Another one added:
"Hasn't he got the nerve though, to show himself after what he done to the flag?"
And a third one, not to be outdone, declared:
"Aw! He's a reg'lar Benedic' Arnold."
Pen heard it all, as they had intended he should. He stopped in the aisle and faced them. The grief and despair that he had felt outside when his own comrades had ignored him, gave place now to a sudden blazing up of the old wrath. He did not raise his voice; but every word he spoke was alive with anger.
"You cowardly puppies! You talk about the flag! The only flag you're fit to live under is the black flag, with skull and cross-bones on it."
Then he turned on his heel and marched up the aisle to where Miss Grey was seated at her desk. He took Colonel Butler's letter from his pocket and handed it to her.
"My grandfather," he said, "wishes me to give you this letter."
She looked up at him with a grieved and troubled face.
"Oh, Pen!" she exclaimed, despairingly, "what have you done, and why did you do it?"