Johnny Ludlow, First Series

t it was to lead to lasting events. Curious enough, it is, to sit down and trace o

consequence. September was not far off when we met again, a

away. Tod and I went up to him. He did shake hands, and it was as much as you could say. I don't t

were now), and was a distant cousin of Mrs. Todhetley's. Before he had been with us long, a matter occurred that pu

ce: articles and money alike disappeared. A thief was amongst us, and no mistake: but we did

re in the drawing-room," said T

interview softened things a little, for h

bout the plant

y, or whether moving them into the hall and back again did it, is not positively decided; I don't suppos

don't care for balls. Monk

never mind that"-and I pulled myself up in sudden recollection. "Monk has

at has he

fair, good-looking face and mild blue eyes; his friends lived at Vale Farm, about two miles off. Lacketer had sleek black hair, and a sharp nose; he had only an aunt, and was from Oxfordshire. I didn't like him. He had a way of cringing to thos

is eyes were fixed on Vale with a stare. Vale had

ised that he has c

nker, with a pause where I have put it, and

terious avowal Sanker had made at our house about the discovery of the thief at school; and I n

was he th

ght. "I told you I'd give him a chance again, didn't

ed it of any fellow

?" said he, after a pause. "Well, then, you'd better believe i

of my saying more. I turned out at the door leadin

nd Sanker were sayin

ot: but I did. Tod read me always as one reads a book, and

lost last half. He told me, you know, that

the thie

him another chanc

ment on the other side the trellis-work, but was only in time

d us about her funeral. Things seemed to wear a mournful look. The servants were in black, the Doctor was in jet black, even to his gaiters. He wore the

e jolly to it. I never saw the Doctor until the funeral. Being the only fellow at school,

t crying!" inte

of the remark; and it silenced Lacketer. "She had been ailing a long tim

id you

he hot red sun was shining right into the room, and she sat back from it on the sofa in a white gow

f us made the least noise as we stood round him: it seemed as if we could see Mrs.

he held my hand while I read it. I had complained of the light for her, saying what a pity it was the room had no shutters. 'You see,' she said, when the chapter was read, 'how soon all discomforts here will pass away. Give my dear love to the boys when they come back,' she went on. 'Tell th

see her

her coffin. She g

ooke Sanker, with Mary Frost's love." She had made him promise to read i

made much of Whitney, after the fashion of his mind and manners. Old Whitney was a baronet, and Bill would be Sir William sometime

questions; "you must ask Sir John. I shall be the better

th grapes, peaches, plums, and nectarines. Those of us who had plenty of fr

iner than these, W

t, mind your manners!" cried he. "Don't

d Vale, who never a

enough insole

rse, according to Lacketer's creed, Vale deser

d of being a shopkeeper's. "Mr. Vale's peaches this year were the finest in the county.

ter, and not kindly. "And the flavour was as good as the look. Mrs. Frost

ys be glad at home that they were

ndoing a small desk he had brought. Amidst the things, that lay on

. "I mean to have a hole bored in

forth Snepp, who came from Alcester. "Or it may g

d he had left the room. Whitney was

. "Who the thief was, I can't think; but

. "By-gones may be by-gones; I don't wish to recur to them; but if I lose

to drow

do it as sure as my

have come of stooping; but I saw Tod did not think so. Ducking is the favourite punishment in Worcestershire for a public offende

uch use to any one," said Lac

ter try. It's worth twenty-one shillings, and they might

tlem

in his deep mourning, with his subdued red

hen some of us went up to see him, we found him crying for Mrs. Frost. He was only seven; the youngest in the school, and made a sort of plaything of; an orphan with no friends to see to him much. Illness had been Mrs. Frost's great point. Any of us who were lai

's-rather curious, at first sight, that it should be, after his threat of what he would do. And Tod, as they all knew, was not one to break his word. It was only half-a-crown; b

ame back in the parcel. The account, nine-and-tenpence, was made out to Tod ("Joseph Todhetley, Esquire!"), half-a-crown of it being Whitney's porti

een in the room. But others might have gone in afterwards. We were getti

he mantelpi

lace where knots of us gathered sometimes. But the mantelpiec

p again, Bill?" he

it down," said Whitney. "It was

followed slowly; thinking they should search for themselves. W

er my guinea," W

t gu

you saw. That disa

ng; but Tod-and I, too-wondered at his having take

loss-asked me to be silent for a short time," said Whitn

eter

is finger any minute on the fellow; but it would not do

nd I at him, both of

Whitney. "A shilling, I think it was. He went into a

he suspects

me; says it wou

to be silent over your losses," said Tod, decisively. "And I'll be a

to him. He talked himself into a passion, and said some stinging things. "He suspected who it was, and he heard that Lacketer suspected, and he fancied that another or two suspected, and one knew; and he t

s voice was one of power, his manner ready and decisive; so that it was just as though a mast

k for yourself, Todhetley

l in a humour to be crossed. "If you do, you must speak, and not shirk

im behind the rest, as if preparing to make a run for it. That said nothing: he was one of those quiet-natured fellows w

ng now that that guinea of mine has been taken; and you know you lost

me the shouts from all quarte

I might have been mistaken in

ared Tod, in his passion. "I intend to hunt

ar," said Lacketer, looking as if he

y and disappeared. Sanker went after him. Tod had

half-crowns, I'm not. But it isn't that. Sovereigns may go next. It isn't that. It is the knowing that we have a light-fin

a torrent had been let loose. In the midst of t

Harry

class boy. You might have heard a pin drop in t

tever about the case. But I have reason to think Vale's name is the

d the lead, not choosing to take it himself.

ese occasions she wondered whether we should ever be as eager to take up heaven. They pounced upon Vale with an awful row. He stood with his arm round one of the trees behind, looking scare

r. Was it Vale

ybody else," doggedl

ainst him. Vale spoke something, shaking and trembling like the leaves in the wind, bu

," roared Tod. "Did

not. His face frightened me; the lips

his po

half-a-crown found upon him; no other money. The boys yelled and groaned. T

half-crown?" he asked of Vale, hold

u like

and a sob. His piteous aspec

: but I cannot go from my word. Ducking is too good for you, Vale, but you shall have it. Be off to that tree

ead all this; but scarcely a minute appeared to have passed since Tod first came out with Whitney, and spoke of the half-crown. Giving Vale the fair start, the boys s

sing Vale? Are you

Tod, angry at

e! He is as innocent as you are. You'll k

s he is

ther fellow, whose name I've been suppre

tance. A conviction that Sank

it was Val

u you'd better believe it was any ot

ht he told one then. The impression, resting on my memory, was that

be quiet, Sanker: you s

nother then, not Vale. I swear it was

nation, was already off, shouting to the crew to turn, far

st runner and strongest fellow, he could never have overtaken, passed, and flung hi

es and ditches. Vale went panting on, for it. It was as if his senses were scared out of him. Tod flew after him,

take. Come back and hear about it. It was not you;

es of Germany, where the phantom huntsman and his pack are seen coursing at midnight. Vale made for a part where the banks of the

unk? Tod's heart stood still with fear. The boys were coming up by ones and twos

ispered one, picking

er; he must have bee

es in the river, just above this b

in a hoarse whisper that betrayed his

ion of Vale's rising. But none came. Tod stood there in his shirt till he shivered with

esponsible for Vale's death, I for having mistaken Sanker; Tod f

le; breaking it to Mr. and Mrs. Vale at Vale Farm. While Tod was dressing

If you knew who the thief was last half, you should have disclosed it; not have given

did resume it; I have told him to-night I shall d

cke

t all yours must have been closed, not to find him out. His manne

d you let me think i

for Lacketer's sake; to give him the chance," said

ned me. Harding was the one outside the porch who had overheard it; but he had

if a great darkness had suddenly fallen upon us, and co

d beginning with a sort of groan. "Vale may have made for the land again as soon

left, Vale Farm was not more than a mile off: and we turned to it. Absenting ourselves from school seem

house, with lights gleaming in some of the windows. "It's not cowardice;

cuse are we to make for going in at

saw her through the window as we stole up to look in. But there was no time for plotting. Footsteps approached, and we only got back on the path when Mr. Vale came up. He was a tall, fine man, wi

o-do farmers are. Mrs. Vale, rolling up her work, said we must take something to help us on our way home, and rang the bell. We n

a dozen things. Cold ducks, and ham, collared-head, a big dish of custard, and fruit and cake. I couldn't have swallowed a morsel; the lu

rry?" aske

r, after waiting to see if I'd an

seemed in spirits. It was rather a hazard, sending him to school at all; Mr. Vale wanted to have

s he not?" said Sanker,

e a bull was grazing, a savage animal. What exactly happened, we never knew; that Harry was chased across the field by it was certain, and then tossed. The chief injury was to the nerves

ight's work; Sanker knew it before. I felt sick with remorse a

e to turn you out supperless. What's this, Charlotte? Ah yes,

nd gave us each a packet of them. "Eat them as you

" added Mr. Vale. "Perhaps young Mr. Todhetley will come also. You mig

ween us, made them childless? "Young Mr. Todhetley," waiting amid the stubble in the oute

while you hav

. "No news! I don't think we've

s thunder, but Tod seemed never to hear him. The boys, hushed and quiet as nature is be

been with us. "But that prayers are waiting, I'd ca

a quiet authority and a pain in his voice that made Blair sta

on Tod. "I must see Dr. Frost. If you don't know what

himself. What passed between them we never knew: how much contrition Tod spoke, how much reproach the Doctor. Roger and Miles, the man-servant and boy, were called into th

w his time at Worcester House was over, and thought he'd save himself from dismissal. It was he who had been the thief, and whom Sanker suspected. As good

and the sorrow of Mr. and Mrs. Vale. In the morning Tod got up, looking more like one dead than alive: he had one of

e breakfast up here, Tod? And it's

ever you tell me a false thing of a fello

aiting neither for breakfast nor prayers. I went out to

ssed round the corner by the railings,

ted for a moment or two. Tod's breath was coming in great gasps then, and he had Vale's

thinking you

am too good a sw

isappeared

you'd come in after me; and crept round the alder trees lower down. When

! Have you n

d not say why I went into the water," added Vale, lifting his kind face. "But the Doctor came round the ferry late, and he knew all

!" cried Tod. "You k

le met us boys when we were out walking yesterday morning,

ught him capable of theft. But when you once go in for a mistake it carries you on in spite of improbabilities. The boys were silent for an instant when Vale wen

hands twice with us all round so heartily, that we might see, I thought, they bore no malice; an

old lady with a China-crape shawl and white hair, us five and a man and maid-servant behind. The river lay on the right, th

hought last Thursday it would be," I said in Tod's

of thing, as perhaps I shall do sometime, I should l

c thanks

rcies r

ut took his hat off and walked with it in his