'I thought it right,' he continued, 'to lay before him these facts at the outset. If he is innocent, I thought, he will be the better able to prove his innocence, and perhaps to find the guilty person. If he is guilty, he may be led to confession or restitution. The facts about the cheque book and the safe are very clear. I am certain that the safe has not been opened by any other key. The only persons who have had access to it are Checkley and your son Athelstan. As for Checkley--he couldn't do it, he could not possibly do it. The thing is quite beyond him.' Mrs. Arundel groaned. 'This is terrible!' she said. 'Meantime, the notes are numbered: they may be traced: they are stopped: we shall certainly find the criminal by means of those notes.' 'Mr. Dering'--Mrs. Arundel rose and laid her hand on his--'you are our very old friend. Tell me--if this wretched boy goes away--if he gives back the money that remains--if I find the rest--will there be--any further--investigation?' 'To compound a felony is a crime. It is, however, one of those crimes which men sometimes commit without repentance or shame. My dear lady, if he will confess and restore--we shall see.' Mrs. Arundel drove home again. She came away fully persuaded in her own mind that her son--her only son--and none other, must be that guilty person. She knew Mr. Dering's room well: she had sat there hundreds of times: she knew the safe: she knew old Checkley. She perceived the enormous improbability of this ancient clerk's doing such a thing. She knew, again, what temptations assail a young man in London: she saw what her Trustee thought of it: and she jumped to the conclusion that her son--and none other--was the guilty person. She even saw how he must have done it: she saw the quick look while Mr. Dering's back was turned: the snatching of the cheque book: the quick replacing it. Her very keenness of judgment helped her to the conviction. Women less clever would have been slower to believe. Shameful, miserable termination of all her hopes for her boy's career! But that she could think of afterwards. For the moment the only thing was to get the boy away--to induce him to confess--and to get him away. He was calmer when she got home, but he was still talking about the thing: he would wait till the right man was discovered: then he would have old Dering on his knees. The thing would be set right in a few days. He had no fear of any delay. He was quite certain that it was Checkley--that old villain. Oh! He couldn't do it by himself, of course--nobody could believe that of him. He had accomplices--confederates--behind him. Checkley's part of the job was to steal the cheque book and give it to his confederates and share the swag. 'Well, mother?' he asked. His mother sat down. She looked pale and wretched. 'Mother,' cried Hilda, the elder sister. 'Quick! What has happened? What does Mr. Dering say?' 'He accuses nobody,' she replied in a hard dry voice. 'But----'