"None of them."

"Who struck the first blow in the affray on the pier with Thornton?"

"I did," answered Poodles, with a silly leer. "Thornton told the facts
just exactly as they were."

"You may sit down."

Mr. Parasyte wiped his brow again.

"Pearl," continued Vallington.

This culprit, unlike his companion in guilt, looked sheepish and
crestfallen, as he slowly rose from his seat. He was not so base and
low-minded as Poodles, and he felt a genuine shame for the mean
conduct of which he had been guilty.

"Have you anything to say, Pearl?" asked the judge.

"I lent my paper to Poodles, who copied the solutions from it,"
replied Pearl, with his glance fixed upon the floor.

"That's all; you may sit down."

Pearl seated himself; and if a pin had fallen to the floor then, it
might have been heard in the anxious silence that followed. Mr.
Parasyte's chest heaved with emotion. He wanted to storm, and scold,
and threaten, but seemed to be afraid to do so.

"I have nothing more to say at present, Mr. Parasyte. In the name and
in behalf of the students, I have brought the facts to your notice,"
said Vallington, breaking the impressive stillness, as the principal
did not seem disposed to do so.

"After the riotous proceedings of this afternoon, I might have
expected this; but I did not," the principal began. "You appear to
have intimidated Poodles to such an extent that he has entirely
modified and reversed the statements he made this afternoon. He is a
weak-minded boy, and it was not difficult to do so."

This remark roused the ire of Poodles, and it required a sharp
reprimand from the judge to repress his impertinence.

"Pearl is a poor boy, upon whose fears you seem to have successfully
wrought. A confession from either of them, under the circumstances, is
not reliable. I do not countenance this meeting, or these proceedings.
I am not to be intimidated by your action. In regard to what you have
done, I have nothing to say; but I require you to separate, and go at
once to your rooms."

"Will you be kind enough to inform us what you intend to do, Mr.
Parasyte?" said Vallington.

"I am not to be taken to task by my pupils."

"We do not intend to resort to any disorderly proceedings," added the
judge. "Poodles and Pearl, without compulsion, have acknowledged
their errors, and it has been fully proved that Thornton was not to
blame for the affair on the pier. We ask, therefore, that Thornton be
restored t