"You had better tell us, then," said his mother.
"So I will. Don't get too excited, now. What do you think of an interview with Sir Thomas Arkell in the magistrates' room? I thought you'd open your eyes. O my—"
"Never mind your aunt," said Jim, laughing; "we're dying to hear about the interview."
"Well, while you were talking to Mr. Broad, a policeman came up and asked if I was Richard Boden. When I told him I was, he said, 'Come this way. Sir Thomas wishes to speak to you.' He was a solemn old chap, and marched along like a mute at a funeral. I began to feel frightened."
"I wish I'd been there to see you, Dicky," said Mrs. Hartland.
"Well, it really was enough to make me nervous," declared Dick. "However, at last he knocked at a door; some one said, 'Come in,' and there was Sir Thomas standing with his back to the fire.
"'Ah,' said he—and he isn't half as fierce as he looks—'are you Richard Boden?'
"'Yes, sir.'
"'Well, I wanted to say I was very pleased with you this morning. Where do you go to school?' And when I told him, he said, 'I suppose your master can give you a good character?'
"'I think he will, sir,' I answered; and then he wrote down my name and the name of the school in a notebook.