THE MYSTERY SOLVED. 239

“ Yes, then, I did do it,” replied Sharpe,
sullenly; “but I meant no harm—no
more than Seymour did. I did not
know, any more than he did, that Mer-
toun had stolen the cherries.”

‘Edward Sharpe,” replied the Doctor,
in his severest tone, “I cannot accept
your excuse. You have acted in a most
unworthy manner. You knew that your
schoolfellow was made unhappy by these
tricks; yet you continued to practise
them upon him. But this is the lightest
part of your offence. Mertoun and your-
self, as you are well aware, were running
very close for the ciphering prize. To
do anything which would agitate and
embarrass him, under such circumstances,
was unfair, if not actually dishonest; and
yet you chose the moment when he was
faltering in his examination, to overwhelm