boys moved restlessly. Upon their faces
shone a curious excitement and relief. Gambling in its many-headed forms
is too deeply rooted in human hearts to awaken any great antipathy. So
far, then, the sympathy of the audience lay with the culprits; this the
Head Master knew.

When he spoke again, his voice had changed, subtly, but unmistakably.

"You were afraid," he said, "that I had something worse--ah, yes,
unspeakably worse--to tell you. Thank God, this is not one of those
cases from which every clean, manly boy must recoil in disgust. But, on
that account, don't blind yourselves to the issues involved. This
playing of bridge--a game you have seen your own people playing night
after night, perhaps--is harmless enough in itself. I can say more--it
is a game, and hence its fascination, which calls into use some of the
finest qualities of the brain: judgment, memory, the faculty of making
correct deductions, foresight, and patience. It teaches restraint; it
makes for pleasant fellowship. It does all this and more, provided that
it never degenerates into gambling. The very moment that the game
becomes a gamble, if any one of the players is likely to lose a sum
greater than he can reasonably afford to pay, greater than he would
cheerfully spend upon any other form of entertainment, then bridge
becomes cursed. And because you boys have not the experience to
determine the difference between a mere game and a gamble, card-playing
is forbidden you, and rightly so. Now, let us consider what has
happened. A stupid, foolish fellow, playing with boys infinitely
cleverer than himself, has lost a sum of money which he could not pay.
To obtain the means of paying it, he deliberately forged a letter and a
signature. And then followed the inevitable lying--lie upon lie. That is
always the price of lies--'to lie on still.'

"I would mitigate the punishment, if I could, but I must think of the
majority. This sort of malignant disease must be cut out. Two of the
three offenders are young men; they were leaving at the end of this
term. They will leave, instead--to-day. The third boy is much younger.
Because of his youth, I have been persuaded by his house-master to give
him a further chance."

Again he paused. Then he exclaimed loudly, "Scaife!"

Scaife stood up, very pale. "Here, sir!"

"Scaife, you will go into the Fourth Form Room,[31] and prepare to
receive the punishment which no member of the Eleven should ever
deserve."