His father was staring at him dully, but now his eyes lit up again with sudden light.
“Nobody knows?” he said. “Are you sure? If that’s true we can get you back there to-night, perhaps, and they’ll never know you came. If nobody has seen you here, perhaps——”
“I’m not going back,” said Bobbie.
His father’s eyes met his evenly.
“You mean,” said he at last, “that you never want to be a gentleman? Is it that the dearest wish I have means nothing to you at all?”
“I’ll go to another school if you like,” said Bobbie in a small voice, “but I can’t go back to Harley. There’s somebody there who knows. He holds it over my head and makes me do things. It’s awful. I—I can’t go back.”
“Somebody knows?” His father was looking at him keenly. “Why have you never told me? Who knows?”
“Coles is there.”
For a moment his father was silent. He stood perfectly still, as a man will who is suddenly stricken with ill news. And at last his hands moved to his dressing-gown.
“I’ll get dressed. We’ll get away from here. Sit down for a moment. Tell me while I dress. What has he made you do?”