self for her sake.

I felt that I had done right. I had made all the concession which
truth and justice required of me, and I was quite calm. I hardly
inquired why Mr. Parasyte was keeping me a prisoner in the Institute
after he had expelled me, or what he intended to do with me. About
nine o'clock my own clothes were brought back to me by one of the
servants; but the door was securely locked when he retired.

A few minutes later, and before the sound of the servant's retreating
footsteps had ceased, I heard some one thrust a key into the door. It
did not fit, and a dozen others were tried in like manner, but with no
better success. I heard a whispered consultation; and then the door
began to strain, and crack, until the bolt yielded, and it flew open.
My sympathizing friends, the students, headed by Bob Hale, had broken
it down.

"Come, Ernest," said Bob. "You needn't stay in here any longer. We
want you down stairs."

"What are you going to do?" I asked, quietly, of my excited
deliverers.

"There is no law or justice in this concern; and we are going to put
things to rights," replied Tom Rush, a good fellow, who had spent a
week's vacation with me circumnavigating Lake Adieno in the Splash.

"You know I don't approve of any rows or riots," I added.

"No row nor riot about it. We have taken possession of this
establishment, and we are going to straighten things out,--you can bet
your life on that."

"Where is Mr. Parasyte?"

"He has gone up to see your uncle. He told us, at evening prayers,
what an obstinate boy you were; how kind, and tender, and forgiving he
had been to you, and how he had exhausted good nature in trying to
bring you to a proper sense of duty."

"Did he say that?"

"He did, and much more. But come with us. The fellows have captured
the citadel, and we hold the school-room now, waiting for you."

"I will go with you; but I don't want the fellows to make a
disturbance."

"No disturbance at all, Ernest; but we have turned the assistant
teachers out, and mean to ascertain who is right and who is wrong in
this matter."

The rebellion had actually broken out again; and the students, in the
most high-handed manner, had established a tribunal in the
school-room, to try the issue of my affair with the principal. I
followed Bob Hale, Tom Rush, and half a dozen others, who constituted
the committee to wait on me. They conducted me to the main
school-room, which was a large hall. At every doo