“What!” gasped the great man, confounded at my boldness.
“I say just what I mean. Waddie knows, as well as I do, that I had nothing to do with blowing up the canal boat, and if he was a decent fellow he would say so.”
“Don’t be rash, Wolfert,” interposed my mother, alarmed at my temerity.
“I am not afraid of them, mother.”
“Do you mean to say I’m not a decent fellow?” howled Waddie.
“I did say so, and I meant to say so. You know that you lie when you say I had anything to do with blowing up the boat.”
“Do you tell me I lie?”
“I do; I tell you so with all my might,” I persisted, boldly.
“We’ll see about this,” said Colonel Wimpleton, furiously. “Mrs. Penniman, your boy is impudent—impudent to me, and to my son.”
“You accuse him of something he didn’t do, and won’t hear what he has to say,” replied my mother, meekly.