ot of young chaps at the 'Red Horse,' and soon I was short of money.
They was a betting lot, and one of 'em told me if I could lay my hand on
as much as fifty pound, he'd put me on to a way of making a fortune. I
needn't trouble you now, sir, with a long account of how it was to be
done; but it seemed simple and easy enough, and I thought about it night
and day. You know that old box, Mr. Brian--the one in the master's
library at the Pines? Well, of course, I'd heard the story about it, and
seen it a good many times when I was in doing odd jobs or helping with
the cleaning. I'd made up my mind that there must be money inside it,
and the thought came over me that if I could get out enough to carry out
the plan this other fellow had proposed, I might make my fortune and go
abroad. The amount of money I'd taken I'd send back to Mr. Ormond, with
no name, but just a note to say it had been taken out of his box."

"But why did you pretend you were going to Australia?" asked Brian.

"I'm coming to that, sir. To avert suspicion, in case anything went
wrong and it was found that the box had been tampered with, I made out
I was going to emigrate, and that I should have left England the very
night I was going to rob the box. Mr. Brian, I'm no better than a common
thief; but I tell you solemnly, I meant to return what I took."

"But how did you open the sealed box?"

"I remembered that, sir, and for some time it puzzled me to know what to
do. I'm handy with tools and that kind of thing. I knew I could pick the
padlocks; but if once I'd chipped the seals off, it would be seen that
the box had been opened. However, there seemed no help for it, so I
decided I must risk that much. Late Friday night, or early Saturday
morning, I forced back the catch of the library window, and got into the
house that way. I got out the box, and was going to begin by breaking
the seals, when I thought of something better. I went into the kitchen,
found a carving-knife, took it out into the tool-house, and ground the
blade very thin on the stone. I got some methylated spirit out of the
pantry, made a flame by burning it in a tin dish, and so heated the
knife. When the blade was hot enough, I was able to slip it under the
seals, so that they came away whole."

"That accounts for the cork," muttered Brian.

"I got the box open," continued the man, "but only to find that it
contained nothing more than a bundle of papers. I hadn't time to search
them thr