The butler having now been proved right in regard to one of the boys whom he professed to have seen going to the study, Mr. Brandiston thought it well to assume that he was right in regard to the other. Accordingly, when Gerald Eversley came into the room Mr. Brandiston addressed him in these words:
‘Eversley, will you tell me why you came to the study on Wednesday evening between nine and ten?’
Gerald looked surprised.
‘You know you did come, Eversley,’ continued Mr. Brandiston, assuming a confidence which was not altogether his at heart. This is not an uncommon way of some masters.
‘Yes, sir,’ answered Gerald.
Mr. Brandiston felt relieved.
‘Will you tell me,’ he said, ‘what you came for?’
Gerald hung his head down for a moment; then he replied,
‘Please, sir, I came to ask if I might “stay out.”’
(To ‘stay out,’ it must be explained, in the language of schoolboys, is to be absent from school with the permission of the house master.)