A Boy Knight

by Martin J. Scott

Alone with Dick in the secretary's room, Frank began:

"Father Boone will be here soon. I don't know just how to act. If I considered myself only, it would be easy. I'd go and make a clean breast of the whole affair. But there is Daly, and the crowd. I know that Father Boone is tolerating a lot from Bill because he has hopes of setting him right. It'll be an awful blow to him if he knows that the crowd is down on Bill and that the secretary was the cause of it. I know you'll say that I'm not the cause of it, that I did only what any fellow would do. But we fellows of the Club aren't just any fellows. A whole lot's been done for us, extra. And especially for me. I got all that last night, before I struck back. But gee, I lost my head when he called me a girl, and simply had to fight. I kept thinking of it all last night and what Father Boone'd say. Not that he minds a fight. You remember on the outing last month, two fellows had a scrap. He just said, 'It's better to let the bad blood out than to keep it in.' He didn't even ask who they were. And he never wants any tattling either. That is why I feel this affair so much, and also because Daly is concerned. Father Boone is so terribly decent with us that I just hate to think he will be disappointed in any of us, and that I couldn't take Daly's slurs and laugh them off."

"You big boob," put in Dick after listening gravely to all. "You'd be just what he called you if you did that."

"I know, I know," repeated Frank, "but I feel terribly sore about the whole thing."

"Take my advice, Frank, go direct to Father Boone when he comes in, and tell him the whole thing from A to Z. He'll understand. Besides, I'll bet a hat he knows it already."

"I hope he does," added Frank.

They went down to the crowd which was now all together. The fellows did not expect to see Daly, but some of them thought that he might show up to brave it out. When Father Boone came in, smiling as usual, a word for this lad, and that, a tap for Jack and a handshake for Tommy and Willie and John, no one would ever have suspected that he knew anything out of the ordinary.

Generally on entering, after greeting the boys, he went to his office and straightened out the details of the preceding day. After that he would circulate among the boys, asking one if his father got the job he recommended him to, another how his mother was, a third what his marks were for the last school month, and so on. He knew them all, and all about them. He was their big brother. In his presence there was no restraint. He knew them so well, and they understood him so well, that he was like one of them. If a dispute were on, and he came in, it went on just the same. He knew boys and loved them, and they realized it.

He was wise enough to know that boys are boys. That was the secret of his success. The result was that he could do anything with them. A word from him and they would leave off what most pleased them. A suggestion from him and they would do what was hardest and ordinarily most disagreeable. Very kind he was, also firm as a rock. And they knew it. He never went back on his word, as they knew by experience. The consequence was that with very few words, he accomplished what he wanted done.

This evening he looked around at the crowd. There was something the matter. That was evident. He knew he could find out by asking but he never did that. He began now to observe. There was a restraint evident among the boys. That was unusual. Not so much hilarity. He ran his eye over the crowd. He could see at a glance, just who was and who was not present. Daly was always conspicuous, because he was so noisy, but Daly was not among those present tonight. Usually the boys were scattered, some in one room, some in another. Not so tonight. They were all in the same room. Generally they were interested in the games. Tonight they seemed to be interested in him. Putting things together, he concluded that the crowd as a crowd was in the mix-up, and that the boys were on the lookout for something to happen. Frank sat off in a corner looking pensive. That was not his way.