n. I left the room,
intending to depart from the house, though it was now nearly eleven
o'clock at night. Mr. Hardy followed me out into the hall, and wished
to know where I was going.

"Home," I replied.

"I'm afraid you have got into difficulty, Thornton," added he.

"I can't help it if I have. I didn't mean to hurt him so badly; but it
was his own fault."

"How did it happen?"

I told him how it happened; but Mr. Hardy expressed no opinion on the
merits of the case. He knew, as well as I did, that Mr. Parasyte had
been wrong from the beginning; but being in a subordinate position, it
was not proper for him to condemn his principal.

"The boys are in a riotous condition, and it is fortunate they do not
know of this affair. I hope you do not intend to inform them--at least
not to-night," he added.

"No, sir, I do not. I have tried from the first to keep the peace.
Poodles confessed to Mr. Parasyte that he had lied about the affair on
the pier, but he refused to believe him. I am sorry there has been any
trouble; but I couldn't help it."

Mr. Hardy was really troubled; but he could not say anything, and he
did not. He was a poor man, trying to earn the means to study a
profession by teaching, and a word or a look of sympathy to a rebel
like me would have cost him his situation. He was a just and a fair
man, and as such was loved and respected by all the students. Many of
the boys had often wished that he might be the principal of the
academy, instead of Mr. Parasyte, who had established and who still
owned the institution.

There was nothing more to be said or done, and I left the academy for
home. I was sincerely sorry for what had happened. Even a quarrel in
which I had been the victor had no pleasant reflections for me. I
would have submitted to any punishment except the flogging, and borne
the injustice of it without a complaint; but I had been required to
confess that of which I was not guilty, and I could not do that. I
hated a lie of any kind, and I could not tell one to save myself from
the consequences of the tyrant's rage and injustice.

I considered all the events of the day as I walked home, and came to
the conclusion that I was not to blame for the mischief that had been
done. If I had been haughty and disobedient, it was because I had been
treated badly. I certainly did not deserve flogging, and it would have
been impossible for me to submit to it. If I had been guilty, I could
have borne eve