"
"Ah!" Ned said, "if we ever find that out it will be all right; but
unless we can do so I shall have this dreadful thing hanging over
me all my life."
They had scarcely reached the hotel where Mr. Porson, the doctor,
and Charlie were stopping, when Mr. Simmonds arrived.
"I have come to congratulate you, my boy," he said, shaking hands
with Ned. "I can see that at present the verdict does not give so
much satisfaction to you as to your friends, but that is natural
enough. You have been unjustly accused and have had a very hard
time of it, and you are naturally not disposed to look at matters
in a cheerful light; but this gives us time, my boy, and time is
everything. It is hard for you that your innocence has not been
fully demonstrated, but you have your life before you, and we must
hope that some day you will be triumphantly vindicated."
"That is what I shall live for in future," Ned said. "Of course
now, Mr. Simmonds, there is an end of all idea of my going into
the army. A man suspected of a murder, even if they have failed
to bring it home to him, cannot ask for a commission in the army.
I know there's an end to all that."
"No," Mr. Simmonds agreed hesitatingly, "I fear that for the present
that plan had better remain in abeyance; we can take it up again
later on when this matter is put straight."
"That may be never," Ned said decidedly, "so we need say no more
about it.
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