CHAPTER XVI
LESTER AND DAVID
The object for the attainment of which Lester had made so lamentable a sacrifice had ceased to be of interest to him. He no longer thought or cared anything about the marshalship. If by giving up his chance of winning it he could have regained the place that he had held in his own eyes before he took the theme and could have made himself secure against exposure, he would have made the surrender joyfully.
“If I ever do a crooked thing again as long as I live, I hope I may go to jail for it!” he exclaimed to himself.
He was alone in his room; he stood gazing out of the window at the quiet yard. Fellows were passing along the walks, happier, every one of them, than he. His roommate had gone out a few minutes after making the remark that had seemed to Lester ominous. Richard suspected him of some queer work about David’s theme; that was evident. And probably Richard would go to David and tell him of the discovery that he had made. Then there would have to be more lying, and in spite of it the suspicion would probably remain. And if David chose to reproduce the theme and hand it in, no further lying would avail. Lester would be convicted in spite of all his denials.
“If I had ever dreamed of what I was letting myself in for, I never would have done it,” he thought. “Nothing but one lie after another, getting in deeper all the time! It seems as if there were no end to it.”
He wondered whether Richard had really gone to consult with David about the fragment of the theme that he had found in the waste-basket. It was the natural thing for him to do. And when David said that he had never taken the theme into Lester’s room, or torn up a page of it, or thrown it into the waste-basket, what would they both think? What was he to say if they came to question him?
That evening, while Lester was trying to fix his mind on the French lesson for the next day, Richard came in and greeted him genially. “You seem to have got the study habit,” said Richard. “There aren’t any more exams for a couple of months, you know.”
“Yes, I know, but I’m going to try not to slide back again.”
Evidently Richard had not talked with David about the theme. Perhaps he had dismissed the whole thing from his thoughts, or perhaps he had even been impressed with the appeal, weak though it was, not to bother David about it. Anyway, Lester began to feel a little more hopeful of escaping detection. If only David would decide to write on a new subject!