could have refunded that large sum, he might not do so, said Calne, for
of course the bank would not compound a felony. He came back looking ten
years older; his tall, thin form more shadowy, his nose longer and
sharper. Not a soul ventured to say a syllable to him, even of
condolence. He told Lord Hartledon and his Rector that no tidings
whatever could be gleaned of his unhappy son; the boy had disappeared,
and might be dead for all they knew to the contrary.

So the handbills wore themselves out on the walls, serving no purpose,
until Lord Hartledon ordered them to be removed; and Mrs. Gum lived in
tears, and audibly wished herself dead. She had not seen her boy since he
quitted Calne, considerably more than two years before, and he was now
nearly nineteen. A few days' holiday had been accorded him by the
banking-house each Christmas; but the first Christmas Willy wrote word
that he had accepted an invitation to go home with a brother-clerk; the
second Christmas he said he could not obtain leave of absence--which Mrs.
Gum afterwards found was untrue; so that Willy Gum had not been at Calne
since he left it. And whenever his mother thought of him--and that was
every hour of the day and night--it was always as the fair, young,
light-haired boy, who seemed to her little more than a child.

A year or so of uncertainty, of suspense, of wailing, and then came a
letter from Willy, cautiously sent. It was not addressed directly to Mrs.
Gum, to whom it was written, but to one of Willy's acquaintances in
London, who enclosed it in an envelope and forwarded it on.

Such a letter! To read it one might have thought Mr. William Gum had gone
out under the most favourable auspices. He was in Australia; had gone up
to seek his fortune at the gold-diggings, and was making money rapidly.
In a short time he should refund with interest the little sum he had