kept on his feet continually, and was left little time for quiet
thinking. Mr. Hobart was absent, having been sent off by the firm on
an important mission to Windsor, whence he would not return until the
following day. Terry's heart sank when he heard this, for he craved a
talk with his friend, although his mind was not yet made up as to
whether he would tell him about his father.

Another absentee was Morley. A note had come from him, stating that he
was ill and confined to bed, but hoped to be at his desk in a day or
two. For some inexplicable reason, when Terry learned this the thought
flashed into his mind that Morley might know something about the black
bag. He could give himself no reason for it, yet there it stuck, and
by its presence helped to strengthen his reluctance to make known the
facts about his father.

In the afternoon the office was once more thrown into a state of
excitement by the news that the detectives had discovered the thief,
and already had him under arrest. Terry was out on an errand when the
word came.

On his return he entered the office just behind Mr. Boggs, the
assistant book-keeper, at sight of whom one of the other clerks, eager
to be the first to tell the news, shouted out,--

"They've caught the burglar, Boggs. Guess who it is?"

Terry's heart stopped beating, and an icy chill ran through his body,
as, pausing by the door, he waited in harrowing apprehension for the
answer.

CHAPTER XII.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

Mr. Hobart was not the only friend Terry had among the employes at
Drummond and Brown's. The storeman, John Connors, had always been kind
to him in his own rough way. He pitied the boy because of his drunken
father, and liked him because of his pluck and energy.

Having no boys of his own, he had several times, half in jest, half in
earnest, offered to adopt him; and although his proposition could not
be considered, it strengthened the warm affection that Terry felt
towards the bluff "boss" of Long Wharf.

Intense, then, as was his relief that it was not his father who had
been arrested for the stealing of the black bag, there quickly followed
feelings of keen surprise and sorrow, for the suspected criminal proved
to be no other than John Connors, in whose possession had been found a
bag presumed to be the one taken from Mr. Drummond's desk.

Terry listened for a while to the conversation of the clerks as they
exchanged wondering conjectures in