“Is this true?” asked the head master, bewildered and incredulous.
“Yes, sir,” answered Guy. “I came here to find out how the boy was treated, but I have seen for myself. I withdraw him from your school. He is no longer a pupil of yours!”
Vivian Bell’s expression changed at once. He looked overjoyed.
“Oh!” he said, “is this true?”
“Yes,” answered Guy, putting his hand caressingly on the boy’s shoulder. “I shall take you away with me.”
Dr. Musgrave, though still shaking with anger, was not wholly destitute of prudence.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “before anything is decided upon, I wish to explain that this boy has committed a daring act of rebellion, an act which merits summary punishment.”
Vivian looked up nervously into Guy’s face, but the expression he saw there reassured him.
“Yes, sir; he ran away,” said August Locke, “and any boy would be justified in running away under the circumstances.”
“Sir,” said Dr. Musgrave, striving to recover some of his lost dignity, “in a school like this there must be discipline.”