the
praises of his teacher, his parents are pleased too, and think well of
the school, and tell their friends what a nice place it is for boys, and
so on. It is a good advertisement, in fact. Besides, with Mrs Trimble
so lazy, and Jonah himself so unattractive, it would involve a great
deal of trouble all round if Jeffreys deserted it. They knew by
experience that young fellows of good education did not as a rule jump
at the situation of second usher in Galloway House. And they knew,
also, something of the horrors of a prolonged vacancy in their staff.

Jonah was rather relieved when Jeffreys, immediately after school, shut
himself up in his own room, and remained there studying for the rest of
the evening. The proceeding favoured a little idea of his own, which
was to revisit the spot where he had tied his bootlace the evening
before, and see if an examination of that fatal spot would throw any
fresh light on his investigation. Accordingly after tea he sallied
forth with a trowel in his coat pocket. It was rather a dismal
expedition, for it rained, and there was a cool breeze. The lane was
muddy even in the roadway, and on the banks it was a quagmire. Still
Jonah was too full of his mystery seriously to mind the weather.

He trudged up and down the lane, sharply scrutinising the hedge for his
bootlace. For a long time his perseverance was unrewarded. At length,
however, his eye detected the welcome flutter of a bright tag among the
leaves, and he recognised the scene of last night's damp sojourn.

He clambered up onto the bank, regardless of his garments, and commenced
an anxious scrutiny. The bank itself showed no signs of a "mystery."
Even the traces of Jeffreys' visit to it the night before were
obliterated by the soaking rain. The field on the other side was
equally unsuggestive. Jonah trampled around in circles on the young
corn, but never a pistol, or a rusty knife, or a bottle of poison, did
he discover.

Yet he had heard the villain say distinctly,--

"This was the very place!"

He scrambled back rather crestfallen on to the bank. It was getting
dark, and the rain came down ceaselessly, yet so strong was his
certainty that here he should discover the evidence he was looking for,
that for another half-hour he plied his trowel diligently. Sometimes
when it struck on a stone or the roots of a bramble, he trembled with
anticipation; and once, when, groping under a hedge, his hand suddenly
enc