"Well?" said Bernard, dryly.

Jerry smiled amiably. "I'd have chucked Mr. Beryl and offered to prove your innocence if you gave me the two thousand. No," added Jerry, with a charming smile, "I'd have asked three thousand from you."

The young men looked at one another in wonder at this precocious criminality. "Can you prove my innocence?" asked Bernard.

"Yes," said Jerry.

"You know who killed Sir Simon?"

"Yes, I do. But I won't tell till I have seen Beryl," and this was all they could get out of him, in spite of threats of further whippings and cajolings. So Jerry was taken back to his room, and Bernard arranged with Conniston that the boy should be taken to London that very day.

"And then, when Durham lets me know, I'll surrender myself. But I wonder who killed my grandfather after all."

"Julius Beryl," said Conniston.

"Hum! I don't know. This boy seems to have some idea. I tell you what, Dick, I shouldn't be surprised if the boy did it himself."