"Unfortunately I know from Ned's own lips that the lad hated his stepfather; but I can't bring myself to believe that he has done this." "I hope not," the doctor said gravely, "I am sure I hope not; but I have been talking with his brother, who is almost heartbroken, poor boy, and he tells me that there was a terrible scene last night.

It seems that Mulready was extremely cross and disagreeable at tea time; nothing, however, took place at the table; but after the meal was over, and the two boys were alone together in that little study of theirs, Ned made some disparaging remarks about Mulready.

The door, it seems, was open.
The man overheard them, and brutally assaulted the boy, and indeed Charlie thought that he was killing him.

He rushed in and fetched his mother, who interfered, but not before Ned had been sadly knocked about.
Mulready then drove off to his factory, and Ned, who seems to have been half stunned, went out almost without saying a word, and, as you know, hasn't been heard of since.
"It certainly looks very dark against him.

You and I, knowing the boy, and liking him, may have our doubts, but the facts are terribly against him, and unless he is absolutely in the position to prove an alibi, I fear that it will go hard with him." "I cannot believe it," Mr.Porson said, "although I admit that the facts are terribly against him.