“It is now twelve o’clock,” went on the teacher. “Dinner will be served in a few minutes. Are you ready to do as I wish?”
“You mean for us to apologize?” asked Pepper.
“Yes, and to promise to do as ordered in the future.”
“We won’t apologize,” answered several, in unison.
“Don’t you want your dinner?” demanded the teacher, in a somewhat crestfallen tone of voice.
“This is not a question of dinner—it is a question of principle, Mr. Crabtree,” answered Jack.
“Exactly—but you must be hungry.”
“We are,” and this was true, for nobody had as yet started to eat.
“There is no use of your being stubborn,” continued Josiah Crabtree.
“We are not stubborn.”