"Never set eyes on him, till this moment. Wish I had, sir. He's the sort of pupil I could wish for."
Mr Spence bent forward and scanned the features of the man who was attending the Wrykinian.
"Why," he said, "surely that's Bevan—Joe Bevan! I knew him at Cambridge."
"Yes, sir, that's Bevan," replied the instructor. "He teaches boxing at Wrykyn now, sir."
"At Wrykyn—where?"
"Up the river—at the 'Blue Boar', sir," said the instructor, quite innocently—for it did not occur to him that this simple little bit of information was just so much incriminating evidence against Sheen.
Mr Spence said nothing, but he opened his eyes very wide. Recalling his recent conversation with Sheen, he remembered that the boy had told him he had been taking lessons, and also that Joe Bevan, the ex-pugilist, had expressed a high opinion of his work. Mr Spence had imagined that Bevan had been a chance spectator of the boy's skill; but it would now seem that Bevan himself had taught Sheen. This matter, decided Mr Spence, must be looked into, for it was palpable that Sheen had broken bounds in order to attend Bevan's boxing-saloon up the river.
For the present, however, Mr Spence was content to say nothing.
Sheen came up for the second round fresh and confident. His head was clear, and his breath no longer came in gasps. There was to be no rallying this time. He had had the worst of the first round, and meant to make up his lost points.