He went to Sam, and found that Will Orcutt told him. Going to Orcutt he inquired,—
“Who told you about what was done in the schoolhouse, night before last?”
“None of your business.”
“Say that again, I’ll shake your teeth out of your head; you were one of them.”
“No, I wasn’t one of them, neither.”
“Ay, my fine fellow, you may think it a good joke, but I can tell you it may prove a sore joke to you. Every decent boy, and all the girls in school, are down on you; and if it gets to the ears of the master and the school-committee, you’ll see trouble, for it was not merely a trick upon a boy, but it was trespass, breaking into the schoolhouse in the night. You broke a lock, you villain. Mr. Jonathan Whitman is one of the school-committee, and is not a man to be trifled with; you had better think about it.”
He then left him, but when Arthur started for home at night, Will Orcutt followed him and said,—
“I wasn’t one of them, and you needn’t think, nor say, I was.”
“Then why won’t you tell who told you?”
Orcutt made no reply.