"I didn't set the barn afire!" exclaimed Harry, now for the first time realizing the cause of his friend's displeasure.
"Don't lie."
"I speak the truth. I did not set it afire, or even know that it was going to be set on fire."
Mr. Nason closed the door which he had opened to depart. The firm denial, as well as the tone and manner of the boy, arrested his judgment against him. He had learned to place implicit confidence in Harry's word; for, though he might have told lies to others, he never told them to him.
"Who did burn the barn?" asked the keeper, looking sternly into the eye of the culprit.
Harry hesitated. A sense of honor and magnanimity pervaded his soul. He had obtained some false notions; and he did not understand that he could hardly be false to one who had been false to himself—that to help a criminal conceal his crime was to conspire against the peace and happiness of his fellow-beings. Shabbily as Ben Smart had used him, he could not make up his mind to betray him.
"You don't answer," added Mr. Nason.
"I didn't do it."
"But who did?"
"I don't like to tell."