i66 ANGLING SKETCHES 



not come ' before the public,' except, of course, in 

 the agreeably mythical gossip of an evening paper. 

 There was no more public scandal than that. 

 Allen was merely ruined. The matter was in- 

 troduced to the notice of the Wardens and the 

 other Fellows of St. Jude's. What Lord Tarras 

 saw, what Mr. Wentworth saw, what / saw, clearly 

 proved that Allen was in the auction-rooms, and 

 had the confounded book in his hand, at an hour 

 when, as he asserted, he had left the place for 

 some time. It was admitted by one of the 

 people employed at the sale-rooms that Allen 

 had been noticed (he was well known there) 

 leaving the house at three. But he must have 

 come back again, of course, as at least four people 

 could have sworn to his presence in the show-room 

 at a quarter to four o'clock. When he was asked, 

 in a private interview, by the Head of his College, 

 to say where he went after leaving Blocksby's Allen 

 refused to answer. He merely said that he could 

 not prove the facts ; that his own word would not 

 be taken against that of so many unprejudiced and 

 even friendly witnesses. He simply threw up the 



