"Did you do it?" cried Paradyne, turning sharply upon him.
"No, I did not," answered Dick; his red face and his honest eyes raised fearlessly to Paradyne's.
"You beat me this morning in a fair, stand-up fight; but I'd scorn to do a mean trick of this sort."
"I believe you," said Paradyne, "and I beg your pardon for asking."
"And I am sorry that you should lose your chance for Oxford," added Dick, not to be outdone in generosity. "I have never said either, as some of them do, that you ought not to go up for the Orville: it's as fair for you to compete as for the rest, for what I see."
But all chance for Paradyne, either for the one or the other, was over, in the opinion of the school.
Some of the better-natured felt sorry for him, and said it. Paradyne bore himself bravely before them; not a cloud on his brow, not a shadow on his lips, proclaimed aloud the bitterness of his defeat. But, later, when he was sitting at Mr. Henry's, he astonished that gentleman not a little by bursting into tears.
"I had taken such pride in that essay! I had looked forward to this examination with so much certainty of success. And now to have it all destroyed in a moment!"
"Hush, George! You may go up yet."
"No, I shall not; I can see that Brabazon thinks I did it myself. I might just as well never have worked on for the examination; I'd better not have come to Orville. It's awful treachery!" he burst forth presently, his tone changing as anger superseded the sobs. "I know this has been done by some of them. Oh, what a life it is to lead! And there's another thing—the mother has been counting on my success."