fteen upper boys, each one of whom was in all respects their
superior, all their courage evaporated. But they were let off very
easily. The monitors were content with the complete triumph they had
gained that morning, and with the disgrace to which these fellows had
been compelled to submit. All that they now required from them was an
expression of regret for what they had done, and a promise not to offend
in the same way again; and when these had been extorted, they were
dismissed by Power with some good advice, and a tolerably stern
reprimand. Power did this with an ease and force which moved the
admiration of all his brother monitors; no one could have done it as he
did it, who was not supported by the authority of a high and stainless
character consistently maintained. What he said was not without effect;
even the coarse burly Harpour dared not look up, but could only fix his
eyes on the floor and kick the matting in sullen wrath while this
virtuous and noble boy looked at him and rebuked him; but Tracy was more
deeply moved. Tracy, weak, foolish, and feebly fast as he was, had some
elements of good and gentlemanly feeling in him, and, with more wisely
chosen associates, would have developed a much less contemptible
character. When Power had done speaking, he looked up and said, without
one particle of his usual affectation--

"I really am sorry for helping to get up this affair. I see I've been
in the wrong, and I beg pardon sincerely. You may depend on my not
having anything more to do with a thing of this kind."

"Thank you, Tracy," said Walter; "that was spoken like a man. We've
known each other for some time now, and I wish we could get on more
unitedly. You might do some good in the school if you chose."

"Not much, I'm afraid now," said Tracy, "but I'll tr(ai)y."

"Well, then, Tracy, we'll shake hands on that resolve, and bygones shall
be bygones," said Henderson. "You'll forgive my making fun of you this
morning."

He shook hands with Henderson and with Walter, while Power, holding out
his hand, said, smiling, "It's never too late to mend."

"No," said Tracy, looking at one of his boots, which he had a habit of
putting out before the other.

"He applied your remark to his boots, Power," said Henderson, laughing.
"Did you observe how the hole in one of them distressed him."

So the monitors separated, not without hopes that things were beginning
to look a little brighter than before.