30 fred the Apprentice.

soon dragged out and surrounded by. the con-
spirators, one of whom asked him why he
had concealed himself. He briefly explained
why.

‘You must have heard all that we said.’

‘Yes, replied Fred.

A discussion then arose among the workmen
what they should do to the lad. They cursed
and threatened him, and even went so far as to
say that the surest way to get rid of him was to
murder him; but this last proposal, which was
partly made to frighten him, had the effect of
making him feel determined, if not calm. It was
agreed at last that he was to be shut up some-
where, to make sureofhis silence until the morrow.
The difficulty was to find a suitable place. One
of the workmen proposed a garret which he occu-
pied in the building. He stated that it was in
a part of the premises which was not used for
business purposes, and had one small window,
under which was a yard seldom entered by any
one. This suggestion was adopted. They hur-
ried Fred up a staircase, along a narrow passage
of great length, and then, pushing him into the
garret, locked the door.

It would be impossible to describe his grief