It never occurred to him to go deeply into the matter. He took it for granted that the evidence against his ward was convincing, and, that being so, he at once arranged to send him out to Montevideo, where in any case he would have gone after the next term. That done, he said good-by to the lad, gave him some excellent and prosaic advice, and, having seen him safely aboard, promptly dismissed the subject of theft from his mind, and in a short while he had allowed even the memory of his ward to be clouded by those business affairs which were the main object of his existence. He was not an extremely selfish man; but he was one of those business gentlemen who, being bachelors, and immersed in city affairs, give themselves up to them heart and soul, allowing them to take all the time and attention which other men would give to home affairs.
"There! Speak out. I'll listen and tell you what I think," said Mr. Blunt. "I've had trouble myself and know what it is. Tell me the whole tale."
He still looked away over the rail at the tossing sea, for his words, and his sympathy expressed by the gentle grip of his big and powerful fingers, had a strange effect upon Dudley. He had been stunned at first by the disaster which had befallen him. Then he had closed his lips firmly. He had become hard, and had wrapped up his feelings in an impenetrable cloak of silence. This tall Englishman, with his soft, kindly voice, his openly expressed belief in him, and his sympathetic grip, had broken Dudley's hardness and resolution. He gulped at the lump which had suddenly risen in his throat, tears welled up in his eyes and trickled down his cheeks, while a half-suppressed sob escaped him. The sound brought all his manhood back. He drew his hand out of Mr. Blunt's, straightened his back, and dashed the tears from his eyes.
"I will speak," he said. "I have not told a soul up to this, but now I can say safely what I have to say. I am no thief, sir."
"Look at me," came swiftly from his friend. "Look me in the eyes and say that again on your honor."
Mr. Blunt swung round, and now, instead of regarding the sea, stared at our hero. Dudley met his gaze at once, returned his glances without a waver, and spoke with the utmost deliberation.
"I swear on my honor as a gentleman that I am not a thief," he said solemnly. "If you care to hear the tale, I shall be glad to tell it to you. It will help me immensely, for it has been weighing on my mind."
"Then fire away, lad. I'll listen carefully, and let you know what I think at the end. But I say now, too, that you are no thief. I am sure of it. No youngster of your stamp could look me in the eyes las you have done and not be truthful. Fire away, and let me have the whole story."
His cigar was going again by now, and he sent big clouds rushing from his mouth, clouds which were caught at once by the wind and whisked away out over the sea.
"I was at Blackheath, at a school where there were one hundred and eighty boys," said Dudley slowly. "I had been there for five years, and as I have told you it was arranged that I should leave after the next term, and go out to South America. I lived at home, at my guardian's, and saw very little of him. I suppose he paid all my bills, and made provision for pocket money. He was fairly liberal, so that I often had a shilling, and sometimes many, in my pocket to use as I liked. I was a prefect."