Also he should have to
say where he had been, and there was a danger of being found out if he
did not speak the truth. Not only this, but sooner or later it must
come out that he was no longer possessed of the beautiful watch
which his dear aunt had given him- and what, pray, had he done with
it, or how had he lost it? The reader will know very well what he
ought to have done. He should have gone straight home, and if
questioned should have said, "I have been running after the carriage
to catch our housemaid Ellen, whom I am very fond of; I have given her
my watch, my knife, and all my pocket-money, so that I have now no
pocket-money at all and shall probably ask you for some more sooner
than I otherwise might have done, and you will also have to buy me a
new watch and a knife." But then fancy the consternation which such an
announcement would have occasioned! Fancy the scowl and flashing
eyes of the infuriated Theobald! "You unprincipled young scoundrel,"
he would exclaim, "do you mean to vilify your own parents by
implying that they have dealt harshly by one whose profligacy has
disgraced their house?"
Or he might take it with one of those sallies of sarcastic calm,
of which he believed himself to be a master.
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