ccepted by the house as
unvarnished truth. Lovell glanced at the other Fifth Form boys, as
Rutford repeated the question.

"Anybody else, Lovell? Be careful how you answer me!"

"Nobody else," said Lovell.

"On your honour, sir?"

"On my honour, sir."

And, later, all Manorites declared that Lovell had lied like a
gentleman. Rutford and he stared at each other, the boy pale, but
self-possessed, the big burly man flushed and ill at ease.

"You will all go to my study. A word with you, Lawrence."

The boys filed quietly out. Rutford looked at John and Fluff. Large
fat tears were trickling down Fluff's cheeks. Somehow he felt
convinced that John was involved in a frightful row.

"Run away, Kinloch," said his house-master. "I wish to speak with
Lawrence and Verney."

He turned to Lawrence as he spoke. John glanced at Scaife. His eyes
were open. Silently, Scaife placed a trembling finger upon his lips.
The action, the expression in the eyes, were unmistakable. John
understood, as plainly as if Scaife had spoken, that silence, where
expulsion impended, was not only expedient but imperative. Kinloch
crept out of the room. Rutford examined Scaife, who feigned
insensibility. Then he addressed Lawrence.

"Go to Lovell's room, Lawrence, and institute a thorough search. If
you find wine or spirits, let me know at once."

Lawrence left the room.

"Now, Verney, I am going to ask you a few questions." He assumed his
rasping truculent tone. "And don't you dare to tell me lies, sir!"

John was about to repudiate warmly his house-master's brutal
injunction, when the habit of thinking before he spoke closed his
half-opened lips. Immediately, his face assumed the obstinate,
expressionless look which made those who searched no deeper than the
surface pronounce him a dull boy. Rutford, for instance, interpreted
this stolidity as unintelligence and lack of perception. John,
meantime, was struggling with a thought which shaped itself slowly into
a plan of action. He had just heard Lovell lie to save the
Caterpillar. John knew well enough that he might be called upon to lie
also, to save not himself, but Scaife. If he held his tongue and
refused to answer questions, Rutford would assume, and with reason,
that Scaife had been made drunk by the Fifth Form fellows.

Then John said quietly, "I am not a liar, sir."

"Certainly, I have never detected you in a lie," said Rutford.

"All the same," continued