iet
tones, "what is it?"

"Maclean gave me four hundred pounds to put in the bank, sir," began
John; "and I'm sorry to say that I've been robbed of it!"

"Robbed of it?" cried Mr. Nicholson, with a strong rising inflection.
"Robbed? Be careful what you say, John!"

"I can't say anything else, sir; I was just robbed of it," said John, in
desperation, sullenly.

"And where and when did this extraordinary event take place?" inquired
the father.

"On the Calton Hill about twelve last night."

"The Calton Hill?" repeated Mr. Nicholson. "And what were you doing
there at such a time of the night?"

"Nothing, sir," says John.

Mr. Nicholson drew in his breath.

"And how came the money in your hands at twelve last night?" he asked
sharply.

"I neglected that piece of business," said John, anticipating comment;
and then in his own dialect: "I clean forgot all about it."

"Well," said his father, "it's a most extraordinary story. Have you
communicated with the police?"

"I have," answered poor John, the blood leaping to his face. "They think
they know the men that did it. I daresay the money will be recovered, if
that was all," said he, with a desperate indifference, which his father
set down to levity; but which sprang from the consciousness of worse
behind.

"Your mother's watch, too?" asked Mr. Nicholson.

"O, the watch is all right!" cried John. "At least, I mean I was coming
to the watch--the fact is, I am ashamed to say, I--I had pawned the
watch before. Here is the ticket; they didn't find that; the watch can
be redeemed; they don't sell pledges." The lad panted out these phrases,
one after another, like minute-guns; but at the last word, which rang in
that stately chamber like an oath, his heart failed him utterly; and the
dreaded silence settled on father and son.

It was broken by Mr. Nicholson picking up the pawn-ticket: "John Froggs,
85 Pleasance," he read; and then turning upon John, with a brief flash
of passion and disgust, "Who is John Froggs?" he cried.

"Nobody," said John. "It was just a name."

"An _alias_," his father commented.

"O! I think scarcely quite that," said the culprit; "it's a form, they
all do it, the man seemed to understand; we had a great deal of fun over
the name----"

He paused at that, for he saw his father wince at the picture like a
man physically struck; and again there was silence.

"I do not think," said Mr. Nicholson at last, "that I am an ungenerous
father.