"Let me impress upon you, Rexworth," said the doctor, "that we do not look at the matter in that light. We sent for you because we knew that you were near the place--in the room, indeed. The matter must be made public, and questions must be asked; and it is natural that, since you are the only one who was near the place----" "I was not the only one, sir," he answered quietly. "No, there is that other boy whom you say ran past you in the dark; but, my lad, unless something can be found out concerning that boy, we have only your bare word; and suspicion is bound to fall mostly upon yourself. That is why we both felt that you should be seen privately, before the circumstance was made known to the whole school. That is all. You can go!" "It is impossible that such a boy can be a thief, sir!" cried Mr. Delermain to the Head, when Ralph had gone. "I would stake my life upon his honesty!" "I feel somewhat the same, Delermain," answered the Head. "But the note is gone, and he is the only one known to have been near. The school will not view the thing in that light." "I should rather that the school did not know, sir," suggested the master; but at this Dr. Beverly shook his head. "No, no, Delermain, I will not have that. We will have no favouritism--no keeping things back. If it was my own son who was implicated, the thing should be gone on with. For the sake of every one concerned, it must be gone on with." But what a sensation it caused when the doctor made the announcement to the school! He had classes stopped, and all the school assembled in the hall; and there, standing at his great desk, he spoke to the lads, telling them that the banknote was lost. "It can hardly have been mislaid," he said, "for Mr. Delermain put it beneath a heavy paper-weight; and upon his return he found that weight had been moved. Now, there are two things I want to impress upon you all, very solemnly. Some one must have done this--some one acting, perhaps, under a sudden temptation; some one, perhaps, who did not understand the full gravity and magnitude of his offence. Let that some one come and own his fault to me, like a man and a Christian should do. Remember, also, that the number of that note is known. It cannot be parted with, or converted into money, without eventually being traced, even through successive stages, back to the one who originally parted with it. "Then, remember also, that there is one of your number who is particularly affected by this loss; there is one boy who knew this note was there, and who is known to have been near the study during Mr. Delermain's absence. A boy who frankly explains what took him there, and who declares that some one passed him hurriedly in the darkness of the corridor. That boy is Ralph Rexworth, and the boy who passed by him must undoubtedly be the thief!"