o much, that her
indefatigable husband was about to break down. Finally, John made up
his mind to ask a question. He was second in command; he had a right
to ask the chief if anything were seriously amiss. Accordingly, he
waited upon Warde after prayers.

But when he put his question, and expressed, modestly enough, his
anxiety and desire to help if he could, Warde bit his lips. Then he
burst out violently--

"I am miserable, Verney."

John said nothing. His tutor rose and began to pace up and down the
study; then, halting, facing John, he spoke quickly, with restless
gestures indicating volcanic disturbance.

"I'm between the devil and the deep sea," he said, "as many a better
man has been before me. I thought I'd wiped out the grosser evils in
the Manor, but I haven't--I haven't. Do you know that a fellow in this
house, perhaps two of 'em, but one at any rate, is getting out at night
and going up to town? You needn't answer, Verney. If you do know it,
you are powerless to prevent it, or it wouldn't occur."

"Thank you, sir."

"I can only guess who it is. I am not certain. And to make certain, I
must play the spy, creep and crawl, do what I loathe to do--suspect the
innocent together with the guilty. It's almost breaking my heart."

"I can understand that, sir, after what you have done for us."

Warde smiled grimly. "I don't think you do quite understand," he said
slowly. "At this moment I am tempted, tempted as I never have been
tempted, to let things slide, to shut both eyes and ears, till this
term is over. Next term"--he laughed harshly--"I shan't stand in such
an awkward place. The deep sea will always be near me, but the
devil--the devil will be elsewhere."

John nodded. His serious face expressed neither approval nor
disapproval to the man keenly watching it. Afterwards Warde remembered
this impassivity.

"If I do not act"--Warde's voice trembled--"I am damned as a traitor in
my own eyes."

John had never doubted that his house-master would act. As for
creeping and crawling, can peaks be scaled without creeping and
crawling? Never----

"You are not to speak a word of warning," Warde continued vehemently.
"If you know what I don't know yet, still you cannot speak to me,
because the sinner in this case is a Sixth-Form boy. You cannot speak
to me; and you will not speak to him, on your honour?"

There was interrogation in the last sentence. John replied almost
inaudibly--