“Stop there, please! Did any one give Peck permission to go to Boston on Saturday night?”
Silence effectually answered the question. “I thought not,” continued Mr. Alsop. “He is on special probation. I was in Boston over Sunday, and on Saturday night, a little after eight, I saw Peck just entering a theatre on Boylston Street with a companion whom I did not know. As soon as I returned I made inquiries at his boarding place, and learned that he was absent from dinner on Saturday night and from breakfast Sunday morning. The chambermaid reported him in bed at nine o’clock on Sunday, his shoes standing before the fireplace still wet. There was a heavy rain early Sunday morning, as you perhaps remember. I am convinced that he left town by the six o’clock train Saturday and returned by the paper train Sunday morning. I questioned him about the matter and told him where I had seen him. He was confused in his answers, and at one time seemed on the point of confessing, but he finally decided to take the other course, and faced it out to the end.” Mr. Alsop paused.
“If you saw him,” said Mr. Moore, who was presiding, “I should say that it is a case for immediate dismissal.”
“I saw him distinctly.”
“Who is his room-mate?” asked Professor Towle.
“Archer.”
“What does Archer say?”
“Archer would probably pretend that Peck was in his room on Saturday evening. He was about to say something to this effect, but Peck, who evidently wanted to keep him from committing himself to a false statement, objected to his testifying.”
“That seems a strange proceeding,” remarked Professor Towle. “A boy who would run away from school for a night wouldn’t be likely to care whether his room-mate lied or not as long as the testimony was in his favor.”
“I should myself be very unwilling to believe either that Peck would leave town without permission or that Archer would lie about it afterward,” said Dr. Leighton, for the first time taking part in the discussion.