"Good-day, sir," and with an easy, friendly smile for all Frank Stonewell left.
The commandant drew a long breath. "Now, Mr. Blunt," he said, "you are cleared of the worst charges that have been made against you; I desire you to make a frank statement of your connection with that disguise."
"Captain, I owned it; the disguise is mine. You know, sir, that midshipmen do lots of things that are not discovered; if a fellow would cheat or do anything dishonorable, none of his classmates would speak to him; but if he were to 'French' as I have done, he would not lose caste. There are many offenses here of a military nature that a midshipman might commit which would be severely punished by the authorities if he were detected, and yet at which most midshipmen would smile. Well, sir, I have never cheated nor done anything dishonorable; but I did have this disguise and 'Frenched' out in Annapolis several times with it on. I did not propose the three groans that night at the theatre and I was not out of this building last night after seven o'clock."
"Captain Blunt," resumed the commandant, "I don't mind saying that I am more relieved than it is possible to express. Now, Mr. Blunt, did you never fear detection? I am rather interested in this matter."
"Yes, sir. Captain, do you remember the Sunday morning you invited me to dine with you?"
"I do, indeed. I recall that at first you were tongue-tied and acted queerly; then you gushed out words that didn't have much sense. That was the next day after the three groans were proposed at the theatre. I remember it well."
"The night before, sir, Saturday night, I went after my disguise intending to use it, and it was missing. When you called me up I was scared; I thought I was found out. Evidently Mr. Bligh had taken it, but I didn't know or imagine he had."
"Who did you imagine had taken the things?"
"I just couldn't imagine, except that some servant might have stolen the disguise, and then thought better of it and put it back. But no trouble came to me about it, so I didn't worry."
"When you heard about the man in the theatre proposing the three groans, didn't you recognize from his description that it was somebody with your disguise on?"