144 DOGGED JACK.

little as he did so, and for a few minutes he said
nothing, only turned it about in his fingers as if
trying to recognize it.
 Alas! he knew it only too well! It was Jack's, the
very little gift which Polly had made him!
 But, oh! was it possible that his boy, his Jack, could
do anything so wicked as this ? It was only a few
months ago, too, that he had had such a dreadful
lesson on the subject of practical jokes, and as for
this act, it was far, far worse than a joke. There
was, as Muffin remarked, evidently spite mixed up
with this trick, and there was also, what Mr. Gilbert
abhorred more than anything else, a low underhand
cunning. For had not his son promised him that he
would let Adolphus' unkind act in possessing him-
self of the pony pass without remark or unpleasant-
ness; and was it then possible that he could bring
himself to retaliate in such a manner immediately
afterwards ? It was surely impossible! he could not
have done it, it must have been one of the other boys.
And yet as this last thought passed through Mr.
Gilbert's mind, he bethought him that the other two
boys had no such grudge against Adolphus as Jack
had, and, again, it was Yack's pincushion!
 At all events, he must now give this man some
answer, and of one thing he was determined,-he
would not condemn his son unheard.