y had been objects of such anxious
care and solicitude to them both?

Felgate flung the unlucky parcel down on the table, and called himself a
fool for ever having meddled with it.

Was it possible he himself had been made a fool of, and that these
precious proofs had after all been trumped up by that young scapegrace,
Herapath, to hoodwink him?

At any rate, Arthur might have his property back now, and much good
might it do him. He should--

Felgate started as he suddenly caught sight of what looked like a blade
of grass protruding from a rent in the brown paper.

He looked again. It was not one blade only, but two or three. With an
exclamation of consternation he tore off the covering and disclosed--the
turf!

A joke? No wonder Mr Bickers's manner had been a trifle stiff that
morning.

However had it got there? It was like a conjurer's trick. No one had
seen or touched the parcel but himself. He had himself placed it in Mr
Bickers's hands. Indeed, from the time he had taken the things from
Herapath's cupboard till the moment of parting with them, he had
scarcely had his eyes off it.

Stay! That evening he was at the Forum, he had left it for an hour
unguardedly in his room. Yet, even then, he could almost have sworn the
parcel had been untouched in his absence. Besides, the letter was there
still, directed in his own hand.

He picked up the envelope, to satisfy himself it was the same. Of
course it was; and he had explained in his letter what the articles
were.

He took out the letter and glanced at it; and as he did so the blood
rushed to his face, and he knew at last that he had been made a fool of.

It needed no great penetration to guess who it was to whom he owed his
humiliation. So he armed himself with a ruler in one hand and the
parcel in the other, and walked over to Herapath's study.

The proprietors were at home, and had apparently expected the visit, for
an elaborate barricade had been drawn across the door by means of the
table, bedstead, and other furniture, so that Felgate, when he looked
in, could barely see more than the heads of his young friends.

"Let me in," he said, trying to push the door open.

"Awfully sorry; can't come in," said Dig cheerfully. "Herapath and I
are having a scrub up. Come again presently."

"Do you hear me, you two? Let me in at once."

"Don't you hear, we're doing the place up?" said Arthur. "Go to some of
the other chaps if you want a jo