it! You were too good for us.'

"Sawyer smiled. 'No,' he said. 'I cannot see it that way. I had not the
knack of it--I was not fit for the position. The boys were very good
boys, as boys go. It would have been inexcusable of me to have made them
suffer for what, after all, was an unfortunate circumstance only. I had
attempted what I could not manage. And Carlo--he is dead--somehow,
perhaps because I am so near death myself, it does not shock or startle
me. Dear little fellow that he was!'

"'And while he was ill he was constantly talking about you. It seemed the
only thing on his conscience, poor little chap, that he had joined at all
in our treatment of you. And he begged me--I would have promised him
anything, but by that time I saw it plainly enough for myself--to try to
find you and ask you to forgive us both. But I little thought it would
have been like this--I had fancied sometimes----' Jack hesitated, and the
colour deepened in his sunburnt cheeks.

"'What?' said Mr. Sawyer. 'Do not be afraid of my misunderstanding
anything you say.'

"'I had hoped perhaps that if I found you again I might be able to be of
some use to you. And now it is too late. For you see we owe you some
reparation for indirectly forcing you to leave Ryeburn--you might have
risen there--who knows? I can see now what a capital teacher you were.'

"Mr. Sawyer shook his head.

"'I know I could teach,' he said, 'but that was all. I did not understand
boys' ways. I never was a boy myself. But put all this out of your mind,
Berkeley, for ever. In spite of all the disappointment, I was very happy
at Ryeburn. The living among so many healthy-minded happy human beings
was a new and pleasant experience to me. Short as it was, no part of my
life has left a pleasanter remembrance. You say you would like to do
something for me. Will you write to my mother after I am gone, and tell
her? Tell her how little I suffered, and how good every one was to me,
a perfect stranger. Will you do this?'

"Jack bent his head. 'Willingly,' he said.

"'You will find her address in this book,' he went on, handing a thick
leather pocket-book to Jack. 'Also a sort of will--roughly drawn up, but
correctly--leaving her all I have, and the amount of that, and the Bank
it is in--all is noted. I have knocked about so--since I was at Ryeburn I
have tried so many things and been in so many places, I have learnt to
face all eventualities. I was so pleased to get the chance of