his cheek. He
must have pulled out the letter with it.

It would not have mattered much had it been an ordinary letter. But it
was not an ordinary one. Far from it. It contained references to Zuker
and Mr. Weevil which might cause no end of mischief were it to get into
the wrong hands.

He did not like the idea of returning to the common room; it was like
swallowing a nauseous draught of medicine. Probably the boys were still
there, laughing over his discomfiture. Yet, nauseous though the draught
was, it had to be swallowed, and it was best to swallow it quickly.

So he again descended to the common room. He faintly hoped that it might
be deserted, but that hope vanished as he reached the room. This time he
heard the voice of Newall. He paused for a moment; then went boldly
forward.

Stanley had gone--he saw that at a glance; so had most of the others;
but Newall, Parfitt, and two or three more had remained, and were
evidently discussing recent events.

They could not have been more startled had a ghost entered, instead of
a being of flesh and blood. Paul searched round the room in the hope of
finding some trace of the missing letter, but found none.

"Dotty!" came the voice of one of the boys, who had by this time
recovered from their surprise at the unexpected return of Paul.

"Looking for the courage that oozed out at his heels," sneered Parfitt.

"I've lost a letter," said Paul, on whom these facetious remarks were
quite lost. "You don't happen to have seen it?"

No one answered him. They stared blankly at him. They did not mind
speaking at him. Speaking to him was quite a different thing.

It was perfectly useless to expect an answer from them; so Paul went
out, feeling far from comfortable. He could only hope that no bad use
would be made of the letter, supposing it had fallen into their hands.

_The Gargoyle Record_ came out next day. Among other items of
information were the following:

"Old flag back to tower. Brought back by 'two P's' of the Fifth. Great
enthusiasm--little waddlers of the Third cheering like lunatics; big
cacklers of the Fifth hissing like geese. Mystery in three volumes. Vol.
I.--How the flag disappeared from Garside. Vol. II.--Where it went to.
Vol. III.--How 'two P's' got it back again. Snorters of the Fifth
getting excited. A commission of inquiry into the conduct of 'two P's.'

"Rumours of a scrum in common room. 'Two P's' again distinguishes
himself. Still living up to hi