bruises were showing out in
darker colors than before; still he looked fresher and better.

"Here is your breakfast, Ned, and if you don't enjoy it Jane will be
terribly disappointed."

"I shall enjoy it, doctor. I feel very weak; but I do think I am
hungry."

"You ought to be, Ned, seeing that you have eaten nothing for two days."

The doctor removed the cloth which covered the tray. The meal consisted
of three kidneys and two eggs, and a great pile of buttered toast. The
steam curled out of the spout of a dainty china teapot, and there was a
small jug brimful of cream.

The tears came into Ned's eyes.

"Oh! how good you are, doctor!"

"Nonsense, good!" the doctor said; "come, eat away, that will be the
best thanks to Jane and me."

Ned needed no pressing. He ate languidly at first; but his appetite came
as he went on, and he drank cup after cup of the fragrant tea, thick
with cream. With the exception of one egg, he cleared the tray.

"There, doctor!" he said, as he pushed back his chair; "if you are as
satisfied as I am you must be contented indeed."

"I am, Ned; that meal has done us both a world of good. Ah! here is
Porson, just arrived at the right moment."

"How are you, Ned?" the master asked heartily.

"I am quite well, sir, thank you. Sleep and the doctor, and the doctor's
cook, have done wonders for me. I hear you came yesterday, sir, but I
don't seem to remember much about it."

"Yes, I was here, Ned," Mr. Porson said, "but you were pretty well
stupid from want of sleep. However, I am glad to see you quite yourself
again this morning."

"And now," the doctor said, "we three must put our heads together and
see what is to be done. You understand, Ned, how matters stand, don't
you?"

"Yes, sir," Ned said after a pause; "I seem to know that some one said
that Mr. Mulready was dead, and some one thought that I had killed him,
and then I started to come over to give myself up. Oh! yes, I remember
that, and then there was an examination before the magistrates. I
remember it all; but it seems just as if it had been a dream."

"Yes, that is what happened, Ned, and naturally it seems a dream to you,
because you were so completely overcome by excitement and want of food
and sleep that you were scarcely conscious of what was passing. Now we
want you to think over quietly, as well as you can, what you did when
you left home."

Ned sat for a long time without speaking.

"It seems all confused," he