"You say you were under the impression that you took your pocket-book home with you, Rexworth?" he said, when the boy had concluded; and Ralph replied—
"Yes, sir. I can say yes to that, though I suppose that I must be mistaken, seeing that I found it safely in my coat-pocket when I went to the dormitory the first thing this morning."
A low murmur went round the school. Some of the boys were evidently convinced that Ralph was guilty, and that he was only striving to screen himself, and their youthful hearts rebelled against such behaviour.
"Hiss, hiss!" "Thief, thief!" ran round, and Ralph started as though he had been struck by a whip.
The doctor struck his bell sharply, and silence followed. The offenders looked somewhat dismayed at their own audacity.
"Silence, there!" he cried. "Is it the custom to call a man guilty before even the whole evidence is heard? What Rexworth says is very true. The facts do seem to unite to condemn him, and yet it is possible that those facts are unworthy of credence."
"Whatever does the Head favour that fellow for?" muttered Elgert, to one of his own friends. But he received a look of disgust and an impatient—
"Oh, shut up! Didn't he pull you out of the river?" That was the second time that morning Horace Elgert had been so rebuked.
"This," the Head continued, "demands the most careful, searching investigation. If Rexworth is guilty, I shall be the last to screen him; if he is innocent, it is but my duty to strive to establish that innocence. If any boy has been wicked enough to deliberately do this for the very purpose of getting this lad into trouble, I most earnestly entreat that boy to think of what he has done, and to confess his fault before this goes farther, and——"
The Head paused and looked round, the door was opened, and Lord Elgert had entered, just in time to overhear his last words.