She read confirmation in his eyes.
"What for?" she demanded.
"For insulting Mr. Mitchell."
"What did you say?"
"I told him what I thought of him, and he didn't like it."
Theodora frowned at the tone of boyish bravado.
"Allyn," she said steadily; "tell me, what you have done."
"I told him he was a great deacon," the boy said hotly; "and I'm glad I did it, too. He ought to know what we think of him. He goes to church every Sunday, with a long face on him; and, all the rest of the week, he bullies the fellows."
"At least, you think he does," Theodora amended.
"He does," Allyn returned fiercely. "He is a coward, too, and never goes for our crowd; but takes boys like Jamie Lyman, stupid, shabby little milksops that don't dare stand up to him. It isn't their fault that they are dunces, and he ought to know it. I told him so."