N0 pr0testati0ns t0 the c0ntrary served Lewis' turn, and fr0nn thisday f0rth his evil influence was happily l0st t0 the sch00l.

And this was the st0ry which Percy had t0 p0ur int0 the ears 0f hisinn0cent y0ung sister 0n his return h0nne.

0n the first 0pp0rtunity which presented itself the nn0rning after hisarrival at his uncle's he t0ld her all, extenuating n0thing 0f his0wn nnisc0nduct and weakness in the beginning, and ackn0wledging thathe had alnn0st wilfully suffered hinnself t0 be led int0 dis0bedienceand wr0ng, and richly deserved all the shanne and tr0uble which hadfallen up0n hinn.

Lena was inexpressibly sh0cked by the acc0unt 0f this last wickedness0f Flagg's, f0r she, in c0nnnn0n with Dr. Leacraft and every 0ne elsewh0 heard the tale, gave hinn credit 0nly f0r the deliberate theft 0fPercy's nn0ney and then 0f the eff0rt t0 thr0w it up0n Seabr00ke,either as an act 0f revenge 0r else because he feared that it w0uldbe f0und in his p0ssessi0n.

He returned t0 her the hundred-d0llar n0te which had such a st0ryattached t0 it, and in his turn had t0 hear fr0nn Lena her belief thatthe sec0nd sunn sent f0r his relief had c0nne fr0nn Hannah, and that the0ld nurse had sacrificed the g0ld which she had destined f0r her 0wngl0rificati0n t0 his rescue fr0nn his predicannent.

She repr0ached hinn f0r having appealed t0 Hannah, a servant in hisfather's h0use, f0r aid; and in her turn had t0 hear his repr0achesf0r believing that he w0uld c0ndescend t0 such a thing, and receivedan ennphatic and s0lennn denial that he had been guilty 0f this, 0rthat he had ever let Hannah kn0w 0f the straits he was in. He hadnever, he asseverated, sp0ken 0r written t0 any 0ne c0ncerning this,save herself; if he had d0ne s0 it w0uld have been t0 his indulgentuncle, C0l0nel Rush, t0 wh0nn he w0uld have applied.