"The basket?" stammered the boy, hoping to evade the question by gaining time to frame a suitable answer; but, meeting the piercing look of those keen grey eyes, his own fell before it. The whole truth must come out now, and Robin burst into tears. "Oh, Mr. Jonathan!" he sobbed. "I am so glad you know about it! I have been so very very miserable? There it is," he added in a husky tone of voice—"there it is, hidden away under my bed, because I could not take it to Andover Street to-night for cook. But oh, Mr. Jonathan, I know no more than you do what is inside it!"
Then followed a full and free confession of the sin that like a millstone had been weighing him down for so many weeks. Mrs. Campbell entered the room unobserved by her son, so great was his agitation.
She listened in silence for some minutes, then sat down upon a chair, to cover her face with her bands and weep bitterly.
"Oh, Robin, how could you be so wicked?" she cried. "What would father have said if he had been here? Oh, that I should have lived to see my son act so deceitfully!"
A piteous glance at his mother was the only answer he could make.
"Give me the basket," said Jonathan, stretching out a hand, which shook as though palsied. "Robin, you must return with me to Oaklands. I must see the master to-night. There can be no sleep for either of us until this matter is cleared up."
"Oh, Mr. Jonathan, I dare not see master! He will turn me from his service directly he hears what I have done."
"Don't be a coward, Robin! 'Dare and do the right!' is the Christian's motto, whatever the consequences may be," said the old man resolutely. "Master is a just and upright man, and ever a friend to those who need one. Commit your cause to God, and He will plead it for you."
But the boy's agony of mind was so great that he still sought for a subterfuge, and said, "But there may be nothing wrong in the basket. I never looked inside to see what cook put there. She said it was only something for her mother. Do open it and see."
"Not for the world," replied Jonathan. "Nobody but master shall cut that cord. Ah, Robin, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you like wheat; but the Lord Jesus is praying for you, I am sure of that, though you are now too miserable to pray for yourself. If there was nothing wrong about that basket, there would have been no need to send it away secretly. You know that as well as I do. I quite believe you did not know what terrible trouble you were bringing upon yourself when you promised to obey that dishonest woman; but that is another matter altogether."