Didn't you know, then, that the thief had been discovered ?" "No," he murmured faintly, leaning back; "O thank God, thank God! Do tell me all about it, Monty." "Well, Eric, I will tell you all from the beginning.

You may guess how utterly astonished we were in the morning, when we heard that you had run away.

Wildney here was the first to discover it, for he went early to your bed-room----" "Dear little Sunbeam," interrupted Eric, resting his hand against Wildney's cheek; but Wildney shook his fist at him when he heard the forbidden name.
"He found the door locked," continued Montagu, "and called to you, but there came no answer; this made us suspect the truth, and we were certain, of it when some one caught sight of the pendent sheet.

The masters soon heard the report, and sent Carter to make inquiries, but they did not succeed in discovering anything definite about you.

Then, of course, everybody assumed as a certainty that you were guilty, and I fear that my bare assertion on the other side had little weight." Eric's eyes glistened as he drank in his friend's story.
"But, about a fortnight after, _more_ money and several other articles disappeared from the studies, and all suspicion as to the perpetrator was baffled; only now the boys began to admit that, after all, they had been premature in condemning you.