"Chester, if I am found out in this I'll be sent home, and my father would be awfully cut up if I had to leave this school. He is in a hurry to get me into college, and this would put me back if I get expelled. Don't you tell what you know, will you, Joe?" Then he added hurriedly, "I was an idiot to do it! I knew it as soon as I tore out the first leaf, which happened to be from Mr. Bernard's book. After that was gone, I was in for the business, and I just rushed it through."
"What put such a silly joke into your head?" asked Joe, curious to have that explained.
"Oh, Ben Carver and I planned it together. We thought it would be fun to get up a fuss over the books; but Ben backed out."
"Then Ben Carver knows it too?" asked Joe, with a sigh of relief, as if his burden were lightened by this assurance that some one else shared the secret.
"Yes, Carver knows, but I can trust him. He will just as soon lie as not, though he hadn't the pluck to carry out the plan. It all rests with you, Chester: if you will stand by me I shall come through all right."
"Well, Drayton, I'll do anything I can, except lie, for you. You needn't ask that."
"What if Bernard asks if you know?"
"If he asks me that question plump and fair, I shall have to say yes."
Drayton looked frightened and pale.
"Then it is all up with me, for he will ask as sure as fate."