"There stands the prisoner."
"Charles S——th!" ejaculated the uncle: "my own nephew! execrable villain!"
And he looked at the youth with bated breath and fiery eyes.
There was silence for a few minutes. The officials looked pitiful. The mother hung down her head; and little Jeannie leered significantly, while she took the strings of her bonnet, tied them, undid them again, and flung away the ends till they went round her neck; nay, the playful minx was utterly dead to the condition of her brother who stood there, ashamed to look any one in the face, if he was not rather like an exhumed corpse; and we would not be far out if we said that she even laughed as she saw the curmudgeon staring like an angry mastiff at the brother she loved so well. But then, was she not an eccentric thing, driven hither and thither by vagrant impulses, and with thoughts in her head which nobody could understand?
"Was this the man who robbed you, Mr. Henderson?"
"Yes, the very man; now when I recollect. Stay, was there any handkerchief found on him?"
"Yes; that," said an officer, producing a red silk handkerchief.
"Why, I gave him that," said Mr. Henderson. "It cost me 4s. 6d.; and it was that he had over his face when he robbed me of my hard-earned money!"
"It is true," said Charles; "and sorry am I for the frolic, which my companions forced me into."
"A frolic with five pounds at its credit," said Mr. Henderson. "Where is the money, sir?"