The
punishing mania had possibly taken fresh hold upon him. But he would
put more questions first.
"Who besides you tortured the poor animal?"
Curly was silent. He had neither a very high sense of honour, nor any
principles to come and go upon; but he had a considerable amount of
devotion to his party, which is the highest form of conscience to be
found in many.
"Tell me their names, sir?"
Curly was still silent.
But a white-headed urchin, whom innumerable whippings, not bribes, had
corrupted, cried out in a wavering voice:
"Sanny Forbes was ane o' them; an' he's no here, 'cause Juno worried
him."
The poor creature gained little by his treachery; for the smallest of
the conspirators fell on him when school was over, and gave him a
thrashing, which he deserved more than ever one of Malison's.
But the effect of Alec's name on the master was talismanic. He changed
his manner at once, sent Curly to his seat, and nothing more was heard
of Juno or her master.
The opposite neighbours stared across, the next morning, in bewildered
astonishment, at the place where the shop of Robert Bruce had been wont
to invite the public to enter and buy.
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