"He might tell Mr. Harding things about me. He was always asking me questions about Mr. Harding, and I know I told him a lot I ought not to have told. And once I let him look through the glass door into the parlour to see the old secretaire where Mr. Harding keeps his account books and some of his money. I must have been mad, I think, but I hadn't found out what he was really like then."
"How did you find out what he was really like?" Mousey asked wonderingly.
"It was after I had lost the half-crown. I told him I hadn't any more money, and he advised me to help myself to some."
"What did he mean?"
"He meant I should steal from Mr. Harding."
"Oh, John!"
"Yes, he meant I should steal from Mr. Harding," he repeated. "He said if I took it from the secretaire Mr. Harding would never be able to prove it was I who had done it; and if I won the next bet I made I could replace the money, and no one would be any the wiser."
"What did you say? Did you tell him how wicked he was?"
"No; I was frightened. That was the real reason why I made up my mind to have no more to do with him. You won't tell anyone what I've told you, will you?"
"No," Mousey replied, looking at him with eyes full of distress. "Oh, what a wicked, wicked man he must be! Don't you think it would be better to tell Cousin Robert?"