"No, sir. Not my own cap," admitted Bobby.
"Whose cap was it, then?"
Bobby was silent. He looked up at Mr. Leith pleadingly. That gentleman knew well enough what was in the boy's mind. He, too, understood boys pretty well, but he did not believe in handling them just as the old Doctor did.
"Do you hear me, young man?" he asked, harshly.
"Yes, sir."
"Why do you not answer me?"
Bobby wanted to cry out and plead with him. Mr. Leith had no right to ask such a question! That is the way the boy looked at it. The teacher was tempting him to do the meanest thing in a boy's catalog of sins.
He was asking Bobby to snitch!
"I—I can't tell you, sir," stammered the boy.
"You mean you are determined not to tell me?" repeated Mr. Leith.