"Duty! Of course it was, lad. But it isn't every boy, or man for the matter of that, who has the moral pluck to confess to a theft even when he sees a friend accused of the act of which he himself is guilty. You relied on his honor and pluck. You were too proud to speak. Go on. I am interested."
"There is little more to tell you, sir," continued Dudley. "It seems that there had been robberies from one of the masters' rooms. I was warned of the fact, and indeed did what I could to put a stop to the matter, for such things are exceedingly disagreeable in a school. But they still continued, and as a result a trap was set for the thief. Money had been disappearing from one of the masters' rooms, and it was hard to say who could take it, for several of the upper school had occasion to go to that room during the day. I was often there, and so were Joyce and other members of the sixth. But you can guess what happened. Some silver was placed in a drawer, the one from which other sums had been taken, and that silver was marked. It disappeared, and promptly the whole school was mustered in its various rooms, and each one ordered to bring out his purse or show the money he possessed. Seven shillings had been stolen, all marked coins. Six of those shillings were found in my purse."
He stopped abruptly, all the bitterness of the old scene returning at once. He recollected how he had produced his little wealth, how he had rolled the silver on to the desk, and how, all of a sudden, the face of the headmaster had changed. He had looked incredulous, then as if deeply pained. A second later he was questioning Dudley in icy tones.
"This is your money?" he asked. "You are sure that it is yours?"
"Quite," was Dudley's easy answer. "It is all that I possess, sir."
"Then it is not yours, sir. Those shillings were stolen from the very drawer from which many thefts have taken place. See for yourself. They are marked. They have been stolen. I am grieved to have to call you a thief. Go to your room at once, sir."
The whole dreadful scene flashed before his eyes. He remembered his own amazement, how the accusation had stunned his senses so that he could not even protest his innocence, and how, without a word, he had gone to his room. And there, what agony of mind he had suffered till the school was assembled, and he was declared the culprit before them all. It was then that Dudley had recovered his courage and found power to speak. Very quietly, and with an earnestness which would have impressed anyone, he declared his innocence.
"I swear that those marked shillings were given me scarcely two hours before my purse was examined. They were given me by one of the boys of this school who owed me six shillings."
"His name?" the headmaster had demanded icily.
"I cannot give it. I am not here to accuse a comrade," Dudley answered firmly.