he reflected, if he had not been so imprudent as to listen to Lucy, and be persuaded by her against his better judgment, he would have no cause to reproach himself, and would have no secrets to conceal. And then his thoughts would wander into a new channel, viz., what would be the feelings of his mother and his sisters when they heard of such a charge being preferred against him? This, however, was more than he could bear with firmness, and he buried his face in both his hands, as if to shut it from his view.

The door opening aroused them all.

"Now, then, young fellows," said a policeman who entered the room, 66 we must be after walking."

"Where are they going to be taken ?” inquired Tom aside, of the detective, to whom he had before spoken, and who appeared at the door with several others.

"To Guildhall," was the answer, "where the Lord Mayor's sitting to-day."

"I'm glad o' that," said Tom, "for he's a kindly sort o' body."

"That depends," answered the man sententiously.

An exclamation from Brand made Tom turn his head, when he perceived the apprentice to be handcuffed, and safely secured in the custody of an officer.

Tom trembled like a child at the thought that Guy, too, would perhaps be submitted to the same indignity, for he feared the effect of the humiliation upon the sensitive youth; but, owing to some cause,

probably to instructions from the inspector, the youth was allowed to proceed to the place of examination through the crowded streets in the same way as he had come hither—that is to say, walking by the side of the detective who had first received him in charge.

Tom accompanied him to the door of the Guildhall, and promised that he would not fail to see him in the court. Then grasping him by the hand, and bidding him be of good cheer, for that his innocence must come out, the worthy fellow turned on his heel, and went swiftly off upon some special errand.

With the disappearance of his trusty friend, Guy seemed to have lost his all, and to feel as lonely as a weed torn from the bank of a stream and flung upon the waters.

He held no converse whatsoever with his guard, who, indeed, appeared as little inclined to talk as himself; but, led by him into a chamber in the vicinity of the court, he sat down upon a distant bench, and awaited, in brooding silence, whatever fresh calamity fate had yet in store for him.

CHAPTER XXV.

EXPLANATIONS-IN THE TRACK OF THE THIEVES-
ON TRIAL-THE TRIUMPH.

LTHOUGH Tom and Guy were both alike ignorant of the particulars of the robbery which had occasioned so much stir, and in which the latter was actually suspected of participating, it is no reason why the reader should remain equally in the dark.

The details, as described to the court by a professional man, who attended on behalf of Mr Bindwell, when Brand, the apprentice, was placed at the bar, were briefly as follows:

On the return home of the bookseller and his wife from the country at an early hour that morning, they found themselves unable, in spite of knocking and ringing till they were tired, to obtain admittance into the house, and were at length compelled, by the aid of a couple of detectives from the police-station, to effect an entry with a ladder at the first-floor window.

As soon as they descended to the ground-floor, after calling repeatedly to the two servants, Lucy's voice was heard crying out from the basement; and

on going below, they discovered that both cook and housemaid had been locked into the room of the former, which, being at the back of the house, rendered it next to impossible that their cries could be heard beyond the four walls.

The two women in a breath related their story.

They were supping together in the kitchen, when a rap, precisely similar to their master's, was heard at the knocker of the street door.

Lucy ran up stairs to open it, but upon doing so, three men suddenly rushed in, threw a greatcoat over her face, and before she could call out, or even struggle, entered the passage and closed the door.

They did not use any further violence, but walking her down stairs again, turned her and the cook -who was threatened with a dreadful death if she made a noise-into the old woman's bed-room, and locked the door upon them.

In an

The women professed to know no more. agony of fear, they could distinguish steps, they said, walking about the house; but although they had been awake and listening the whole of the night, they had not heard the fellows leave the premises, from which they concluded that they must still be somewhere in the house.

On learning this, the two officers and Mr Bindwell cautiously returned up stairs, leaving the mistress and her servants below.

The first floor, containing Mr Bindwell's parlours, had been thoroughly sacked, everything of value of

a small and portable nature being carried away, and the whole place appearing in the utmost confusion.

Proceeding to the second floor, which were the apartments occupied by Mrs L., the sister of Mr Bindwell, they found that lady locked in her own room, where she fortunately happened to be at the time the thieves entered; for it is probable, if she had seen them make an entry, the alarm would, in her delicate state, have been serious, if not fatal to her. This circumstance had also saved her property, for she had jewellery, and even money, to a certain amount, in a casket beside her bed. As it was, the thieves had ransacked the sitting-room, and then at once proceeded up stairs.

If they did not prove so fortunate in their forage in the bed-rooms as they anticipated, the failure clearly did not arise from any want of neglect or perseverance on their part.

They had forced open every drawer and box, and turned their contents in a heap upon the beds. They had searched each bed and chest, and wrenched away the fastenings of a wardrobe in their impatience to examine its treasures; and from the appearance of sundry heaps about the rooms, it seemed that they projected the removal of many things of a portable character which they afterwards refrained from moving away.

The traces of the robbers' progress were therefore abundant enough, but the delinquents themselves were nowhere to be seen.