, acting on his own strong suspicions, went
immediately after dinner to Dr. Wilkinson, whom, strange to say, he
found equally inclined to listen to them; for he confessed to Louis
that he did not exactly know what had made Dr. Wilkinson so suddenly
take such a decided view of Casson's character as he appeared to have
done. They went to the stable and examined it very carefully. They
found the door unfastened; but on further consideration, discovered
that the staple, which was rusty, had been broken off, so that, though
the key had been turned, it could be opened as easily as if it had had
no lock. They went up through the trap-door, but found nothing to
assist them, till, just as they were descending, Hamilton picked up
part of a Greek exercise. It was very small, not more than two inches
square; a more careless observer might not have noticed it, but Hamilton
seized it as a treasure, and, with the doctor's advice, set to work to
discover whose handwriting it was.

The few words he deciphered carried him to the second class for the
owner: "And oh, Louis! Dr. Wilkinson looked so grave when I told him
it was Kenrick. But I knew it was not your writing. With very little
trouble, and without discovering any thing, I soon found Harris to have
been the writer. Having settled this point about an hour after school
had begun, I took the first opportunity of informing the doctor, who
immediately entered the school-room, suspended all business, summoned
every one, and in an able speech, as the papers would say, prefaced
the proceedings by declaring how painful it had been to him to discover
that any of his pupils were not trustworthy, _et cetera_; and his
determination to arrive at some conclusion on the point, to know
whether his orders were or were not to be obeyed. He then mentioned
having found you, and his firm belief, that even supposing you had
gone there for the purpose of abstracting the apples, _which he could
not believe_, you must have been tempted and persuaded to it by
older hands; he called upon the offenders to come forward and clear
the matter. Well, no one answered; and then the doctor just alluded
to you, and what you had suffered last half, and said that he had
determined that every one should be aware of the grounds of accusation,
and he desired, if any one knew of any thing that would throw a light
on the matter, he would come forward.

"Then, to every one's surprise, comes up Charles Clifton, and tells
him