the sick-room.

"For," said he, "where Doe and Ray are, there should Me be also."

Sec.5

"It's funny that we do everything together," said Doe that same
evening, as we lay in our beds and watched each other's eyes in the
light of the turned-down gas. "First we're twins; then we get
whacked together; then we both get rowed by prefects; and I do a
faint and you do a sort of fit.... But, I say, Rupert, look here; I
want to ask you something: will people think I was a fool in
everything I did, or will they think--well, the other thing? I mean,
let's put it like this--what would Radley think?"

"I don't know," said I, not very helpfully.

"I s'pose he's heard all about it. I hope he has--at least, I mean,
I'd like him to think I stuck by you. Only, when the prefects were
talking about defiance, it struck me that Radley might call it
'insubordination.'"

There was a pause, and then he proceeded: "I wonder if he'll be
sorry when he hears we are both laid up."

"Who?"

"Why, Radley, of course."

"_Mr._ Radley," said a voice, "if you please."

Radley, who had walked softly lest the invalids should be wakened
from sleep, was standing in the room and looking at us in the
glimmer. We were very surprised, and Doe's blushes at being caught
were only exceeded by the pleasure-sparkling of his eyes.

Radley approached my bed and placed the clothes carefully over my
chest. I didn't know whether to thank him for this, and only smiled
and reddened. And after he had done the same for Doe he sat at the
foot of his bed.

"When the world turns against you, always go sick," said he,
smiling. "It's an excellent rule for changing ill-will to sympathy.
If you're sent to Coventry, go straight to bed there. Oh, you're a
subtle pair, aren't you?"

We were both too shy to answer.

"Well, Ray, I've come to tell you to sleep with an easy mind. The
Head Master is satisfied that, if you were conducting operations in
Mr. Fillet's room, you were not conscious of it. It was Dr. Chapman
who worked all this for you. He threatened to go on strike if any
other conclusion were come to. He asked the Head whether he'd ever
dreamt he was doing most impossible things. The Head said 'Yes,' and
the doctor replied triumphantly: 'Well, don't let your brain get as
excited as a child's, or, maybe, if you're feverish and run down,
you'll go and do them.' He even suggested that possibly it was not
you but the Head who had committed the crime. He asked