"That is very fine talk, Grant," said Kennedy, "but it don't amount to any thing."
"No talk is necessary to prove your cowardly meanness. Go on, and do your best. I am not afraid of the whole of you, even with my hands tied behind me. I despise the whole of you."
"We will give you a chance to escape."
"I don't ask any chance to escape."
"Grant, you talk like a fool."
"Better be a fool than a knave and a coward."
"We don't want to hurt you. There are fellows enough in our crowd to make Tunbrook Institute too hot to hold you. We advise you to write to your father, advising him to send you to some other school. Will you do so?"
"I will not," replied Richard, promptly.
"Then you must take the consequences. We are organized, and we are determined that you shall leave. If you ask your father, and insist upon it, no doubt he will take you away."
"Very likely he would," added Richard, "but I shall not ask him to do so."