The Man from the Past

It was no secret at St. Jim's that Talbot of the Shell was a Boy with a Past! Every- one knew that the popular junior had once belonged to Hookey Walker's gang of crooks in Angel Alley, though he was now a trusted and honourable St. Jim's So when Captain Vavasour came to St. Jim's as a guest of the House-master, Mr. Railton, only Talbot recognised him as the notorious pick-pocket and confidence- man wanted by the police. Talbot alone could save the school from its dangerous guest! Tom Merry & Co. refused to doubt their friend when a watch, and then a wallet, were missed from boys' pockets, but many suspicious glances were thrown at Talbot-and he would have been defeated by this echo from the past if a quick and courageous action had not brought a criminal to justice and saved the honour of the school.