“You have talked with him about it, I suppose?” suggested Mr. Graham.
“Repeatedly, and with all the tact I possess. I have tried to win his confidence by kindness; I have expostulated with him, I have threatened him, I have ridiculed him; I have given him long tasks to write out: nothing that I can say or do has the slightest effect on the little mule. Sometimes I think he is actuated by a feeling of personal malice toward me, and the thought makes me so nervous that I can hardly conduct my recitation.”
Mr. Graham smiled: “You have no ground for that feeling, I am sure, for similar reports have come to me from other teachers.” He paused a moment, and his expression became sombre as he went on: “The boy has evidently something very serious on his mind. I will talk with him myself. Do you know whether he is still intimate with Bosworth? You have a high opinion of Bosworth, I believe.”
Mr. Moore hesitated, and, passing over the question, replied to the suggestion: “I used to have; since I caught him writing composition exercises for Marks, I do not feel so sure about him. Still, he does his work for me in a way that I cannot complain of.”
“Do you think he could be guilty of the thieving from rooms that is going on in Carter and Hale?”
“Thieving! I should hope not! Do you suspect him?”
“I do and I don’t,” replied Mr. Graham, wearily. “He spends more money than any boy ought to spend who is receiving help from the school. On two occasions at least, when money was taken, I satisfied myself that he might have done it, but I had no direct evidence against him, not even enough to warrant calling him up and questioning him about it. Meantime the thieving still goes on. There was another case in Hale on Saturday.”
Mr. Moore looked solemn. “What a scandal! It ought certainly to be stopped, even if we have to employ detectives. Could you not introduce a detective of youthful appearance as a new boy?”
The Principal shook his head. “New boys don’t enter school on the first of June. Besides, I am opposed on principle to such methods. This is a crime by a boy against boys. The boys by their carelessness and negligence are partially responsible for what has occurred. They can and ought to ferret out the offender themselves.”
“I’m afraid you will accomplish little if you rely on the coöperation of boys,” said Mr. Moore, as he rose to go. “They always stand by one another and cover up one another’s sins. At any rate, don’t suspect poor Bosworth until you have incontrovertible proof. The worst thing I know against him is his intimacy with that little wretch, Eddy.”