"Have you lost a letter, Harley?" asked Mr. Merton, at length, his attention being attracted.
"Yes, sir," answered Seabrooke.
"How was that? Was it a letter of importance?" asked the gentleman,
"Yes, sir, a letter of importance, a letter to my father," answered his junior, but in a tone which told the older man that he did not care to be questioned further on that subject.
To his father!
Percy's fork dropped from his hand with a clatter upon his plate, and Lewis' face took an expression of blank dismay which, fortunately for him, no one observed.
His father! Had they then run all this risk, been guilty of this meanness, only to delay, to destroy a letter to Seabrooke's father, while that to the doctor, exposing their delinquencies, had gone on its way unmolested.
CHAPTER V.
ROBBING THE MAIL.
"Neville and Flagg, I want to speak to you. Will you come into the junior recitation-room?" said Seabrooke, as soon after supper as he could find opportunity of speaking apart to the two terrified culprits.