"No, I didn't," at last came from the reluctant lips.
"That's enough, sir!" thundered the Principal. "Now, Bruce, tell your story."
Then Ben, leaving the room for a moment, came back, accompanied by a man who carried a package under his arm.
"Yes, sir, that's the boy, sir," said the man with the package, pointing to Brown. "He came to my shop yesterday with these skates, sir," and he held up before the astonished eyes of Ernest his beloved skates. "He said as how they'd been given to him, and as he didn't have no time for skating, would I buy them, which I did, sir, for a dollar."
"A dollar," said Ernest to himself, pitying the boy who knew so little the value of a good thing as to let it go for next to nothing.
"What have you to say to this, Brown?"
"Yes, they were given to me," said the boy, doggedly.
"Who gave them to you?"
"A chap in a fur coat, I dunno his name. I was standing by the pond, and says I, 'Wot beauties,' when I see them laying there, and says he, 'Take them quick, they're mine, but I don't want to skate no more,' and he poked them over to me with his stick, and says he, 'Hurry off, or I may change my mind,' and they wouldn't fit me, sir, and so I sold them."