Pen blushed a little, but he replied frankly:
"I was awfully sorry, grandfather; I meant to have written you about it. I didn't exactly forget; but I was coasting on Drake's Hill, and there was an accident, and I was very much excited, and it got train-time before I knew it. Then I ran as fast as I could, but it wasn't any use."
"I see. I trust that no one was seriously injured?"
"No, sir. I bruised my shin a little, and Elmer scraped his knee, and the bobs were wrecked; that's about all."
Colonel Butler adjusted his glasses and leaned back in his chair; a habit he had when about to deliver himself of an opinion which he deemed important.
"Penfield," he said, "a gentleman should never permit anything to interfere with the keeping of his engagements. If the matter in hand is of sufficient importance to call for an engagement, it is of sufficient importance to keep the engagement so made. It is an elementary principle of good conduct that a gentleman should always keep his word. Otherwise the relations of men with each other would become chaotic."
"Yes, sir," replied Pen.
Colonel Butler removed his glasses and again applied himself to the disposal of his food which had been cut into convenient portions by his devoted daughter.
But his mind soon recurred to the subject of the flag.
"A—Penfield," he inquired, "do you chance to know whether any person has been chosen to make a formal response to my speech of presentation?"