"Yes, Sir,' said Ned, bluntly.

Mr. Trowbridge smiled. You are certainly at liberty to do as you please, so am I; we part friends, I hope.' He held his hand out kindly to Ned, who, for some reason which he never could explain, considering how angry he was, felt compelled to place his own within it.

'That's right; you are a gentlemanly boy, I see; perhaps some day you may feel differently and wish to come back to me; if you do, let me know. I will try to find something for you to do

'O, Mr. Trowbridge, if you only would take John. You don't know him, Sir, as well as I do, and I will engage that he is as honest as a boy can be. If you knew what I do, Sir.'

'What do you know?'

'He made me promise not to tell,' said Ned, alarmed at having unconsciously blundered into almost betraying John's confidence.

'Very bad to make a rash promise, particularly if it is anything that would help John now; but if I do not know, you cannot, of course, blame me for not acting as if I did.'

Why, no, Sir; only if you would trust him a little. If you knew how proud and happy he was to think he was to come to you, and how he loves your factory, and what a prime hand he would make, you would try him, I know you would.'

'And end by having him sent to prison; you don't know what you ask, boy. I know he is smart at his business, and I am sorry to lose him; but it's out of the question as things stand now.'

'If he is proved to be innocent, Sir?'

'That is a different thing; then I will gladly take him, and tell him I am sorry I ever doubted him: won't that answer?'

'I suppose it is very kind in you,' said Ned reluctantly, 'but that doesn't help us now, you see, Mr. Trowbridge; if the boy is innocent, how bad it is for him to have everybody suspecting him, and to have you turn him off!'

'And if he is not?'

'Yes, Sir, but if he is,' persisted Ned, 'only think what will become of him!'

There was so much pain in Ned's voice that Mr. Trowbridge said," Boy, you are manly in your pleading; if I could I would take him for your sake; but it won't do.'

Ned moved toward the door, but made one more final effort before he left, Is there no hope, Sir?'

I am sorry, but I dare not take him.'

'Then good-bye, Sir; we were so happy to come to you; but we can begin life in some other way, and you will find John is a prime honest boy.'

CHAPTER XII.

THE GAME OF BALL.

HEN it was known among Ned's friends that he had refused the offer which Mr. Trowbridge had made him, it caused many inquiries and some rather hard remarks. Hal was both grieved and angry, and it would make a very ridiculous chapter if one-half the odd things which he said and did should be written.

Mrs.

Randall at first objected very decidedly to the manner in which Ned had acted; but the boy's protestations that he could not like Mr. Trowbridge were so earnest, that his mother decided it was best not to force him against his inclinations, and therefore she consented to his remaining where he was. Even Mr. Jenkins was sorry to have him stay, though only, of course, because he thought it stood in the way of his getting on in life. In the meantime, the excitement caused by the robbery died away in town, and it was seldom mentioned excepting when the sight of John Gray, so changed from what he had been, reminded them of it. Measures were at first taken to make the houses and shops a little more secure at night, and Mr. Foote insisted, as the man his sister, Miss Wood, employed, did not stay

at her house after dark, that she should have some one beside herself and her female domestics there. To this she consented, and made choice of John Gray. Every one who heard it was of course not a little surprised and amused, and some said it was a practical carrying out of the old maxim, 'Set a thief to catch a thief;' but as John was offered good pay for the trouble it was to him to come up there, and a good breakfast, he was quite willing to do so, particularly as Ned and Hal thought it 'fine, and the very best thing in the world for him.' But it seemed to matter very little what was done; the gloom in John's heart and on his face became every day deeper and more settled; he made every one who felt in the least interested very sorry for him; it was such a helpless, hopeless gloom, one to which there seemed to be no end. He went about all the different parts of his work faithfully, but mechanically; he did not forget to go every night and help Ned in his hour of work in the garden; a very fine garden it was, too, one of which both the boys felt justly proud, John quite as much as Ned, as indeed he had a right to feel, for he had spent as many hours of hard work upon it; but he had forgotten to whistle, he never sang, he seldom laughed aloud, and his face became paler and thinner than you would have thought it possible, had you seen him three months before. Some said, 'It was his guilty conscience, and the truth would come out yet;' and others said, 'It showed his honesty, and what a sin and shame it was to suspect a person without more proof!'

So passed the summer; the days were shortening, and the golden autumn light was beginning to lay itself, with

its glorious hues, over the town, over the distant hills, on the changing trees, on the drooping grass, and, far as the could reach, on the rich incoming harvest.

eye

Baskets of

pears and apples, boxes of melons and early autumn vegetables blocked up the doors of the small grocers' shops, and the busy workmen and boys lolled at dusk under the trees, on the steps of the public buildings, and beneath the sheds, which were crowded around the bridge. Among these came now Caleb Short and Jerry Mann. They had been hired to a farmer who lived six miles out of Harland, and had for the first time in their lives kept steadily, and with some credit to themselves, about their work for the last three months. They had been but seldom in Harland, and when they had, had stayed so short a time, that although John had kept a very strict watch for them, he had never been able to see them. The first time since the robbery that he met them was when he was coming out of the same oyster saloon where they had been so often together. They had both accosted him in a very friendly way, and had so much to tell him of their summer's experience, that John almost began to doubt whether they really had any connection with the theft. They had finished working for the present, and as they were to return to their old habits of life, they were very anxious to draw John once more into their company; but though he had his own views to answer in the manner in which he received them, he did not promise to enter into one of the many things which they proposed.

A few days after their return the town boys began to play their favourite autumn games upon the pleasant green,