for the evening is chilly, and then
I will tell you all about it. But first, how about that enormous brute
of a dog, who doesn't seem to have made up his mind whether the proper
thing is not to devour us at once."

"Come, Turk, good dog, these are friends of mine."

Finding that the intentions of the new-comers were amicable, of which at
first he had entertained some doubts, Turk threw himself down by the
side of his master.

"First of all, uncle," Frank said, as he sat down, "has that affair been
cleared up?"

"Well, not exactly cleared up, Frank, but we have our suspicions. Harry
and I never for a moment thought it was you--that is not till you ran
away instead of facing it out. I don't want to scold you now, but that
was a foolish business."

"Then if you thought me innocent, uncle, why did you not answer my
letter? I should never have dreamt of running away if I had not been
heart-broken at the thought that you believed me guilty."

"Letter!" Captain Bayley repeated in astonishment, "what letter? That
was just the thing, if you had written me only one line to say you were
innocent I should never have doubted you for a moment, and even your
running away would have made no difference to me."

"But I did write, uncle; I wrote to you the very first thing, telling
you that I was innocent, although appearances were all against me, and
saying that I could bear anything if I knew that you believed in me, and
I begged you to send me just one line by hand. I waited all day for the
answer, and all the evening, and when night came and no letter I felt
that you believed me guilty; I became desperate, and when Fred advised
me to bolt, and offered me the money to take me away, I thought I might
as well go at once as go after the disgrace of being publicly expelled
before the whole school."

"But I never got the letter," Captain Bayley said, "never got a line
from you, and it was that which shook my faith."

"I gave the letter to Fred Barkley to post, half an hour after I came
down from school, that is before eleven o'clock, and he told me he
posted it at once."

"I am afraid," Captain Bayley said sternly, "that Fred Barkley is a vile
young scoundrel; we have had our suspicions of him, Harry and I, and
this seems to confirm them. I believe that villain is at the bottom of
the whole affair. Have you ever suspected him, Frank?"

"Such an idea has flitted across my mind, uncle, but I have never
allowed it to rest there;