“You knew the rule about such things?” asked the principal. “You knew that pupils are not allowed to contract debts?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then why did you do it, Gray?”
“I—I wanted some things, and so— Porter said that he would trust me——”
“Let me see. You played on one of the nines last spring, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir; on the junior class nine.”
“Yes. Well, Gray, when you knock a good clean base hit what do you do? Do you run over toward the grand stand and then back toward the pitcher’s box and so on to first base, or do you go there as directly and as speedily as you know how?” A moment of silence followed and Wayne grinned.
“Directly, sir,” said the boy inside finally.
“Yes, I should think so. Well, now, when you start to make an explanation apply the same rule, my lad: go just as directly and quickly as you can to the point. As a matter of fact, you knew that you were disobeying the rules of the Academy, and preferred to do that than to go without some things that you wanted. Isn’t that so?”