"Do you know anything about it?"
"No!" he sobbed convulsively. "No, no, no! Yet stop; don't let me add a
lie.... Let me think. No, Duncan!" he said, looking up, "I do _not_ know
who stole it."
They stood silent, and the tears were stealing down Montagu's averted
face.
"O Duncan, Monty, be merciful, be merciful," said Eric. "Don't _yet_
condemn me. _I_ am guilty, not of _this_, but of something as bad. I
admit I was tempted; but if the money really is all gone, it is _not_ I
who am the thief."
"You must know, Eric, that the suspicion against you is very strong, and
rests on some definite facts."
"Yes, I know it must. Yet, oh, do be merciful, and don't yet condemn me.
I have denied it. Am I a liar Monty? Oh Monty, Monty, believe me
in this"
But the boys still stood silent.
"Well, then," he said, "I will tell you all. But I can only tell it to
you, Monty. Duncan, indeed you mustn't be angry; you are my friend, but
not so much as Monty. I can tell him, and him only."
Duncan left the room, and Montagu sat down beside Eric on the bed, and
put his arm round him to support him, for he shook violently.
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