made, and quarrelled hotly with Harry concerning it.

"I am disappointed in you altogether, Harry. I have looked upon you as
being a real friend of Frank, and now you desert him directly his enemy
says a few soft words to you. I despise such friendship, and I don't
want to have anything more to say to you."

In vain Harry protested. The girl flung herself out of the room in deep
anger, and thenceforth, for a long time, Harry was made to feel that
although she wished to be civil to him as her guardian's grandson, yet
that the bond of union between them was entirely broken. Harry himself
had lost no time in speaking to his grandfather on behalf of Frank.

"My dear Harry," the old man said, "my faith in his innocence was as
strong as yours, and, crushing as the proofs seemed to be, I would never
have doubted him had he defended himself. But he did not; he never sent
me a line to ask me to suspend my judgment or to declare his innocence;
he ran away like a thief at night, and, although Fred generously tried
to soften the fact to me, there is no doubt he admitted his guilt to
him. Still, after the lesson I had in your mother's case, I would
forgive him did I know where he was.

"I do not say, Harry, that I would restore him to his place in my
affection and confidence, that of course would be impossible; but I
would willingly send him a cheque for a handsome amount, say for five
thousand pounds, to establish him in business, or set him up in a farm
in one of the colonies."

"That is no use, grandfather," Harry said, "if he is innocent--as I most
firmly believe him to be, in spite of everything against him, and shall
believe him to be to my dying day, unless he himself tells me that he
was guilty--he will not accept either your forgiveness or your money.
What I wish is that he could be found. I wish that I could see him, or
that you could see him, face to face, and that we could hear from his
own lips what he has to say. He might, at least, account for his foolish
running away instead of facing it out.

"We do not know how desperate he might have been at being unable to
clear himself from the charge brought against him. Remember, he could
not have known how hotly you were working on his behalf, and may have
believed himself altogether deserted. He may account for not having
written to you. And we must remember, grandfather--mind I do not share
all Alice's prejudice, and have no inclination in any way to doubt the
honesty