would depend on Miss
Barnicroft. She wouldn't let us off. She said she couldn't bear boys.
She'd be glad to have us punished."

He rested his chin on his hand and stared forlornly on the ground.

"It's telling father I mind most," he added presently, "much more than
going to prison."

But here David disagreed. He thought it would be dreadful to go to
prison.

"I suppose," he said, "we should be shut up in different cells, and only
have bread and water. I think the sooner we tell father the better,
because he'll think of some way to help us."

"I shall never be able to begin," said Ambrose despairingly.

"Well, you ought to," said David, "because you're older than me, and
because you thought of the whole thing, and because I wanted to tell
long ago, and because I did say when we found it that it was only an old
honey-pot."

Far from being a comfort, every word David spoke seemed to add to the
sharpness of Ambrose's misery, their very truth made them bitter.

"It's no good saying all that now," he cried impatiently. "Oh, I wish I
was in bed and had told father!"

After a little consultation it was agreed that this must be done that
very evening, directly after the school-room tea, when Mr Hawthorne was
generally to be found alone in his study. If he should happen to be
engaged, it must be put off till the next day.

"I hope he wont be," said David, as the boys went down-stairs together,
"because it will be getting dark, and even if the lamp is lighted it
will be much easier than telling it in the daylight."

But Ambrose, in his own heart, could not help a faint hope that their
father might be too busy to speak to them that night. Anything to put
off the confession. He dreaded it far more than David, partly because
he was naturally more timid, and partly because he felt himself chiefly
to blame in the whole affair, for David would certainly never have
thought of the adventure unless his elder brother had suggested it.
During tea-time, therefore, he found it impossible either to join in the
conversation or to eat anything with this dreaded interview still before
him.

Resting his hot cheek on his hand, he looked on with surprise at his
brother's steady appetite, for David, perhaps feeling that this was the
last comfortable meal he might enjoy for some time, munched away with
his usual zeal, not forgetting to ask for the "burnt side" when his
slice of cake was cut. It was hard to realise that all this