"Now, sir," cried Sir Francis angrily, "have the goodness to explain
what you were doing there."
This was to Ike, who seemed stupid and confused. The excitement of the
fight had roused him up for a few minutes; but as soon as that was over
he yawned very loudly, and when Sir Francis turned fiercely upon him and
asked him that question he said aloud:
"Eh?"
"Answer me, you scoundrel!" cried Sir Francis. "You heard what I said."
"Eh? Hah, yes. What had I been a-doing--heigh--ho--hum! Oh, how
sleepy I am! What had I been a-doing here? What I been doing, Mars
Grant?"
"You were asleep," I said on being appealed to; and I spoke angrily, for
I was smarting under the accusation and suspicion of being a thief.
"Asleep!" cried Ike. "To be sure. That's it. Asleep I was under the
bushes there. Dropped right off."
"You repeat your lesson well," said Sir Francis. "Pray, go up to the
house--to the library, you boys--you, sir, follow me."
Courtenay and Philip went on in advance, Sir Francis followed, and we
were bringing up the rear when Ike exclaimed in remonstrance:
"That ain't fair, master. You ought to sep'rate them two or a nyste bit
of a tale they'll make up between them."
"You insolent scoundrel!" roared Sir Francis.
"All right, sir; scoundrel it is, just as you like. Wonder who'll tell
the truth, and who won't?"
"Hold your tongue, Ike!" I said angrily.
_Plop_!
That strange sound was made by Ike, who struck his mouth with his hand
as if to stop it up and prevent more words coming.
Meanwhile we were going up the garden, and came suddenly upon a spot of
fire which kept glowing and fading, and resolved itself into Mr
Solomon's evening pipe in the kitchen-garden middle walk.
"Hallo! young gentlemen!" he exclaimed; and then, seeing his master:
"Anything the matter, Sir Francis?"
"Matter!" cried Sir Francis, who was in a great passion. "Why are you,
my head gardener, not protecting my place with the idle scoundrels I
pay? Here am I and my sons obliged to turn out of an evening to keep
thieves from the fruit."
"Thieves! What thieves?" cried Mr Solomon. "Why, Isaac, what are you
doing here?"
"Me!" said Ike. "Don't quite know. Thought I'd been having a nap. The
master says I've been stealing o' pears."
"Silence!" cried Sir Francis. "You, Brownsmith, see that those two
fellows come straight up to the library. I hold you answerable for
their appearance."
Sir Francis went on first and we followed, to find ourselves, about ten
minutes later, in the big library, with Sir Francis seated behind a
large table, and a lamp and some silver candlesticks on table and
mantel-piece, trying to make the gloomy room light.
They did not succeed, but there was light enough to show Courtenay and
Philip all the better for running up to their rooms and getting a wash
and brush, while I was ragged, dirty and torn, bruised and bleeding, for
I could not keep my nose from giving forth tokens of the fierce fight.
Courtenay was not perfect, though, for his mouth looked puffy and his
eyes were swelling up in a curious way that seemed to promise to reduce
them to a couple of slits.
I glanced at Mr Solomon, and saw that he was looking very anxious, and
as our eyes met his lips moved, and he seemed to be saying to me: "How
could you do such a disgraceful thing?" but I smiled at him and looked
him full in the eyes without flinching, and he appeared to be more
cheerful directly.
"Attention!" cried Sir Francis as if he were drilling his men; but there
was no more fierceness. The officer and angry master had given place to
the magistrate, and he cleared his throat and proceeded to try the case.
There was a little shuffling about, and Philip whispered to Courtenay.
"Silence!" cried Sir Francis. "Now, Courtenay, you are the elder: tell
me what you were doing down the garden."
"We were up by the big conservatory door, papa," said Courtenay
boldly--"Phil and I--and we were talking together about getting some
bait for fishing, when all at once there came a whistle from down the
garden, and directly after some one seemed to answer it; and then,
sir--`what's that?' said `Phil,' and I knew directly."
"How did you know?" cried Sir Francis.
"Well, I guessed it, sir, and I said it was someone after the fruit; and
I asked Phil if he'd come with me and watch and see who it was."
"And he did?"
"Yes, sir; and we went down the garden and couldn't hear or see
anything, and we went right to the bottom, and as we were coming back we
heard the pear-trees being shaken."
"How did you know it was the pear-trees, sir?--it was dark."
"It sounded like pear-trees, sir, and you could hear the big pears
tumbling on the ground."
"Well, sir?"
Courtenay spoke out boldly and well. He did not hesitate in the least;
and I could not help feeling what a ragged dejected-looking object I
seemed, and how much appearances were against me.
"I said to Phil that we ought to try and catch the thieves, and he said
we would, so we crept up and charged them, and I had this boy, and I
suppose Phil brought that man, but it was so dark I could not see what
he did."
"Well, sir?"
"Well, papa, this boy knocked me about shamefully, and called me all
sorts of names."
"And you knocked him about too, I suppose?" said Sir Francis.
"Yes, I suppose I did, sir. He hurt me, and I was in a passion."
"Now, Philip, what have you to say?"
Philip looked uneasy as he glanced at his brother and then at Sir
Francis.
"Well, go on, sir."
"We were up by the big con--"
"Yes, yes, we have heard all about that," cried Sir Francis.
"Yes, pa; and we heard whistles, and Courtenay said, `What's that?'"
"I thought it was you said `What's that?'"
"No, pa, it was Courtenay," cried the boy quickly: "he said it. And
then I wanted to go down and catch the thieves, and Courtenay came too,
and we could hear them shaking down the pears. Then I went one way and
Courtenay went the other, and I saw that new labourer--that man--"
"Fine eyes for his age," said Ike in a low growl.
"How dare you speak, sir, till you are called upon for your defence!"
cried Sir Francis.
"Oh, all right, your worship!" growled Ike. "On'y you know how dark it
weer."
"Silence, man!"
_Plop_!
That was Ike's hand over his mouth again to enforce silence.
"Go on, Philip," said Sir Francis quietly.
"Yes, pa," cried the boy excitedly. "As soon as I saw that man shaking
down the big pears I ran at him to try and catch him."
"You should ha' took off your cap, young un, and ketched me like a
butterfly," growled Ike.
"Will you be silent, sir!"
_Plop_!
"He struck me, then, in the chest, pa, and knocked me right down in
among the bushes."
"No, he did not," I exclaimed indignantly; "it was I."
"It was not; it was that man," cried Philip; and Ike burst out into a
hearty laugh.
"Am I to order you out of the room, sir?" cried Sir Francis, severely.
"All right, your worship! No," cried Ike.
_Plop_!
"Now, Philip, go on."
"Yes, pa. I'm not very strong, and he shook me and banged me about ever
so; but I was determined that I would not let him go, and held on till
we heard you come; and then instead of trying to get away any more he
turned round and began to drag me towards you, pretending that he had
caught me, when I had caught him, you know."
"Go and sit down," said Sir Francis. "You boys talk well."
"Yes, papa, we are trying to tell you everything," said Philip.
"Thank you," said Sir Francis, and then he turned to me and looked me
all over.
"Well, sir," he said, "your appearance and the evidence are very much
against you."
"Yes, Sir Francis," I said; "very much indeed."
"Well, what have you to say?"
I could not answer for some moments, for my feelings of indignation got
the better of me, but at last I blurted out:
"I went down the garden Sir Francis, to try and catch some moths."
"With this, eh?" said Sir Francis picking up something from the floor,
and placing my old dark lantern on the table.
"Yes, Sir Francis," I said. "I am making a collection."
"Where is it, then?"
"Down at the cottage, Sir Francis."
"Humph!" ejaculated Sir Francis. "Have you seen his collection,
Brownsmith?"
"Yes, Sir Francis; he has a great many--butterflies and moths."
"Humph! Sugar the trees, eh?"
"Yes, sir," I said quickly.
"And do you know that he goes down the garden of a night?"
"Yes, Sir Francis, often," said Mr Solomon.
"Isn't it enough to tempt him to take the pears?"
"No, Sir Francis," replied Mr Solomon boldly. "I might just as well
say to you, `Isn't it enough to tempt him to take the grapes or the
peaches to trust him among them alone.'"
"He did steal the peaches when he first came. I caught him at it,"
cried Philip viciously.
"No, you did not, young gentleman," said Mr Solomon sternly; "but I saw
you cut two bunches of grapes one evening--the Muscat of Alexandria--and
take them away."
"Oh what a wicked story!" cried Philip, angrily.
"Call it what you like, young gentleman," said Mr Solomon; "but it's a
fact. I meant to speak to Sir Francis, for I hate the choice fruit to
be touched till it's wanted for the house; but I said to myself he's
only a schoolboy and he was tempted, and here are the young gentleman's
nail scissors, Sir Francis, that he dropped in his hurry and left
behind."
As Mr Solomon spoke he handed a pair of pearl-handled scissors--a pair
of those spring affairs with a tiny knife-blade in each handle--and in
the midst of a dead silence laid them on the table before Sir Francis.
"Those are not mine," said Philip hastily.
"Humph!" ejaculated Sir Francis, picking them up and examining them. "I
shall have to order you out of the room, man, if you make that noise,"
he cried, as he turned to Ike.
"I weer on'y laughin', your worship," said Ike.
"Then leave off laughing, sir," continued Sir Francis, "and have the
goodness to tell me what you were doing down the garden. Were you
collecting moths with a dark lantern?"
"Me, your honour! not I."
"What were you doing, then?"
"Well, your honour's worship, I was having a bit of a sleep--tired, you
see."
"Oh!" exclaimed Sir Francis. "Now, look here, Grant, you knew that man
was down the garden."
"Yes, Sir Francis."
"And didn't you go to join him?"
"Yes, Sir Francis."
"To get a lot of my pears?"
"No, Sir Francis."
"Then why did you go?" he thundered.