think that Mr. Brandiston, being disturbed in the moment of placing the examination papers in his drawer, might have let one paper drop on to the floor; that the housemaid, who came in as soon as he had left the study, might have gathered it up with the papers and letters which were strewn about in or near the waste-paper basket, and that it might have been used a day or two afterwards to light a fire. Who knows? Who will ever know? CHAPTER VIII DRIFTING APART The year following Harry Venniker’s illness was a year remarkable in the life of each of the two friends whose history forms the subject of this narrative. Both, though in different ways, attained the summit of their ambition. Both for a moment shone pre-eminently in the eyes of their schoolfellows. It need not be said that such distinction appeared more natural to Harry Venniker than to Gerald Eversley; but to both it was exquisitely delightful. Harry Venniker was the first to enjoy it. He did not return to school after his illness until the beginning of the summer term. It was thought, on medical grounds, to be desirable that he should not expose himself to the piercing winds of February or March at St. Anselm’s. By the beginning of the next term he was restored to perfect health, and his reappearance was heartily welcomed by the generous enthusiasm of his schoolfellows. There was a special interest attaching to his return; for he was a left-handed bowler, as has been already said, and the school eleven was thought to be weak this year in bowling. It was believed, therefore, that he would have a good chance of obtaining a place in it. But in the early matches of the year he failed to ‘come off’; it was supposed that his illness had told upon his strength, and though he was tried in most of the matches, the vacant places in the eleven were all filled up in the course of the term, except two, and he had not yet been told to ‘get his flannels.’