He made himself busy in the garden, too, and gave little Dick Lacy his
accustomed lesson in writing and book-keeping as regularly as usual.
But, through all his work and all his amusements, he carried with him a
sense of discomfort. He never could forget that all was not right
between him and his master, though he could not guess the reason. He
seemed to see him oftener than usual these days. He sometimes overtook
him on his way home; and, once or twice, when he was working in the
garden, he saw him cross the bridge and pass the house. Once he came at
night to the house about some business, which, he said, had been
forgotten. David was mortified and vexed, because he had not heard him
knock, and because, when he entered, he found him lying asleep with his
head on his Greek dictionary, and he answered the questions put to him
stupidly enough; but he saw that business was only a pretence.

Next day, kind, but foolish Mrs Lacy told him that Mr Oswald had been
at her house asking all manner of questions about him; what he did, and
where he went, and how he passed his time; and though David was
surprised, and not very well pleased to hear it, it was not because he
thought Mr Oswald had begun to doubt him. Indeed, it came into his
mind, that, perhaps, he was going to be asked at last to pass a few days
at the big house with Frank, who had returned home not at all well. He
was, for a moment, quite certain of this, when he carried in the letters
in the morning, for Mr Oswald's manner was much kinder, and he spoke to
him just as he used to do. But he did not ask him, and Frank did not
come down to see him at the bank, as David hoped he might.

That night, Mr Caldwell returned to Singleton. He did not arrive till
after the bank was closed, but he came down to see David before he went
home. The first words he spoke to him were concerning the lost money;
and, how it came about, David could never very well remember. Whether
the accusation was made in words, or whether he caught the idea of
suspicion in his friend's hesitating words and anxious looks, he did not
know, nor did he know in what words he answered him. It was as if some
one had struck him a heavy blow, and then he heard Mr Caldwell's voice,
saying:

"Have patience, David. You are not the first one that has been falsely
accused. Anger never helped any one through trouble yet. What would
your mother say?"

His mother! David uttered a cry in which there