that we have a _thief_ in the house. I am rather inclined to imagine
that some one has removed the things and hidden them away in joke; if
so, let me tell him that the joke has been allowed to go too far, and
that, unless they are returned at once, a shadow of doubt will be cast
upon the honour and integrity of all here present. It is impossible for
such large articles as a saw and a brace to be mislaid or lost on such
small premises as these, and I trust that before this evening you will
report to me that the things have been found. I have purposely allowed
the key of the shed to remain in your own possession, feeling certain
that your behaviour as regards each other's property would be in
accordance with the treatment which one gentleman expects to receive
from another. You may go."

There was little in the nature of a scolding in this address, and yet
something in it caused every one to leave the room in a state of great
excitement. Acton and Jack Vance especially fairly boiled with wrath.

"What old Welsby says is quite right," remarked the latter; "and until
those things are found, we may all be looked upon as thieves."

The search, however, proved fruitless; and, what was worse, in turning
over the contents of the shed, Acton discovered that a bull's-eye
lantern belonging to himself had disappeared from the shelf on which it
usually stood; while Mugford declared that a box of compasses, which he
had brought down a few days before to draw a pattern on a piece of
board, was also missing.

Directly after tea Acton button-holed Diggory, and taking him aside
said, "Look here, I'm in an awful rage about these thing's being
prigged, because, of course, I've got the key of the shed; and didn't