"Exactly so!" exclaimed the jolly Mr. Bridges. "Let me tell you of a terrible outrage inflicted on one of my neighbors in a small town in another State. His name was on the voting-list, but when the day of election came, he was not allowed to vote. He was robbed of the dearest right of an American citizen. He was ruthlessly debarred from constitutionally expressing his choice for a governor of the State. Wasn't it awful?"
"I should say that it was an outrage, as you called it in the beginning. But why was he debarred from his right?" asked the orator.
"He was shut up in the house of correction," laughed the fat committee-man.
"Oh, for some crime!" exclaimed the representative of the rebels.
"That depends upon how you look at it. He did not regard that for which he was shut up as a crime; in fact, he was acting on principle," chuckled the jolly disputant. "He claimed that it was right to sell liquor, though the law of the State made it a crime. At any rate, his business was such that he could not leave, even to vote. His case was just like yours, only a great deal worse, Mr. Shoreham."
The students indulged in a round of hearty applause, and the orator found it utterly impossible to meet the argument contained in this parallel case. He subsided. Captain Gildrock was satisfied with the decision of the committee, and so were all the students, with the possible exception of Shoreham. The papers that covered the characters on the two rolls were removed by Mr. Darlingby, and the same one appeared on both of them.
"Both prizes have been awarded to the same student, I see," said the principal, while the instructor went for the envelopes.
The character was the Greek letter Beta, and the two envelopes, thus indorsed, were handed to the principal. There was intense excitement when he opened them.
"Bolingbroke Millweed," Captain Gildrock read from the enclosures of both, and a round of applause followed.