three or four of the
other boys--among them my nephew Fred--to lend him the money, but they
were all out of funds. Well, somebody, it seems, sent Frank a ten-pound
note in an envelope, with the words, 'From a friend,' and no more. Frank
showed the envelope to the others, and they all agreed that it was a
sort of godsend, and Frank sent the note to the tailor. Now it seems
that the day before Frank got the note, the head-master, when he was
hearing his form, had put a ten-pound note, with some other things, on
the table, and being called out, he, like a careless old fool, left them
lying there.

"Some time afterwards he missed the note, and does not remember taking
it up from the table; still, he says, he did not suspect any of the boys
of his form of taking it, and thinking that he had dropt it on the way
to his house, he stopped the note at the bank, happening to have its
number. A few days afterwards the note was presented; it was traced to
the tailor, who admitted having received it from Frank; and would you
believe it, sir, this man now pretends to believe that my nephew stole
it from the table, and sent it to himself in an envelope. It's the most
preposterous thing I ever heard."

Mr. Griffith looked grave.

"Of course, Captain Bayley, having met your nephew at your house several
times, I cannot for a moment believe him guilty of taking the note;
still, I must admit that the evidence is strongly circumstantial, and
were it a stranger who was accused, I should say at once the thing
looked nasty."

"Pooh! nonsense, Griffith," the old officer said angrily; "there's
nothing in it, sir--nothing whatever. Somebody found the note kicking
about, I dare say, and didn't know who it belonged to; he knew Frank was
in a corner, and sent it to him. The thing is perfectly natural."

"Yes," the lawyer assented doubtfully; "but the question is, Who did
know it? Was the fact of your nephew requiring the money generally known
in the school?"

"No," Captain Bayley admitted. "The doctor examined the four boys before
Frank. They all declared that they knew nothing of the note, and that
they had not mentioned the circumstance to a soul; but my opinion is
that one of them is a liar."

"It is certainly necessary to believe," Mr. Griffith said slowly, "that
one of them is either a liar or a thief. Of course there may be some
other solution of the matter, but the only one that I can see, just at
the present moment, is this: Your nep