The Hero of Garside School Part 74

"I understand, sir. We all understand."

"And you decline to do what Moncrief has done--withdraw from the pet.i.tion?"

"Yes, sir. We can't stand Percival any longer."

"Hear! hear!" from Newall.

Suddenly, to the astonishment of the Form, the master opened the desk before him, and drew from it a book.

"You know this book?" he demanded.

Know it? They knew it but too well. It was the dreaded Black Book.

CHAPTER L

FOUND OUT

Why had the master produced the Black Book?

What was it to do with the question whether Percival should or should not be expelled?

"You are wondering why I produce the Black Book," said the master slowly, as though reading their thoughts. "I will explain--we have never yet discovered who tore out the leaves from this book. It occurred to me that before taking the step of expelling Percival from the school, it would be as well to make one more effort to find out who is the culprit.

"A few weeks ago, I received an anonymous letter suggesting that Percival should be questioned as to what he was doing on the night that part of the Black Book, and other doc.u.ments, disappeared from my desk.

As a rule, I take no heed of anonymous communications. The testimony of any one who is ashamed to put his name to a letter is, as a rule, worthless. But I was keenly interested in trying to discover who the culprit was who opened my desk, and I thought it just possible that if I could only find out the writer of this anonymous letter, it might lead to other discoveries which would throw light upon the theft of my notes."

The boys listened intently. What did it mean? Was yet another and more serious charge to be made against Percival?

"The letter was in a disguised hand, like most anonymous letters," the master proceeded; "but a master becomes a bit of an expert in handwriting, so, with the help of Mr. Travers here, the master of your Form, I was not long in finding out who wrote the anonymous letter. It was written by Parfitt."

The accusation was made slowly, deliberately, as by one who makes sure of his facts before speaking. It fell as a bomb in the midst of the listening boys. Parfitt turned to an ashen hue, and muttered something between his teeth.

"Speak up, sir! Please not to mutter," commanded Mr. Weevil, turning to Parfitt. "Do you deny that this letter"--he held up the anonymous letter, with its cramped, disguised handwriting--"is the work of your hand?"

Parfitt held up his head, and put on a bold front.

"No, sir; I don't deny it. That letter was written by me. As there were other things coming out against Percival, I thought it only right that you should make some inquiry into what he was doing on the night when the pages were torn from the Black Book. I did not want to push myself forward. I thought the inquiry would be better made by you; but as no steps seem to have been taken to find out what Percival did, I don't see why I should keep back what I know any longer."

"Well, what is it? What do you know? I am here to learn all I can."

"Well, sir, on the night that the pages were torn from the Black Book, I saw Percival get out of bed, slip into some of his things, and out of the dormitory. I saw him steal along the corridor, for what purpose I couldn't guess. I made a pretty good guess the next day."

"Your guess was that Percival opened my desk, and stole the papers?"

"I believe he did, sir. For what else could he have stolen from the dormitory in the dead of night?"

"Well, but what could be his purpose? Can you explain that?"

"Oh, that's easy enough explained. There were entries against himself and his friend Moncrief in the book. A serious one had been made against Moncrief that very afternoon, for which, you will remember, sir, he was sent to Dormitory X."

"I remember--quite well," said the master. "Well, Percival, what have you to say against this last charge?"

"Only that it is as false as the other."

"Did you leave your dormitory that night?"

"Yes, sir; I don't deny that. I did leave my room, but not to steal. I left it to go to Moncrief in Dormitory X. I thought the punishment too severe, sir, if you'll pardon me for saying so, so I thought that I would keep him company. It was wrong of me, I know; but I did not give it much thought at the time."

"And I can confirm every word that Percival has said!" exclaimed Stanley. "He came to me that night--to Dormitory X."

"Pshaw!" cried Newall, taking up Parfitt's case. "How could he get to you through the locked door?"

"He didn't get through the door. He came along the parapet, and got through the dormer window."

Blank amazement fell on the group.

"It's all very well to say that. Any one could say that," cried Parfitt; "but we want something better than that. We want proof!"

"If you won't take Moncrief's word, I think I can prove it by Mr.

Weevil," said Paul, turning to the master. "As I pa.s.sed by the window of your room, sir, I took the liberty of peeping in. I saw you discussing some plans with a friend. Perhaps you can recall it, sir?"

Mr. Weevil's mind had gone back to that night. He knew well enough to whom Paul was referring thus delicately as his friend--Zuker.

"Percival is right in every particular, but"--he broke off, as though suddenly recalling something--"there is one thing I ought to say.

Fancying I heard a noise in Dormitory X that night, I paid it a visit, but found n.o.body there, except Moncrief, and he seemed fast asleep."

Parfitt, who had been looking glum, brightened up at this again.

"Seemed, sir," repeated Stanley, with a smile; "but I was just about as wide awake as I am now, and Percival was--under the bed."

There was a t.i.tter of laughter at this piece of information. The ghost of a smile played across the stern face of Mr. Weevil.

"I think Percival has made it perfectly clear as to where he was that night. You see that he is perfectly innocent of the charge brought against him by Parfitt; so we are thrown back into precisely the position we were in before. We have still to find out who is the real culprit--who it was opened my desk that night. As Parfitt has failed in his purpose, let us put our heads together and see if we can get a little nearer the truth. I will try to reconstruct the case for you, as the French say. Who was the culprit? What was his motive? His motive was to get possession of certain pieces of paper in my desk which gave valuable information for a prize compet.i.tion which was taking place amongst the seniors--the prize, that is to say, to be given by Admiral Talbot for the best essay on 'The Invasion of Great Britain.' He did not want the Black Book. That would give him no a.s.sistance in his essay; but what he wanted was to throw suspicion on a certain boy--also a compet.i.tor for the prize--who was absent from his dormitory that night.

He did this by removing the leaf, amongst others, which referred to the boy himself and the detention of his friend in the Punishment Dormitory.

Am I clear?"

The Form were following Mr. Weevil so closely that they could only murmur an a.s.sent.

"I have told you about the anonymous letter," continued Mr. Weevil, "and the conclusion I had arrived at by the help of Mr. Travers. You have seen that that conclusion is correct, for Parfitt has himself admitted it. So much is clear. Now follow me a little farther. Not long after receiving this anonymous letter, some of the compet.i.tors began to send in their essays for the Talbot prize. Among others was one from Parfitt."

A profound silence fell on the room as the master once more p.r.o.nounced that name. Every eye was turned to Parfitt, who was still doing his best to put on a bold face.

"It was a remarkably clever piece of work and would a.s.suredly have won the prize. It was too clever, in fact. It contained information which astonished me--information which could not be obtained from the school library. It was information, in fact, such as I myself had obtained after special research, and which had been embodied in the notes that had been stolen from my desk."

"You mean to say that I am the thief--that I stole your notes!"