d a good while before, but it only came to David's
knowledge at that time.

Mr Caldwell had just returned from one of his frequent business
journeys, and one night David lingered beyond the usual hour that he
might see him and walk down the street with him as far as their way lay
in the same direction; and it was while they were going towards home
together that Mr Caldwell told him of something very unpleasant that
had occurred in the office. A small sum of money had been missed, and
the circumstances connected with its loss led Mr Caldwell to believe
that it had been taken by some one belonging to the office. Mr
Caldwell could not give his reasons for this opinion, nor did he say
much about it, but he questioned David closely about those who had been
coming and going, and seemed troubled and annoyed about the affair.
David was troubled, too, and tried to recall anything that might throw
light upon the painful matter. But he did not succeed.

The circumstances, as David learned them then and afterwards, were
these: Mr Oswald, as treasurer for one of the benevolent societies of
the town, had, on a certain day of the preceding month, received a sum
of money, part of which could not be found or accounted for. The rest
of the sum paid into his hands was found in that compartment of his
private safe allotted to the papers of the society. A receipt for the
whole sum was in the hands of the person who had paid the money, and an
entry in the society's books corresponded to the sum named in this
receipt. Mr Oswald was certain that he had not made use of any part of
it, because such was never his custom. The accounts of the society were
kept quite distinct from all others, and all arrangements with regard to
them were made by Mr Oswald himself. It did not make the loss a matter
of less importance that the sum missed was small. Nor did it make Mr
Oswald and Mr Caldwell less anxious to discover what had become of it.

The loss had not been discovered until some time after it had taken
place, when the quarterly making up of the society's accounts had been
taken in hand, and Mr Oswald could not remember much about the
circumstances. The date of the receipt showed the time. The person who
paid the money remembered that part of it had been in small silver
coins, made up in packets, and this was the part that had disappeared.

All this was not told by Mr Caldwell that first afternoon. It came to
David's knowledge, little