“Go to the devil!” snarled Roland.
Oliver sat down, a look of sadness on his face. For some time he sat in silence; but he spoke at last.
“Where were you while the exercises were taking place to-day?” he asked.
“That’s my business,” said Roland.
“You should have been there. If you had, it’s possible your arm would not be in a sling now. Roland, I have returned the message to Merriwell, and I feel that he will take no action against you. I did not ask him not to do so, for I have been forced to ask him so many times before that I was ashamed.”
“Then I owe you no thanks.”
“No; but you do owe him something. Is the last spark of honor and the last particle of justice driven from your heart? Can’t you see where you have placed yourself by your conduct toward this man, who to-day has been honored as no Yale man ever before was honored?”
“Honored by fools!” growled Roland.
“Honored by the wisest men in college! Honored by every one! If you had seen every person in that great crowd on the campus rise when his name was spoken by the historian——”
“I did see it, and then I got away.”