“We’re no end of moral reformers,” said McTurk.
“It was all Stalky, but it was a lark,” said Beetle.
“I have noticed the moral reform in several quarters. Didn’t I tell you you had more influence than any boys in the Coll. if you cared to use it?”
“It’s a trifle exhaustin’ to use frequent—our kind of moral suasion. Besides, you see, it only makes Clewer cheeky.”
“I wasn’t thinking of Clewer; I was thinking of—the other people, Stalky.”
“Oh, we didn’t bother much about the other people,” said McTurk. “Did we?”
“But I did—from the beginning.”
“Then you knew, sir?”
A downward puff of smoke. “Boys educate each other, they say, more than we can or dare. If I had used one half of the moral suasion you may or may not have employed—”
“With the best motives in the world. Don’t forget our pious motives, Padre,” said McTurk.