of the customary proprieties, and rushed up to
Warde.

"Sir," he said vehemently, "Verney did this to save--_me_!"

Warde saw the slow smile break upon John's face. And, seeing it, he came
as near hysterical laughter as a man of his character and temperament
can come. He perceived that John, for some amazing reason, had played
the scape-goat; that, in fact, he was innocent--not a humbug, not a
hypocrite, not a brazen-faced sinner. And the relief was so stupendous
that the tutor flung himself back into a chair, gasping. Desmond spoke
quietly.

"I was going to town, sir. For the first time, I swear. And only to win
a bet, and for the excitement of jumping out of a window. John tried to
dissuade me. When he exhausted every argument, he went himself."

"The Lord be praised!" said Warde. He had divined everything; but he let
Desmond tell the story in detail. Scaife's name was left out of the
narrative.

Then Warde said slowly, "I shall not refer this business to the Head
Master; I shall deal with it myself. For your own sake, Desmond, for the
sake of your father, and, above all else, for the sake of this House, I
shall do no more than ask you to promise that, for the rest of your time
at Harrow, you will endeavour to atone for what has been."

* * * * *

All boys worth their salt are creatures of reserves; let us respect
them. It is easy to surmise what passed between the friends--the
gratitude, the self-reproach, the humiliation on one side; the sympathy,
the encouragement and shy, restrained affection on the other. A
bitter-sweet moment for John this, revealing, without disguise, the
weakness of Desmond's character, but illuminating the triumph over
Scaife, the all-powerful. John had been inhuman if this knowledge had
not been as spikenard to him.

Chapel over, the boys came pouring back into the house. In a minute the
fags would be hurrying up with the tea and the jam-pots, asking for
orders; in a minute Scaife would rush in with questions hot upon his
lips. John chuckled to himself as he heard Scaife's step.

"Hullo, Caesar! Why did you cut Chapel? And----"

John saw that the Carlton supper-card was in his hand. He chuckled
again.

"Dumber has just given me--_this_. Did you go, after all?" he asked
Caesar. They had not met since Warde's visit of the night before.

"I didn't go," said Caesar.

"Dumber gave it to me, with Verney's compliments."

"You've lost your bet," said