Walter asked “Who?” but he knew beforehand that Power’s answer would be—
“Kenrick!”
After this he said nothing, but put his hand wearily to his head, which in his weak state, was aching violently with the excitement of the news which Power had told him.
“Ah, I see, Walter, you’re not quite well enough yet to be bothered. I’ll leave you quiet. Good-bye.”
“Good-bye. Do come again soon, and tell me how things go on.”
Strolling out from the sad sickroom into the court, Power was attracted into the great schoolroom by the sound of angry voices. Entering, he found half the school, and all the lower forms, collected round the large desk at which the headmaster usually sat. A great many were talking at once, and every tongue was engaged in discussing the propriety, in this instance, of any monitorial interference.
“Order, order,” shouted one or two of the few fifth-form fellows present; “let’s have the thing managed properly. Who’ll take the chair?”
There was a general call for Kenrick, and as he was one of the highest fellows in the room, he got into the chair, and amid a general silence delivered his views of the present affair.
“You all know,” he said, “that Dimock meant to cane Harpour because he played off a joke against one of the fellows last night. Harpour refused to take the caning, and the monitors are holding a meeting this morning to decide what to do about Harpour. Now I maintain that they’ve no right to do anything; and it’s very important that we shouldn’t let them have just their own way. The thing was merely a joke. Who thinks anything of just putting on a mask in fun, to startle another fellow? One constantly hears of its being done merely to raise a laugh, and we must all have often seen pictures of it. Of course, in this case, every one is extremely sorry for the consequences, but it was impossible to foresee them, and nobody has any right to judge of the act because it has turned out so unluckily. I vote that we put the question—‘Have the monitors any right to interfere?’”
Loud applause greeted the end of Kenrick’s speech, and the little bit at the end about separating an act from its consequences told wonderfully among the boys. They raised an almost unanimous cry of “Well done, Ken,” “Quite right,” “Harpour shan’t be caned.”