an?" he cried excitedly.

"I mean," and Sid's face went red with the shame of the confession,
"that Andy Shanks and I put up a job on you. We took the papers and put
them in your locker, so that Professor Raymond would think you stole
them. There, it's out now."

The room seemed to be whirling about Fred. The blood pounded madly
through his veins. With an effort he steadied himself.

"What?" he shouted. "You did _that_?"

"It was a dirty trick, I know," went on the younger boy, not venturing
to meet the eyes of the youth he had wronged, "and I'd give anything
I've got in the world if I hadn't done it. But Andy----"

"Wait," cried Fred, jumping up, "wait till I can get Professor Raymond
over here, so that he can hear what you've got to say."

"No need of that," said a deep voice, and Professor Raymond advanced
from the door towards the bed. "I was coming in to see how Wilton was
getting along, and, as the door was ajar, I heard what he was saying."

He looked sadly and sternly at Sid, who cowered down on his pillow.

"You have done a terrible thing, Wilton," he said; "but you're weak and
sick now, and what I have to say and do will be postponed to a later
time. Now, go ahead and tell us all about it from beginning to end."

With trembling voice Sid went on:

"Andy was down in the gymnasium one day, and he heard Rushton say that
he had seen you put a package in your desk, and one of the other fellows
said that they were probably the examination slips. He was sore at
Rushton because of something that had happened on the train coming here,
and because, later on, Rushton had faced him down on the campus. So he
went off to another town, after I had got a wax impression from the lock
of your desk, and had a key made to fit. Then I opened your desk one
night and got the package. I watched my chance till there was no one in
Number Three Dormitory, and hid the papers in Rushton's locker. Then
Andy printed a letter to you, telling you where to look."

"We didn't know for sure what happened after that, but Rushton has been
so down in the mouth, that we felt sure the plan worked. Andy expected
him every day to be sent away from the school, and he didn't know why he
was allowed to hang on. I felt awfully mean about it, because Rushton
had never done anything to me. But Andy was my friend and it seemed that
I had to do anything he asked me, no matter what."

"But after what Rushton did for me to-day, I simply had to tell h