d in
solitude.

When I descended to the refectory I was struck at once by an unusual air
of gloom and mystery about the place. Something unpleasant must have
occurred, but what it was nobody appeared exactly to know, unless it was
the principal himself. Dr Plummer was just about to make a
communication when I made my belated entry.

"Jones," said he, as much in sorrow as in anger, "this is not the first
time this term that you have been late."

It certainly was not.

"What is the reason?"

"Please, sir," said I, stammering out my stereotyped excuse, "I think I
can't have heard the first bell."

"Perhaps the first six sums of compound proportion written out ten times
will enable you to hear it more distinctly in future. We will try it,
if you please, Jones."

Then turning sternly to the assembled school, he said, "I was about to
say something to you, boys, when this disturbance interrupted me. A
shameful act has been done by some one in the night, in which I
sincerely hope no one here has had a hand. The dog has been killed."

A whistle of consternation went round the room. What? Hector killed?--
Hector the collie--the beast--the brute--the sneak--the traitor--the
arch-enemy of every boy at Plummer's? Hector, who was reported to be
worth thirty guineas? Hector, the darling of Mrs P. and the young
P.'s? Hector of the teeth, and the snarl, and the snap, the
incorruptible, the sleepless, the unforgiving?

What miscreant hero had dared perform this sacrilegious exploit?
"Perish Hector!" had been an immemorial war-cry at Plummer's; but Hector
had never yet perished. No one had been found daring enough to bell the
cat--that is, to shoot the dog. To what scoundrel was Dangerfield
College now indebted for this inestimable blessing?

Dead silence followed the doctor's announcement. Boys' faces were
studies as they stood there rent in twain by delight at the news and
horror at the inevitable doom of the culprit.

"I repeat," said the head master, "Hector was found this morning shot in
his kennel. Does any boy here know anything about it?"

Dead silence. The master's eyes passed rapidly along the forms, but
returned evidently baffled.

"I trust I am to understand by your silence that none of you know
anything about it. There is no doubt whatever that the guilty person
will be found. I do not say that his name is known yet. If he is in
this room,"--here he most unjustifiably fixed me with his eye--