Two or three days afterwards the surprise rose even higher, when a
party of friends who had assembled at Mr. Jones' to condole with him
upon his misfortune, were startled by the smashing of one of the
windows by a small packet, which fell upon the floor in their midst.

There was a rush to the door, but the night was a dark one, and no one
was to be seen; then they returned to the sitting-room, and the little
packet was opened, and found to contain some watchworks bent and
broken, some pulverized glass, and a battered piece of metal, which,
after some trouble, the schoolmaster recognized as the case of his
watch. The head-constable was sent for, and after examining the relics
of the case, he came to the same conclusion at which the rest had
already arrived, namely, that the watch could not have been stolen by
an ordinary footpad, but by some personal enemy of the schoolmaster's,
whose object was not plunder, but annoyance and injury.

To the population of Warley this solution was a very agreeable one.
The fact of a gigantic footpad being in the neighborhood was alarming
for all, and nervous people were already having great bolts and bars
placed upon their shutters and doors. The discovery, therefore, that
the object of this giant was not plunder, but only to gratify a spite
against the master, was a relief to the whole place. Every one was, of
course, anxious to know who this secret foe could be, and what crime
Mr. Jones could have committed to bring such a tremendous enemy upon
him. The boys at the school assumed a fresh importance in the eyes of
the whole place, and being encouraged now to tell all they knew of
him, they gave such a picture of the life that they had led at school,
that a general feeling of disgust was aroused against him.

The parents of one or two of the boys gave notice to take their sons