ched the room of horrors, as
the Doctor's sanctum really was to the boys; for none set foot therein
save those who were "in for a row."

Crossing the hall he met Dr Palmer's butler, an old man, most familiar
to everybody, who never even said "Sir" to his master; but then he had
known him from a boy. So it is no wonder his greeting to Harry was so
blunt.

"What? 's that you, Campbell? Well, to be sure! In for a caning, I
s'pose. What have you been and done now?"

"Nothing, William. I haven't done nothing," sobbed Harry, regardless
of grammar. "I'm going to be caned for nothing."

"Oh no! nothing at all. That's what they all say, the young rascals,"
ejaculated William, half aloud, as he hurried away, partly about his
business, but chiefly because he didn't like the sight of the boy's
tears.

It made him think of the time when he used to steal apples (he would
tell them in the kitchen), and his mother used to hold him up by his
ears while his father thrashed him.

Harry had scarcely taken his seat upon the edge of one of Dr Palmer's
crimson-morocco-covered chairs when he heard the fatal footstep in the
hall, and the next moment the Doctor entered.

The first thing he did was to take down one of the canes that lay on
the top of the bookshelves, Harry narrowly watching him the while, and
then he said--

"Campbell, I am exceedingly sorry to be obliged to punish you."

Harry shivered; the doctor was a powerful man; and the cane looked very
lithe and lissome.

"But I cannot pass over such a serious fault, even though you have
always hitherto, so far as I have seen, conducted yourself well. There
can be not the slightest doubt that the book is yours. It was found in
your desk, and has your name in it."

"It isn't mine, sir. I declare it isn't. Some one must have put it
there; and I saw,"--and here Harry paused.

Dr Palmer looked at him narrowly.

"Some one must have put it there? And do you mean to say, then, that
you accuse one of your schoolfellows, not only of putting it there, but
also of--"

Harry could endure no longer, and with excited and stammering tones, he
told the whole tale.

"This is a most serious charge for you to bring," said Dr Palmer,
laying down the cane and ringing the bell. "Send Master Egerton here,"
he said, when William appeared.

After a pause of about three minutes, which seemed like an hour to
Harry, and during which not a word was uttered, Egerton entered, cool
and