master wrote
it down at length.

"I will see what I can make of it, when I think it over," Mr.
Shrewsbury said. "Of course, as it stands, it is so natural and
probable that it would clear you at once; had it not been for that
unfortunate dog business before, and the supposition, excited by
it, that you had a feeling of hostility to the squire. I shall be
able partly to dispose of that, for I can swear that you have
frequently spoken to me of the squire in tones of respect and
liking; and that, although you regretted the manner in which you
left his service, you felt no ill will against him on account of
it. Moreover, I shall be able to prove that the reasons you gave
for having your tools with you was a true one; and although I
cannot swear that I expected you specially on that evening, the
fact that you were in the habit of coming over, at times, to see
me, cannot but corroborate your story.

"I shall get leave for two or three days, and will hunt up the
village where you breakfasted."

"Thank you very much," Reuben said, "though I have been thinking it
over, and do not see that the evidence of the people at the public
house would help me much. It will simply prove that I passed
through there in the morning; but will not show, in any way,
whether I went willingly as far as that, as one of the party who
broke into the house, or whether I was taken there."

"They can probably prove that you looked pale and exhausted," the
schoolmaster said.

"I fancy I should look pale, in any case," Reuben said, "if I had
gone through such a night's work as that of breaking into the
squire's."

"Well, keep up your courage, Reuben. You may be quite sure that
your friends will do all in their power for you. I shall go now and
have a chat with your mother. I am afraid that she will want
comforting more than you do."

"Yes," Reuben agreed, "I am afraid so. Somehow I don't seem to take
it to heart much. I shall feel it more afterwards, perhaps; but at
present, the whole thing seems so extraordinary that I can't quite
realize that I am in danger of being sent to Botany Bay. The worst
of it is that, even if I am acquitted, lots of people will still
think I am guilty. There is only one thing that can really prove my
innocence, and that is the arrest of Tom Thorne, and his father."

"I hear," the schoolmaster said, "that the chief constable has
written up to Bow Street, for them to put the runners on the traces
of those two scoundre