o the manager and get you sent about your
business--you'd better tell me the truth."

"You see," said Tommy, very slowly, and reluctantly, "that young gent o'
yourn _was_ a gent."

"I tried my very best to render him so," said the Doctor stiffly, "here
is the result--how did you discover he was one, pray?"

"'Cos he acted like a gent," said Tommy; "he took and give me a
'arf-suffering."

"Well, I'll give you another," said the Doctor, "if you can tell me
where he is."

"Thankee, sir, don't you be afraid--you're a gent right enough, too,
though you do 'appen to be a schoolmaster."

"Where is the unhappy boy?" interrupted the Doctor.

"Seems as if I was a roundin' on 'im, like, don't it a'most, sir?" said
Tommy, with too evident symptoms of yielding in his voice. Paul shook so
in his terror that he knocked down a broom or two with a clatter which
froze his blood.

"Not at all," said the Doctor, "not at all, my good fellow;
you're--ahem--advancing the cause of moral order."

"Oh, ah," said Tommy, obviously open to conviction. "Well, if I'm a
doin' all that, I can't go fur wrong, can I? And arter all, we mayn't
like schools or schoolmasters, not over above, but we can't get on
without 'em, I s'pose. But, look ye here, sir--if I goes and tells you
where you can get hold of this here boy, you won't go and wallop him
now, will ye?"

"I can make no bargains," said the Doctor; "I shall act on my own
discretion."

"That's it," said Tommy, unaccountably relieved, "spoke like a merciful
Christian gen'leman; if you don't go actin' on nothing more nor your
discretion, you can't hurt him much, I take it. Well then, since you've
spoke out fair, I don't mind putting you on his track like."

If the door of the cupboard had not been locked, Paul would undoubtedly
have burst out and yielded himself up, to escape the humiliation of
being sold like this by a mercenary and treacherous porter. As it was,
he had to wait till the inevitable words should be spoken.

"Well, you see," went on Tommy, very slowly, as if struggling with the
remnants of a conscience, "it was like this here--he comes up to me, and
says--your young gen'leman, I mean--says he, 'Porter, I wants to 'ide,
I've run away.' And I says to him, says I, 'It's no use your 'anging
about 'ere,' I says, ''cause, if you do, your guv'nor (meanin' no
offence to you, sir) 'll be comin' up and ketchin' of you on the 'op.'
'Right you are, porter,' says he to me, 'what do yo